Become a Certified Story Facilitator

Business storytelling has become a coveted persuasive skill for every leader. Being able to teach these skills makes you indispensable in your workplace. Become a certified story facilitator by learning from Leadership Story Lab, a firm that has been at the forefront of business storytelling since 2010.

Once you are certified, you will be able to facilitate storytelling on your own and help your clients and teams tell better stories! You will become the trusted person your network turns to when they want an expert in authentic communication.

Enroll today to:

Access tools and frameworks for mining, refining and telling stories.
Equip yourself with leadership storytelling facilitation best practices you can immediately apply in your context.
Receive customized individual coaching from Chief Story Facilitator Esther Choy, who founded Leadership Story Lab in 2010.
Hone your facilitation skills in comfortable, inspiring small group settings.

Play Video

Learn more about the program:

Key Benefits:

Hone your facilitation skills in comfortable, inspiring small group settings.
Build your storytelling muscles in a safe space and receive feedback.
Customized individual coaching from Chief Story Facilitator Esther Choy, who founded Leadership Story Lab in 2010.
Access to the supportive Leadership Story Lab Story Facilitator Community.
Option to join monthly sessions to continue learning new, structured content, brainstorm, and continue building your leadership skills.

Who should attend:

Independent coaches, consultants, professors, nonprofit managers, and other leaders. We train globally with Certified Story Facilitators from diverse backgrounds in advocacy, MBA admissions, leadership coaching, teaching, and more. We have even trained a facilitator who is on a quest to turn “accountants into storytellers!” What do they have in common? All share a passion for creating space for storytelling in their organization, on their teams, and with clients.

What sets us apart:

Our training is totally interactive and exercise driven. Throughout the course, you will be developing and telling 3-4 full stories. In addition, you will learn a signature team building storytelling exercise; upon completion of training, you will have the rights to facilitate this exercise with others.
Our class size is very small by design. This allows for meaningful discussion, feedback, and exchange between your peers and the lead facilitator. Our individual coaching element is also unique, as it allows for customized feedback and support for you to reach your goals.
Our course is a blend between learning the skills of storytelling and facilitation. This training affords the opportunity to hone both skill sets at once!

Time Commitment:

Takeaways:

Dates for next session:

Price:

Become a certified story facilitator today!

To learn more or register for the program, please share your information with us. Thank you!

Name*
Email*
What is your time frame?*
How prepared are you to engage in certification?*
What is your budget?*
How did you hear about us?*
Hidden
How did you hear about us? [OLD]
What do you hope to accomplish through storytelling?*
- Yes, I'd like to learn storytelling with Esther Choy, and receive Better Every Story, a brief and brilliant monthly online publication on tips, insights and examples of storytelling in business communication.

“My greatest takeaway was the IRS structure. What surprised me was the in-depth coaching and feedback from Esther in a small group and one-to-one setting. Esther guides with depth and clarity. Since the course, I have coached a leader to use the IRS structure to tell a personal story at an organisational event. Her story was a hit. I've used the paired introduction exercise with groups who have loved it. I'm looking forward to reaching more hearts and minds with what I've learned through this course."

-Vadivu Govind, Founding Director, Human Unlimited, Singapore,
Level 1 Story Facilitator

Leadership Story Lab’s story facilitator certification training gives you the tools and processes to mine ideas, refine stories, and tell them with purpose. Learn how to support others who are using these tools for the first time.

You will not only master the storytelling process for yourself, but also experience the way Leadership Story Lab’s experts facilitate storytelling. You’ll have the chance to craft and share stories during the training, thus understanding the process first-hand before you teach it.

Once you hone these skills, you’ll earn a Story Facilitator Certification and be ready to facilitate on your own!

Play Video

Level 1: Master of Story Construction

Focus on the anatomy of stories and how to structure story ideas into appropriate formats.

In Level 1, we learn how to help others shape their stories using the essential “IRS” structure:

Intriguing beginning
Riveting middle
Satisfying ending

We deeply explore ways to create suspense and surprise, ask good questions and listen aggressively. And of course, through four sessions together, we witness the power of storytelling as a group bonding experience.

Level 2: Master of Story Discovery

The art and science of idea exploration and cultivation.

In Level 2, we embrace the messy, creative process of cultivating stories and learn to uncover Passion DNA. Facilitators—and storytellers—don’t have to wait for the muse to arrive. The best ideas are right under the storytellers’ noses, waiting for the facilitator to discover them. All it takes is the right questions and frameworks.

“I now have a bigger set of golf clubs to work with in helping my clients share their stories. I can now be more nuanced in suggesting the right question at the right time and utilizing different exercises at different times to help my clients get more holes in one.”

- Donna Bauman, Senior MBA Admissions Counselor, Stratus Admissions Counseling

Level 3: Master of Story Synthesis

Learn to fuse disparate narratives into one coherent whole.

In Level 3, we look at stories from multiple angles, helping storytellers shift from one point of view to another. We facilitate storytellers’ ability to acknowledge their audience’s perspectives (especially when it diverges from the storytellers’ point of view!). And through the use of StoryPictures, we learn how to invite others to the conversation. We cultivate storytellers’ ability to use acknowledgement and visuals as common ground to inspire collaboration and aspire to a new future.

Each certification level includes:

Four 2-hour virtual small group coaching sessions that meet once a week over the course of a month.
Two 45-minute virtual individual coaching sessions with Esther Choy, Chief Story Facilitator.
Prep work before and in between each session and a final facilitation project.
Upon successful completion, training includes a content licensing fee as well as title of Leadership Story Lab Certified Story Facilitator.

Annual Membership includes:

Monthly sessions to continue learning, structured content, and many other perks.
Access to the supportive Leadership Story Lab Story Facilitator Community.

Start your Story Facilitator Certification today!

Name*
Email*
What is your time frame?*
How prepared are you to engage in certification?*
What is your budget?*
How did you hear about us?*
Hidden
How did you hear about us? [OLD]
What do you hope to accomplish through storytelling?*
- Yes, I'd like to learn storytelling with Esther Choy, and receive Better Every Story, a brief and brilliant monthly online publication on tips, insights and examples of storytelling in business communication.

Play Video

“Regardless of whether it’s my story or my client’s story, the IRS model of intriguing beginning, riveting middle, and surprise ending has become a mantra for me. I just got a call from a large contractor who needed help to win a very critical vote. They needed to tell a story that voters could identify with. I’m living all of these things that I’ve learned through the story facilitators’ certification process, and I believe that together we can change the world, one story at a time.”

-Luawanna Hallstrom, Principal, Collaborative Communications,
Level 3 Story Facilitator

Meet Our Story Facilitators

Our supportive community of story facilitators has seen the power of story and are now inspired to help others tell theirs. Congratulations to the recent graduates of Leadership Story Lab's Level 1: Master of Story Construction Certification, Level 2: Master of Story Discovery, and Level 3: Master of Story Synthesis.