Challenge
Make storytelling a global skillset
GHD is a global professional services company with teams working across five continents in engineering, architecture, construction, digital, and environmental services.
The company is united by a shared purpose: “Together with our clients, we create lasting community benefit.” But its internal and external messaging didn’t always reflect that purpose in a resonant and human ways.
Leaders knew that relying on data alone wouldn’t cut it.
Whether pitching for work, writing reports, delivering presentations, or mentoring junior staff, GHD professionals needed a new skillset: storytelling.
The ask was ambitious. Echo was brought in to train hundreds of employees across the globe in the mindset, language, and practice of story-first communication. And we had to deliver something scalable that would stick.
GHD’s leaders weren’t looking for inspiration. They wanted behavioural change.
Solution
A global training program at scale
We began with GHD’s senior communications leaders to define what “storytelling” meant inside the firm and where it would show up most effectively.
Then we got to work designing a custom program that could be rolled out internationally and tailored to different functions.
Key deliverables included:
- A global storytelling framework
- A set of customized live, virtual workshops and follow-up “storyteller cafés”
- Breakout exercises, team challenges, and coaching prompts
- Access to a digital toolkit
Over the course of the program, we trained 577 employees, from new hires to senior leaders. Participants came from Canada, the U.S., the U.K., Australia, New Zealand, the Philippines, and beyond.
Our sessions explored:
- How to spot story moments in everyday work
- How to be vulnerable in telling a values-forward story that builds trust
- How to apply storytelling in RFPs, proposals, onboarding, and leadership
- And how to find language that bridges technical detail with emotional clarity
The content was interactive, rigorous, and (dare we say) fun.
Result
Embedded culture shift, measurable impact
Storytelling at GHD is no longer a “nice to have.”
It’s now part of how the firm communicates, internally and externally.
Senior leaders consistently reference storytelling in keynotes and firm-wide updates. Project teams now have a shared language for why their work matters. And business development teams are putting new storytelling tools directly into play on RFPs and pitch decks.
The training didn’t just land. It lasted.
Participants remain eager to share how they’d applied the work in real-time situations: hiring conversations. Sales meetings. Executive presentations. Onboarding new grads.
The impact has reached well beyond communications. It’s part of how GHD sees itself and shares that story with the world.
One more cool thing...
About Us, rewritten
Following the storytelling sessions, a member of GHD’s senior team quietly admitted that the About Us page on their website didn’t sound like them.
It was long, full of jargon, and didn’t communicate anything close to the heart.
So we rewrote it together.
And something changed.
The new About Us copy, shaped in partnership with GHD and workshopped live with the Echo team, now tells a story that speaks clearly, connects quickly, and reflects who GHD really is.
It’s proof that when storytelling shifts, so does everything else.
Want to make storytelling part of your company culture?
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