WorkLife Stories from School of WorkLife

Carmel
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Character-Driven WorkLife Stories That Shift How You Think Short, character-driven stories about real WorkLife challenges — how we communicate, lead, make decisions, and navigate what happens at work. Each story shows a moment where something shifts: a conversation changes, an idea lands, a different approach opens up.  Working examples you can recognise and use — designed to be useful immediately. The stories explore five themes, each a different lens on the same essential question:  How do we create WorkLives that matter? Self-Discovery — understanding what truly matters to you.  Book Club Books — learning from the wisdom found in great books.  The Art of WorkLife Storytelling — crafting your distinctive narratives.  Character Traits — enhancing your natural strengths.  Mental Health and Wellbeing — navigating workplace wellbeing challenges. Every episode is complete and free to listen.  Each story connects to a full Story Lesson — a deeper, structured resource with frameworks, reflection, and practical application.  And for those who want to go deeper still, Story Lessons connect to Guided Programmes — comprehensive learning journeys available at School of WorkLife.

  1. 21h ago

    Can I Coach Myself Into Being a Leader People Trust?

    Send us Fan Mail SHOW NOTES: WorkLife Stories from School of WorkLife  Episode: Can I Coach Myself Into Being a Leader People Trust? Can I coach myself into being a leader people trust is the question for anyone who leads a capable team well and can't work out why nothing of their own ever comes back — and the answer is yes. The reason your team gives you compliance rather than ownership is something you can work out for yourself, with the right questions. You don't need a course or a mentor. You need a way of looking at your own leadership from the outside, and the honesty to answer what you find. Mario spent two years leading a clinic that ran entirely on his thinking — eight skilled physios who did what was asked and never brought anything of their own. This is the story of the evening he sat at his kitchen table and diagnosed his own leadership the way he'd diagnose a patient who wasn't improving, and the three stories he found in an hour and a half: the success he'd half-forgotten, the failure hiding inside a well-run clinic, and the reason he'd taken the job in the first place. It's also the story of what he did next — turning the same three questions on a colleague, and watching her work herself out too. RESOURCES MENTIONED Get the Trust — Professional Self-Coaching for Leadership People Believe In. Tell the Three Stories That Turn Respect Into Trust, and Compliance Into Ownership. Prepare the Failure, Success and Passion Stories That Let People See How You Think, What You've Learnt, and What You're Leading For Work With Me: Commissioned learning resources, speaking engagements, and organisational partnerships. The stories I write are based on real WorkLife challenges, obstacles, failures and successes. Persons and companies portrayed in the stories are not based on real people or entities. Carmel O' Reilly schoolofworklife.com  Support the show

    Can I Coach Myself Into Being a Leader People Trust?

  2. 21h ago

    Introducing Self-Discovery at Work

    Send us Fan Mail SHOW NOTES: WorkLife Stories from School of WorkLife Episode: Introducing Self-Discovery at Work Introducing Self-Discovery at Work — a new resource in Story-Based Learning for Organisations from School of WorkLife, created to help experienced people understand what they value, what their expertise is for and where they want it to lead. Gillian Hart has spent eleven years at a housing association, trusted with the projects that matter. With two weeks until her development conversation, the obvious answer is the next role up. Yet each time she types it, she deletes it. Self-Discovery at Work follows Gillian as she discovers what she values, what her work is for and where she wants it to lead, and takes you through the same journey, with a complete Workbook, a Facilitator Guide and a Manager’s Guide that explores the same story from the other side of the table. The story is free to read and listen to, and the complete resource is free to download. RESOURCES Download the complete resource for free →SELF-DISCOVERY AT WORK — Helping Experienced People Understand What They Value, What Their Expertise Is For and Where They Want It to Lead Self-Discovery at Work can also be tailored to your organisation, with the story, characters, questions, Workbook, Facilitator Guide and Manager’s Guide written around your own people and setting. Story-Based Learning for Organisations: Original Stories. Tailored Learning. Lasting Reflection. Contact carmel@schoolofworklife.com to discuss a tailored Story-Based Learning resource for your organisation. Work With Me: Individual WorkLife Coaching, Commissioned Learning Resources, Speaking Engagements and Organisational Partnerships. The stories I write are based on real WorkLife challenges, obstacles, failures and successes. Persons and companies portrayed in the stories are not based on real people or entities. Carmel O’ Reilly schoolofworklife.com Support the show

