Workshops

COMMUNITY BUILDING WORKSHOPS

In workshops that can run from two hours to a full day, we facilitate story sharing with ten to fifteen people. We begin by telling a folktale and a personal story that introduce a life theme, and then we invite each participant to share a personal story. At the end, we reflect on what we’ve heard. In a half or full day workshop participants have several opportunities to share their stories, each time on a different theme.

It has been our experience that this technique helps total strangers find common threads. In the workplace, we have also observed that people who have worked together, even for many years, leave with a much greater appreciation of their colleagues.

After one of Susan Danoff’s diversity workshops for Princeton University’s Office of Information Technology, one staff member wrote, “I learned many new things about my fellow employees. Surprising and delightful. It gave me more respect for them going forward.” Another wrote, “I learned things about fellow employees in one afternoon that might have taken years of a personal relationship with them to find out.” Yet another commented, "I felt I understood people in the group much more by the end of the day. I learned things that perhaps will alter the way in which I interact with them.... I will continue to examine and embrace the differences I see in other people, and I will not allow those differences to be a barrier to me.”

COMMUNITY BUILDING IN SCHOOLS

For Students:

Problems with inclusion are ongoing in school with children of all ages. Race, culture, class, religion, gender, and body-type often cause children to denigrate others through ostracizing or bullying those whom they perceive as different. Through hearing and valuing stories from other cultures and through sharing and honoring their own stories, they can learn to open their eyes, minds, and hearts to others who appear different. Story sharing in the classroom teaches children to embrace difference rather than to fear and spurn it.

For Teachers:
In schools where teachers are almost entirely focused on their students, community building among staff members is often ignored. How can teachers and administrators get to know one another better, share histories, discover the resources that might be hiding just down the hall, build a common sense of mission, and practice the community building strategies that they strive for in their own classrooms? We use storytelling as a facilitation technique to address community building in schools, customizing each workshop to address the issues of concern raised by the school community.

Through sharing both oral and written story-sharing techniques, we can also provide replicable models for the classroom.

COMMUNITY BUILDING IN THE WORKPLACE

We offer workshops to build community in the workplace in order to enhance communication, support morale, and strengthen working relationships. We can work with new teams who will benefit from gaining insight into what their colleagues bring to the table, with cross-functional teams to enhance organizational and personal understanding, and with groups addressing diversity to deepen cultural awareness and appreciation. We also facilitate group building among constituencies in order to bridge gaps and foster greater understanding and stronger partnerships.

COMMUNITY BUILDING WORKSHOPS

COMMUNITY BUILDING IN SCHOOLS​

COMMUNITY BUILDING IN THE WORKPLACE ​

COMMUNITY BUILDING IN SCHOOLS

COMMUNITY BUILDING IN THE WORKPLACE