Yesterday we had our monthly meeting of the Cumbria Coaching Network. I had missed the previous meeting as I had been out of the country, so it was a couple of months since I had seen everyone; and in that couple of months a number of them had got around to reading Shifting Stories and trying stuff out. Four people, quite independently, sought me out at the breaks to tell me that they'd had a go at the Many Story approach, and found it really useful.
In fact, that has been the most rewarding aspect of writing the book. It is gratifying (of course) to get lots of 5* reviews on Amazon, but I think that is more about the interest and readability of the book than its practical application. But when people tell me the stories of how they have used the approach and how it has worked, that is wonderful.
I got this message a while back from someone who bought a copy after attending one of my workshops:
Hello Andrew. Just wanted to let you know that I used the principles of the storytelling with a client last week. Not sure I covered all the bases, but having the format in mind was really helpful, particularly in dissociating with 'that' story and associating with 'this' story. Thought you might enjoy the feedback!
My hope is that this blog will become a space in which practitioners share their experiences of trying the approach out (even failures, as we can learn so much from them - which is why I shared a few of mine in the book) and we can all continue to learn together.
So if you have used the approach, please leave a comment on this post, or email me, so that we can start to build a more comprehensive set of case studies of the approach in practice. If you haven't read the book yet, then do so! Or alternatively come to try the approach out (if you live in the North West). I'm running a workshop on it for the Cumbria Coaching Network in the autumn, and we are also planning one for the EMCC North West network. These will be very practical introductions, where you can experience the approach in practice, either as a coach or coachee. And as ever, I'll be very interested in your feedback.