    Introducing Self-Discovery at Work

  3. 1d ago

    Professional Development: I Kept Looking for the Next Thing

    Send us Fan Mail SHOW NOTES WorkLife Stories from School of WorkLife Episode: Professional Development: I Kept Looking for the Next Thing Keith had become used to thinking about professional development as something that came next. Another qualification. Another skill. Another area of work. But after becoming self-employed and then taking responsibility for a small team, he began to discover that some of his most important learning was happening in the work he was already doing. When a problem arose, Keith resisted the temptation to step in and solve it himself. Instead, he asked questions and worked through it with a member of his team. In the process, he began to recognise that he was learning about leadership, responsibility and when to step in — and when to let someone work something out. Keith's story raises a bigger question: What are you looking for next that you might still have more to learn from where you are now? RESOURCES The Storytelling Newsletter (Free) Short, focused, and grounded in real WorkLife situations — how we communicate, lead, make decisions, and navigate challenges at work.   Work With Me: Individual WorkLife Coaching, Commissioned Learning Resources, Speaking Engagements and Organisational Partnerships. schoolofworklife.com  The stories I write are based on real WorkLife challenges, obstacles, failures and successes. Persons and companies portrayed in the stories are not based on real people or entities. Carmel O' Reilly schoolofworklife.com Support the show

    Professional Development: I Kept Looking for the Next Thing

  4. 2d ago

    Introducing Teach What Matters

    Send us Fan Mail SHOW NOTES: WorkLife Stories from School of WorkLife  Episode: Introducing Teach What Matters Introducing Teach What Matters — a new Professional Self-Coaching resource from School of WorkLife, created for shaping your work around what you value. You already have a method that works. And still, strong results can leave something unaddressed — a gap between what gets measured and who gets truly seen. When your work is clearly succeeding by every usual measure, it can be easy to leave that gap unnamed. Teach What Matters takes you from noticing that gap to naming what you value, testing it against real work, speaking honestly to the people your decision touches, and shaping your work around what matters most. RESOURCES  TEACH WHAT MATTERS: Professional Self-Coaching for Shaping Your Work Around What You Value — Discover Why Top Results Can Still Leave a Student Unseen, and How to Shape Your Work Around What You Value Work With Me: Individual WorkLife Coaching, Commissioned Learning Resources, Speaking Engagements and Organisational Partnerships. The stories I write are based on real WorkLife challenges, obstacles, failures and successes. Persons and companies portrayed in the stories are not based on real people or entities. Carmel O' Reilly schoolofworklife.com Support the show

    Introducing Teach What Matters

  5. 2d ago

    Nothing's Wrong. So Why Am I Still Just the Expert?

    Send us Fan Mail SHOW NOTES WorkLife Stories from School of WorkLife Episode: Nothing's Wrong. So Why Am I Still Just the Expert? Nothing's wrong, so why am I still just the expert is the question for anyone whose expertise is trusted completely while their strategic thinking goes uninvited — and the answer isn't to be a better expert. Being asked only for the answer is not the same as being unable to offer more; but give only the answer, and the answer is all anyone will ask you for. What turns the expert into the strategist is offering the vision behind the expertise. Máire is a clinical dietitian and public-health adviser who spent thirty years keeping people well — trusted absolutely for the expert answer, and never once invited into the rooms where the strategy was set, though she held a whole vision of how population health could work. This is the story of the question that made her see it, and the three stories she found underneath a faultless record: the failure of a vision never carried into the room, the success hiding in a mentoring relationship, and the passion for the big picture she'd kept quiet for decades. RESOURCES MENTIONED Get the Strategic Influence — Professional Self-Coaching for Being Valued as a Strategic Mind, Not Only a Technical One. Tell the Three Stories That Reveal the Purpose Behind Your Expertise — So People See the Strategic Thinking Driving It. Share Why You See What You See — So Your Insight Enters the Conversations That Shape Decisions. Work With Me: Commissioned learning resources, speaking engagements, and organisational partnerships. The stories I write are based on real WorkLife challenges, obstacles, failures and successes. Persons and companies portrayed in the stories are not based on real people or entities. Carmel O' Reilly schoolofworklife.com  Support the show

    Nothing's Wrong. So Why Am I Still Just the Expert?

