I have worked in communications roles in business for 20 years. In 2016 I founded a consultancy practice focused on Applied Storytelling for Business. Storytelling and its many applications became a passion, so I was excited to see this course advertised. It enabled me to incorporate aspects of performance and design in my writing and advisory practice.
When I started, we were still in lockdown. But the faculty managed to incorporate some face to face as well as online learning. It was great to work with expert academics in the field and learn from their networks. We worked collaboratively as students and teachers in relatively small groups and there was a lot of support for assessments.
I enjoyed exploring storytelling through all the modules studied and feel very much more informed to take my practice forward. It was great to answer some questions that I had been thinking about for years and has opened up lots more lines of enquiry. I learnt new storytelling skills, for sure – through performance, performative writing, and digital storytelling (for which I went on to secure a fellowship). I also learned research methods and worked on projects with external groups.
My dissertation returned to my main area of interest – storytelling for business. This was a three-phase approach combining a literature review, exploratory interviews with experts in the field, and a case study. I developed a model to demonstrate new knowledge.
The aim of my research was to demonstrate that storytelling is a useful tool to make sense of strategic change in organisations. My primary research was focused on identifying whether a strategic narrative existed in my case study organisation and, if so, how it connected to the personal stories of employees at all levels and helped them see how they make a difference in their roles.
I achieved an award at Â鶹ֱ²¥ for academic excellence. I have since written several articles drawn from my studies and am working on a book. I have been invited to speak about this. As well as continuing to build my practice, I am also exploring PhD options and want to continue my research into the space between strategy, storytelling and sense making and especially (related to this) how stories work with our brains.
My advice to someone considering this course is go for it! If you are passionate about storytelling this is a great way to explore different dimensions. If you are able to go to the union and join university life, I think it could be a great natural extension of studies. I live a way away, but I did enjoy being on campus and a student again. There was no negative aspects of being a mature student. In terms of studies, I do like that postgraduate study enables you to focus and explore things in which you are really interested.