Group Coaching Activity

The Stories We Tell Ourselves: Using Rory's Story Cubes in Group Coaching Programs

Every leader who walks into a group coaching session brings a story with them. "I don't have time to look after myself." "Asking for help makes me look weak." "This is just how things work around here." These stories are rarely said out loud, yet they quietly shape decisions, boundaries and behavior long after the session ends.

In our work supporting group coaching in organizations, we have found that one of the fastest ways to bring these stories to the surface is also one of the most playful: a handful of picture dice. In this post, we share a session design we love, built around Rory's Story Cubes, and explain why it works so well in group coaching programs for managers, leaders and cross-functional cohorts.

‍

Why Stories Matter in Group Coaching

Psychologist Dan McAdams, whose research on narrative identity has shaped how we understand personality, argues that people make sense of their lives by building an internal, evolving story of who they are (McAdams, "The Psychology of Life Stories," Review of General Psychology, 2001). Those stories are not neutral. They tell us what is possible, what is expected of us and what we are allowed to want.

Narrative therapists Michael White and David Epston added another useful idea. When people describe a problem as something separate from themselves, rather than a fixed part of who they are, they gain room to change their relationship with it (White and Epston, Narrative Means to Therapeutic Ends, 1990). Coaching is not therapy, but the principle translates beautifully. When a participant tells their story through the image on a dice, the story becomes something they can look at, question and rewrite, rather than simply "the way it is."

In a group, this effect multiplies. Images give participants a shared language for complex experiences, which is why we are such fans of metaphor in group coaching. And hearing a peer describe their story often helps others recognize their own for the first time.

‍

What Are Rory's Story Cubes?

Rory's Story Cubes is a creative storytelling game made up of dice with pictures instead of numbers. Each face shows an object, character or action, such as a key, a footprint, a moon or a house. Players roll the dice and combine the images into a story.

The game works with physical dice for in-person groups and with the app for virtual ones. That flexibility makes it a practical tool for hybrid group coaching programs, where some cohorts meet in a room and others meet on screen.

‍

The Session: "The Stories We Tell Ourselves"

This activity works with any coaching topic. Our example uses self-care, but internal coaches can easily swap in themes like workload and capacity, leading through change, delegation or career growth.

‍

Step 1: Establish the participants' current reality

Open with a few questions to ground the group in the topic. For self-care, you might ask:

• What does self-care mean to you?
• How important is self-care to you?
• What is the impact of your current self-care routine on your life, your career and your relationships?

Ask as many questions as you see fit. The goal is reflection, not a perfect answer.

‍

Step 2: The story you tell yourself

• Online: Before the session, take a picture of a set of rolled dice for each participant and title each image with their name. Drop the images in the chat so everyone can download their own.
• In person: Have each participant roll their own set of dice.
• Ask participants to choose one image from each row of dice to tell the story of their current self-care routine.
• Give them 3 to 4 minutes to think it through individually. Soft instrumental music helps; we like Garth Stevenson.

‍

Step 3: Peer coaching in the full group

1. Ask for a volunteer to go first and demonstrate the process.
2. Invite everyone else to listen with curiosity and note the questions they would like to ask about the story.
3. After the share, give the group a few minutes to ask questions and the volunteer to answer.
4. Your role is to step back and listen deeply. Observe the body language of the volunteer and of those asking questions. Notice what each person asks. Perhaps it is a question they need to answer for themselves!
5. Bring the group back and give everyone a minute or two to reflect individually on what they learned for themselves.
6. Ask the volunteer what has become clearer for them, then thank them for going first and helping the whole group.

‍

Step 4: Peer coaching in small groups

If your group has more than five participants, move into breakouts. Groups of three work beautifully. Each person shares their story and receives questions from their peers. When everyone returns, allow another minute or two of individual reflection.

‍

Step 5: Debrief and create actions

• Debrief the process, letting the group take the lead.
• Create space for each participant to choose an action for themselves.
• Invite them to share their action with the group for accountability.

‍

Why This Activity Works for Group Coaching in Organizations

It lowers the barrier to vulnerability. Amy Edmondson's research shows that teams learn when members believe it is safe to take interpersonal risks (Edmondson, "Psychological Safety and Learning Behavior in Work Teams," Administrative Science Quarterly, 1999). Among colleagues, that safety takes time to build. The dice give participants an indirect way in. They talk about the image first, and about themselves second.

It builds coaching skills, not just insight. Participants spend most of the activity listening and asking curious questions. That is a coaching culture in miniature. In the Group Coaching HQ 2026 landscape study, fostering peer learning and accountability ranked among the top goals organizations set for their group coaching programs.

It fits the way programs are actually designed. The same study found that active programs often run cohorts of 5 to 8 participants meeting for 90 minutes. This session slots right in: one full-group demonstration, followed by trios, with time left to debrief.

It keeps the coach in coaching mode. As our Chief Learning Officer Maribel always says: you own the process, they own the content! The dice hold the structure, so you are free to observe, listen and notice patterns across the group.

‍

Tips for Internal Coaches

• Anchor the topic in the cohort's context. A new-manager cohort might explore "the story I tell myself about delegating." A senior cohort might explore "the story I tell myself about leading through uncertainty."
• Revisit confidentiality first. When participants work together, remind the group of the agreements you co-created before anyone shares a personal story.
• Resist interpreting the images. The meaning belongs to the participant. Your questions should open their thinking, not fill it in.
• Watch the questioners. The questions people ask often reveal the stories they are telling themselves.
• Return to the story later. In a following session, ask: "How has your story changed since we last met?" This reinforces the learning and gives you qualitative data to show impact.

‍

Final Thoughts

The stories we tell ourselves can keep us stuck, or they can become the starting point for change. With a simple set of picture dice, you can help participants see their stories clearly, hear new perspectives from peers and leave with an action they own.

Try it in your next session and let us know how it goes. We would love to hear which stories surfaced in your group!

‍