Ready-Written Training Materials

DIFFICULT CONVERSATIONS

You're avoiding having the conversation. You know you need to, but you're not sure how to start it, what happens if it goes wrong, or whether you'll say the right thing. Most difficult conversations feel that way before you have them. This Power Hour gives you a framework for preparing properly, opening without stumbling, and staying grounded when things get tense. You'll work through real scenarios so you can see exactly how to handle the moments that usually trip people up. Suitable for face-to-face or virtual delivery

ONE TO ONES

Most managers get promoted for technical skill, not conversation. One-to-ones often become a checkbox task or get skipped. But regular, focused conversations catch problems early, keep people engaged, and stop small friction from turning into formal grievances. This Power Hour gives you a straightforward structure and the specific skills to make one-to-ones actually work. You'll learn what to listen for, how to keep the conversation on track, and how to follow up so things actually change. Suitable for face-to-face or virtual delivery, with workbooks included.

STAKEHOLDER MANAGEMENT

You need buy-in from people who don't report to you. Some have power over your project, others have information you need, some could block you if they wanted to. Getting them on board without authority means understanding what they actually care about and reaching them the right way. This Power Hour shows you how to identify who matters, work out what drives them, and adapt your approach so they want to help. You'll learn specific tactics that work when you can't just tell people what to do.

ADVANCED COMMUNICATION SKILLS

Help participants to build rapport, adapt their style and use some simple NLP techniques (without the jargon) to communicate effectively with others in a range of situations.

ASSERT YOURSELF

Help participants to understand what assertiveness is (and isn't), explore assertive rights and use a simple 3-step process to demonstrate it in practice.

BUILD A HIGH PERFORMING TEAM

Help participants to understand what makes a high-performing team (HPT), explore the 5 dysfunctions of teams, rate themselves against HPT criteria and identify practical ways to improve their performance.

BUILD EFFECTIVE RELATIONSHIPS

Help participants to recognise and use the SCARF model to meet social needs in others and use the emotional bank account to build strong relationships with others and improve collaboration and cooperation.

BUILD RESILIENCE

Help participants to recognise resilience, explain why it matters and begin to build good habits to improve their own resilience.

BUILDING TRUST 

Help participants to identify what makes us trust each other (or not), explain how trust (or lack of trust) affects business results, and identify behaviours to adopt in order to build trust 

CAREER DEVELOPMENT PLANNING

Help participants make themselves more employable in their chosen career, discover their career anchor to guide their choices, and put together a meaningful career development plan.

COACH PEOPLE

Help participants to explain what coaching is, and when it can be useful, explore the key skills of coaching, and use the GROW Model to structure coaching and achieve a positive outcome

TELEPHONE COMMUNICATION

Help participants learn how to open or answer a call professionally, structure a call to retain control and stay focused, as well as
close and follow up a call effectively.

CREDIBLE LEADERSHIP

Help participants to find their own style of authentic leadership by exploring  five practices of credible leadership and how they can demonstrate them in their role.

CLOSE THE SALE

Help participants to anticipate common ‘blocks’ to closing the sale, and explore how they can be overcome by using positive behaviours and language, and practice a range of different closing techniques.

COMMUNICATION (FACE TO FACE)

Help participants to identify why communication breaks down,  use words, tone and body language, and the communication cycle to express themselves clearly,  and improve understanding.

CONDUCT A PERFORMANCE REVIEW

Help participants to describe effective appraisals, use a useful structure for the appraisal discussion, recognise the skills of effective appraisals, and follow them up to maximise their impact.

CUSTOMER SERVICE

Help participants to recognise what good customer service looks like and the impact it has on businesses, explain the 5 “F”s of customer service, and identify how they can provide good service at every opportunity.

DECISION MAKING

Help participants to recognise the decisions they make on a daily basis, identify their natural decision making style, and when it is (and isn’t) useful, and explore a number of decision making techniques.

DELIVER ON-THE-JOB TRAINING

Help participants to deliver effective on the job training by exploring how people learn, using a tried and tested process and practising some of the key skills required.

DELEGATE

Help participants to recognise the benefits of delegating, identify tasks that they could delegate, and use a structured approach to delegate effectively,  minimising the risks associated with it. 

EMPOWERING LEADERSHIP

Help participants to explore the characteristics and benefits of being an empowering leader, identify the obstacles to empowering leadership and take action to develop an empowering leadership style.

FLEXIBLE LEADERSHIP

Help participants to adapt their leadership style, and explain when each of 4 specific styles are useful (and when they aren't) as well as identify their own ‘natural style’ and when they need to adopt a different one.

GIVE EFFECTIVE FEEDBACK

Help participants to recognise the characteristics of effective feedback, explore what stops them from feedback and structure feedback to ensure that it is useful, and delivered fairly.

HANDLE COMPLAINTS

Help participants to understand why people complain, and what they want when they complain, and use a 7-step approach to handling complaints to bring about a positive result and don’t escalate.

HANDLE RESISTANCE TO CHANGE

Help participants to anticipate and minimise resistance to change, understand why people resist, recognise passive and active resistance, and take practical steps to overcome resistance to change.

HANDLE DIFFICULT PEOPLE

Help participants to define difficult behaviour, suggest what might be driving it, and use Transactional Analysis to take control of difficult behaviours and conversations.

INFLUENCE PEOPLE

Help participants to explore different approaches to influencing, identify different influencing styles and when each might be useful, and use a 6-step approach to influence people positively.

INTRODUCTION TO EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE

Help participants to describe what emotional intelligence is and why it matters, recognise 4 core emotional competences in themselves and others and take action to develop their own emotional intelligence.

LEAD FROM A DISTANCE

Help participants to identify the  unique challenges of being a remote leader, describe the qualities and explore the competences needed to manage a remote team successfully.

LEADING DIFFERENT CHARACTERS

Help participants to  explain what determines behaviour, recognise four typical behavioural styles, and explain the strengths and potential challenges of each, and how to get the most from each style.

PREPARE A PRESENTATION

Help participants to create an effective presentation by clarifying it's underlying purpose,  using the right structure for different types of presentations to get results and prepare appropriate visual aids.

MANAGE CONFLICT

Help participants to identify the most common causes of conflict, describe a process for resolving conflict , and explain the skills needed for effective conflict resolution.

MANAGE THE IMPACT OF CHANGE

Help participants to recognise why change is difficult and the ‘Change Curve’ that many people experience during change, and take practical actions to help people handle each stage of the Change Curve

MANAGE UNDER-PERFORMANCE

Help participants to recognise 4 main reasons for underperformance at work, have a performance improvement conversation with someone and draw up a Performance Improvement Plan.

MOTIVATE AND ENGAGE PEOPLE

Help participants to identify what motivates people… and what doesn’t, use 2 different theories of motivation to identify specific actions you can take to help motivate and engage the people you work with.

MAKE SALES RECOMMENDATIONS

Help participants to see why we should recommend and demonstrate when selling, use features and benefits to help a customer to buy and structure your presentation to communicate key points effectively.

STRESS MANAGEMENT

Help participants to explore what stress is (and isn't) and what causes it, recognise the symptoms of stress and take practical action to reduce stress before it becomes a major problem.

LEAD TRANSITION IN VUCA ENVIRONMENTS

Help participants to recognise explore the psychological link between change and transition and identify appropriate interventions to support and lead a team in a state of constant change.

MANAGE YOUR MONKEYS

Help participants to recognise the different demands on their time, recognise 'monkeys', identify why they pick them up and use the 4 rules of monkey management to take back control of their time

NEGOTIATE

Help participants to recognise the skills and behaviours associated with different types of negotiation, and use a 4-step process to achieve a successful outcome.

OVERCOME OBJECTIONS

Help participants to describe the different types of objection, what is driving them, and
use different techniques for overcoming different types of objections.

PERSUASIVE PRESENTATIONS

Help participants to design and deliver a presentation that generates interest from the start, uses Cialdini’s six principles and persuasive language to get the result they seek.

PRACTICAL TEAM BUILDING

Help participants to recognise effective and ineffective team work, the different stages of team development, and  practical, specific ways to accelerate team development and improve performance 

PREPARE FOR A PERFORMANCE REVIEW

Help participants to fully prepare for a performance review interview so that it benefits everyone and lays the foundations for a successful performance review interview.

PLAN YOUR TIME

Help participants to recognise the main reasons that they struggle to manage their time,  identify the tasks that matter the most, and use a selection of models and practical ideas to maximise their effectiveness.

PROBLEM SOLVING

Help participants to examine a problem and define it in specific terms, apply different techniques to generate possible solutions, and identify when each technique might be useful.  

QUALIFY CUSTOMERS

Help participants to describe the different buying motives and how this affects your sales approach, use appropriate questioning and listening techniques to understand the customer's needs, and more owards a sale.

RUN EFFECTIVE MEETINGS

Help participants to describe the characteristics of effective meetings, plan a meeting and produce a useful agenda, and use appropriate tactics for managing meetings.

RECRUITMENT INTERVIEWING

Help participants to prepare to conduct a selection interview, structure a selection interview properly , and ask useful questions to discover relevant information in a fair and consistent way.

STARTING TO LEAD

Help those new to management describe what leaders and managers DO,  the main skills and behaviours of good managers,
and identify their own strengths and development needs re managing people.  

SET GOALS AND OBJECTIVES

Help participants to describe the characteristics of effective goals, set a SMART objective, and and create a well-formed outcome, and explain why each is useful.

THE MANAGEMENT CYCLE 
(INTRO TO MANAGEMENT)

Help new and potential managers describe what managers DO in specific terms, and explore an 8-step Management Cycle that is relevant for all management roles.