L&D TV VIDEOS

This is not a toy. Only the young or the hopelessly commonsensical dip it into liquid soap, content with bubbles. Curl your fingers around the handle, lift it to your mouth, and flick the switch. Say what you long to say. The fan is small, but its aim is true. You will be heard. This poetical story by Colson Whitehead was the main text in an auction entry on eBay for the bubble blowing gun in the picture. The gun was purchased for 50 cents and achieved a final bid price of $36… Do stories make us value things more?

In this newsletter I’m revisiting a recent project designed to reduce collisions in a bus fleet by influencing behaviour with video drama.

It was back in 2021 when I first entertained the idea of using the Gogglebox format in an L&D setting.

When things change, our world shifts, and we must adapt. Grieving illustrates this process vividly, shaking our emotional landscape and prompting us to reshape our understanding of events. The classic stages of grief – denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance – describe the emotional journey we undergo when facing significant change.

Fill your heart with love today Don’t play the game of time Things that happened in the past Only happened in your Mind You might be familiar with this Biff Rose song from David Bowie’s recording. It’s a beautiful idea. If we can let go of things and move forward, a world of possibility is open to us. But people’s identities are tied up with stories. Stories of past events that are hard to escape.

Our brains perceive a challenge to our belief system in the same way as a physical threat. This is why marketers tend to avoid direct challenges when they want you to change your behaviour.

News story, life story, love story, war story, success story, horror story, origin story, crime story, sob story, true story, fairy story; story is everywhere and our society is held together with stories. “There are no facts, only interpretations.” – Friedrich Nietzsche How do you use story to engage with your colleagues?

Like the character in Talking Heads’ Once in a Lifetime, recently, I’ve been asking myself, “How did I get here?” As we roll out Drama for Change projects, they’re landing really well and having an impact. Our approach is quite novel, so I’m finally close to where I’ve been trying to get to. Of course, I never set out with this destination in mind, so today, I will share a hasty post-rationalisation of my life so far…

After months of reading and writing about the research and theory that Drama for Change is built upon, it’s time to sum it all up. This is Drama for Change!

In a recent post, I reviewed a podcast interview with Professor Frances Frei in which, among other things, she expounded her take on DEI, suggesting we should rename it ‘IED’ because if you get inclusion right, the rest will follow. I vowed to read the book she wrote with Anne Morriss, Move Fast and Fix Things, which details the approach, and to report back with more detail. The result is below. I hope Frances and Anne will forgive me for presenting a mash-up of their text, not always with inverted commas, to help represent their vibe and ideas…