  6. 3d ago

    Postcards from Exploring WorkLife: Looking Beyond the Horizon

    Send us Fan Mail SHOW NOTES Episode Postcards from Exploring WorkLife: Looking Beyond the Horizon “The Causeway coast is a place where the sea and stone converse, where the basalt speaks of ancient fires.” Anonymous The photo with this episode is my view from The Giant’s Causeway, Northern Ireland. Carmel  Support the show

    Postcards from Exploring WorkLife: Looking Beyond the Horizon

  7. 4d ago

    Self-Coaching Through WorkLife Storytelling to Choose Your Direction

    Send us Fan Mail SHOW NOTES WorkLife Stories from School of WorkLife Episode: Self-Coaching Through WorkLife Storytelling to Choose Your Direction Adele had come home to Bordeaux with a notebook full of questions and one line written at the bottom of the page: listen first. Her father, Henri, was recovering from a heart problem, and her brother, Luc, had been carrying the family vineyard's troubles alone. Within half an hour of opening the accounts, Adele had slipped back into an old pattern. Using effective self-feedback, she changed course. She told her stories honestly and asked her family to tell theirs, and what she heard changed how she saw the past. Her story explores how self-coaching through WorkLife storytelling can help us take an active part in deciding what comes next, alongside the people our decisions affect. RESOURCES In Self-Coaching Through WorkLife Storytelling to Find Your Answers, Adele had begun to see her situation differently. Explore The Art of WorkLife Storytelling — Discover how the stories we tell about our experiences can help us understand ourselves, recognise what matters and use what we learn to shape our working lives. Explore The Art of WorkLife Storytelling Story Lessons— Practical, story-based resources that help you write your own WorkLife stories, question them and use what they reveal. Explore The Art of WorkLife Storytelling Programmes — Follow a guided learning journey to write, question and retell your WorkLife stories, and use what they reveal to understand yourself and shape your working life. Explore Professional Self-Coaching Resources — Work through focused resources that help you ask yourself the right questions, find your own answers and take action on what you learn. Explore Individual WorkLife Coaching  — When you need space to think with someone else about your working life, a difficult situation, a decision or what comes next, dedicated coaching sessions help you explore what matters, see your situation differently and find your own way forward. Work With Me: Individual WorkLife Coaching, Commissioned Learning Resources, Speaking Engagements and Organisational Partnerships The stories I write are based on real WorkLife challenges, obstacles, failures and successes. Persons and companies portrayed in the stories are not based on real people or entities. Carmel O’ Reilly schoolofworklife.com Support the show

    Self-Coaching Through WorkLife Storytelling to Choose Your Direction

  8. 5d ago

    Introducing How to Redesign Your Professional Life When Values Evolve

    Send us Fan Mail SHOW NOTES: WorkLife Stories from School of WorkLife  Episode: How to Redesign Your Professional Life When Values Evolve Redesigning your professional life rarely begins with a crisis. It often begins with a shift too gradual to name. Elaine had spent nine years building a career in consulting, and her work was as strong as ever. This is the story of the shift she couldn't name, and what it began to change. RESOURCES Story Lesson: How to Redesign Your Professional Life When Values Evolve — Learn how to recognise when life experience has shifted your values, tell a logistics problem from a values one, and redesign your professional life around what now matters. Guided Programme:  Values Alignment Career Transition Guide - How to Navigate from Success to True Significance  The Storytelling Newsletter Short, focused, and grounded in real WorkLife situations — how we communicate, lead, make decisions, and navigate challenges at work.   Work With Me:  Individual WorkLife Coaching, Commissioned Learning Resources, Speaking Engagements and Organisational Partnerships. The stories I write are based on real WorkLife challenges, obstacles, failures and successes. Persons and companies portrayed in the stories are not based on real people or entities. Carmel O' Reilly  https://schoolofworklife.com/ Support the show

    Introducing How to Redesign Your Professional Life When Values Evolve
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Character-Driven WorkLife Stories That Shift How You Think Short, character-driven stories about real WorkLife challenges — how we communicate, lead, make decisions, and navigate what happens at work. Each story shows a moment where something shifts: a conversation changes, an idea lands, a different approach opens up.  Working examples you can recognise and use — designed to be useful immediately. The stories explore five themes, each a different lens on the same essential question:  How do we create WorkLives that matter? Self-Discovery — understanding what truly matters to you.  Book Club Books — learning from the wisdom found in great books.  The Art of WorkLife Storytelling — crafting your distinctive narratives.  Character Traits — enhancing your natural strengths.  Mental Health and Wellbeing — navigating workplace wellbeing challenges. Every episode is complete and free to listen.  Each story connects to a full Story Lesson — a deeper, structured resource with frameworks, reflection, and practical application.  And for those who want to go deeper still, Story Lessons connect to Guided Programmes — comprehensive learning journeys available at School of WorkLife.

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