This presentation helps coaches and leaders understand how the use story and storytelling can create powerful connections with individual clients and teams in several scenarios. These include individual and group coaching as well as training and speaking situations. By encouraging clients to share their personal stories of both triumphal and challenging experiences coaches can lay the foundation for rapport early in a coaching relationship. This rapport leads to greater trust and intimacy. The narrative process calls for strong coaching presence and active listening. We will explore the brain science underlying the client-coach connection process. Participants will engage in active listening and coaching presence exercises which lead to the creation of greater awareness of the client’s values, beliefs and patterns by both the coach and the client. Participants will learn which stories are most valuable in exploring and sharing in coaching and presentation situations.

Geri England is an Executive and Story Coach, OD Consultant, author and creator of the Discover Your Story to Success© System. Geri leverages the power of narrative practices, stories and positive psychology to help professionals, leaders and their teams: (1) increase their influence, (2) manage change effectively, (3) achieve personal and business breakthroughs, (4) implement smart business and career strategies, and (5) improve the bottom-line. As a result, her clients increase engagement and morale, grow their organizations and careers and create success while making a difference doing what they love.

Geri also offers unique, innovative and empowering coaching skills and other training programs to help leaders up-level their skills: Appreciative Coaching Skills, Bigger Game, Business Storytelling for Fun and Profit and Appreciative Inquiry Applications for Organizational Change.

Geri serves on the faculty of the Leadership, Organizational Development and Executive Coaching Certificate/Master of Science Program at the University of Texas at Dallas School of Management.

Geri holds an MEd from Texas A&M and MS from Amberton University. She has held leadership positions at AT&T, Nortel, GTE and Verizon and the North Central Texas Council of Governments. She is a member of several oral storytelling and writing groups in the DFW area.