I DRIVE
ORGANIZATIONAL
CHANGE through
STORY + behavioral science

Organizational culture & strategy, leadership development,
LEArning experience design AND CHANGE MANAGEMENT.

MY STORY

I am a consultant, designer and facilitator who envisions a business world where human-centered leadership, authentic connections, and fulfillment at work are the status quo. My preferred approaches to organizational change stem from narrative and behavioral science, and this is my story:

I was twelve years old the first time I connected with a fictional story so deeply that it left me bawling inconsolably on my bed. And I’ll confess that as I went to college and devoured every humanities course possible-from sociology to philosophy and everything in between-I thought of business as a less noble pursuit, one unable to move me as much as story. Yet, when I moved to Colombia after graduating and found myself writing up my own business plan within six months, I had no choice but to reevaluate my paradigms. In reality, I had always been drawn to business.

In fact, my first micro business was up and running at around the same time that same book had me suffering over fictional characters. Deep interests in the humanities and business coexisted within me, but the more I delved into the business world, the more I realized how much businesses-and their leaders-can learn from the humanities to create more human-centered, empathic and sustainable organizations. Business should be a force for good, from the inside out.

This conviction is what drew me to the practice of organizational culture, learning and change. Over the last 10 years, I have had the privilege of partnering with business leaders in dozens of companies in North and South America across 12 industries to solve strategic people and culture challenges in the workplace. I took a deep dive into the world of Story and have developed various methodologies to help leaders and organizations connect people to their purpose and drive positive transformation. And, to deepen my knowledge and practitioner toolkit, I pursued and recently finished my Master of Science in Learning & Organizational Change at Northwestern University. I also dove more into design approaches for organizational effectiveness and got to formally study the role of narratives in team effectiveness through my Master’s capstone project. My learning will never stop, but what remains constant is a curiosity and passion for finding creative and effective ways to wed the insights of the humanities with the business world, drawing them together through Story.

COLOMBIAN-AMERICAN.

SOCCER PLAYER.

UNABASHED COFFEE FANATIC.

Bookworm.

podcaster.

PASSIONATE ABOUT THE TRANSFORMATIVE POWER of story.

P.S.

I like talking about learning and organizational change with my friend Tuli and other guests from our field in our podcast

Beautiful Questions with Tuli & Alma

or check out our show here on Spotify

Teams + Stories:

Insights from my recent research on the role of stories

I recently made a 6-part series of short videos on practical takeaways from my recent grad school research on the role of the stories people tell themselves about their work teams and building effective teams.

Check out the full video on my research and the rest of the videos here: Alma’s YouTube channel

MY STORY IN NUMBERS

I have developed different methodologies to empower business leaders to live out the deeper purpose of their organizational Story, lead with Narrative Intelligence and cultivate healthy workplace cultures. I focus on using storytelling methods for training and formation in soft skills and leadership development, cultural change management and internal brand engagement projects.

BRANDS THAT TRUST ME

I have had the privilege of working as a consultant and facilitator with brands such as:

Recent conference

In February 2020, I was invited to participate as a speaker at one of the most important events for HR executives in Colombia: Executive Day, organized by the Association for Talent Development (Acrip) of Colombia. The conference was on “Storytelling Techniques to discover biases and microagressions”, See more

STORy-based practices

WHAT IS BUSINESS STORYTELLING?

Likely every storytelling consultant you ask will have a slightly different answer to this question, so perhaps a better starting point is understanding that storytelling is a broad tool or area of practice which can be applied to business processes in a variety of ways. Its power lies in harnessing the habit humans have of constructing meaning and significance from their experiences (aka sensemaking and meaning making processes, in academic terms). Narrative is, after all, the water in which we swim.

I define business storytelling, or story-based approach to organizational change work, as the art and science of applying the elements of story to business in order to drive change. And my work is focused on practically applying storytelling techniques with my knowledge of behavioral science to drive leadership development and organizational culture transformation.

I do this by uncovering the root needs related to learning and effectiveness through listening and discovery processes, then designing and leading end-to-end organizational change and culture initiatives, in long term projects or internally, in the following focus areas:

LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT AND LEARNING EXPERIENCE DESIGN

I have ample experience designing learning and development programs, from micro learning sessions to full leadership development programs, with a focus on improving social-emotional skills. I use different story formats as the basis for learning experience design and always include learning by doing, self reflection and touchpoints to ensure learning.
*Learn more*

EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT & INTERNAL BRANDING PROCESSES

Employee disconnection and disengagement with their organization is often rooted in the lack of a unifying narrative. Through a process of diagnosis, discovery and co-creation, I guide leaders on their search to consolidate and unify the Story of their Brand and its deeper purpose.

Learn more