About us

Frances Storr Associates is a group of organisational consultants and facilitators with a specialist focus on complexity and systems thinking. Their work supports organisations and people in a variety of ways: by designing processes, events and interventions, through performance coaching, by introducing new tools, frameworks and ways of understanding their current situation, and, occasionally, through training.

 

How we work

We offer a blend of facilitation, training, process design, advice, and coaching support. The kinds of interventions we are asked to make are many and varied, however there are consistent ways of approaching any task that characterise how we work.

 

Plain speaking

We bring plain speaking to complex or difficult situations, and help people make sense of what they see and experience. We believe it is important to avoid getting lost in management-speak, and to deal with what is happening in front of our eyes, right now. We put a lot of emphasis on helping people have better-quality conversations. We get in there with them and model what we’re talking about so they can see and feel the difference in the richness and immediacy of what’s being talked about.

 

Questioning assumptions

When we are working together, you can expect us to question your thinking, ask you to pause and reflect on the impact of what you are saying, challenge your assumptions, and prompt you to go deeper than your stock answers. We will give you honest feedback on what may be blind-spots for you. But above all you can expect tons and tons of support, encouragement and understanding. We all need these, right?

 

Meaning and purpose

Our approach is the antithesis of ‘doing exercises’, or producing things that, come Monday morning, will be forgotten about. If we design a whole-organisation event or large-group intervention, it will focus on the real work of the business. We have a fundamental belief that when people are able to talk about what matters to them, they do fantastic work and relationships develop naturally.

 

Data is king

Our work is always grounded in data, and data comes in many shapes and forms – no single person ever has the whole view of the organisation, no matter how senior or pivotal their role.

 

Checking connections

Whatever we are doing, we’re on the look-out for faulty connections. Sometimes we describe our work as being like that of a plumber, tracing through the pipework to find out where the leaks and blockages are. It’s in the connections – between people, functions, tasks, and so on – that the understanding, learning, solutions and new ideas can occur. We get things to flow again.

 

Feedback from within the system

We make it a priority to engage people from all levels of the hierarchy in the process of understanding what is going on. We believe it’s vital to hear the everyday stories from around the organisation and it’s by accessing feedback from the system in this way, that we can build up a shared picture and this, in turn, tell us where the real work needs to start.

 

Modelling

While we’re doing what we do, we will be modelling to you how to do it, too. We’ll give you the skills, processes and cues with which to continue spotting patterns, removing blocks to performance, and enabling better conversations, long after we’ve gone.

 

Our approach

Complexity and systems thinking

Our entire approach to helping organisations thrive is informed by complexity theory and systems thinking.

 

In our organisations, without meaning to, we may implement a well-intentioned change over here... that has an unwanted impact over there. Or just when we think we have gained control over a particular area, to our dismay it slips out of our grasp again. Whilst we focus intently on our own personal objectives, we fail to see that there is something much bigger coming into view that will require us to entirely re-think what our role is about.

 

The reason silo working is so popular is that in the short-term it is much easier: we feel in command of ‘our bit’. Systems thinking is about working with the reality of inherent complexity and interdependence, rather than in spite of it, or in denial of it. The beauty of this approach is that, once you get the hang of its guiding principles, it gives you a whole new range of resources with which to make sense of what is going on in your team, organisation or environment, and options about how to influence the future.

 

Credentials

Frances Storr

Frances Storr has worked in organisational development for over 20 years. Following a degree in Psychology and a Master’s Degree in Organisational Psychology, she specialised in developing organisational culture for 10 years before moving into leadership development. She is an Associate Fellow of the British Psychological Society, a Chartered Occupational Psychologist and an accredited executive coach with the EMCC.

 

She has worked in different settings including the Civil Service and an economic development agency, and prior to establishing her own consultancy practice she was a partner in an international consultancy firm for 11 years, focusing mainly on the blue-chip companies in the private sector.

 

Her client work has included international banks, government agencies, manufacturing companies, FTSE 100 businesses and multinational corporations. Clients include Kellogg, Ford Motor Company, BBC Worldwide, The Body Shop, Cancer Research UK, and Coca Cola.

 

Her particular professional interests are complexity theory as an approach to organisational change, Large Group Interventions and relational approaches to leadership.

 

Frances is also a founding partner and director of Levati Learning which specialises in high quality transformational personal development programmes.

 

We are delighted to have helped the following businesses on their journey to success: