Difficult conversations training for managers.
A three-hour session where managers rehearse the conversation they've been putting off, stop it where it goes wrong, and run it again. Up to 16 managers, at your office, from £750.
Why managers put these conversations off.
Most managers have read the framework and know roughly what they should say. What they haven't done is say it out loud to somebody who pushes back. For most of them, the first attempt is the real conversation, with the real person, when it matters most.
The Lab gives them a first attempt that costs nothing.
What happens in the three hours.
Warming up the room.
The first hour is in pairs and as a whole group: a listening exercise and a short piece of work on status, so everyone has the same language for what comes next.
Playing the scenario.
Two managers play a scene built from a situation the group recognises, and the rest of the room watches. I say this at the start, because it's what the session is for.
Freezing it.
I stop the scene at the first point it starts to go wrong, and we look at what the last line did to the conversation.
Running it again.
The same pair picks it up from that point and tries something different.
Swapping roles.
They change sides and hear their own words from across the table.
Closing.
Each manager writes down one conversation they're going to have and when. They keep it. I don't collect it.
The conversations managers bring.
Scenarios come from the pre-call. You tell me what your managers are avoiding, and I write it up with the names and details changed. On the day, the group picks one scenario of its own.
The rules that let people take a risk.
Nobody plays themselves.
Everyone plays a character in a situation, and nobody plays a real named colleague. That distance is what makes it possible to try something new.
The room talks about lines, never people.
Feedback is about what a line did to the conversation. Nobody gets told they came across badly.
Anyone can sit a round out.
Everything before the break is in pairs or the whole group, so people have warmed up before anyone plays in front of the room.
Live cases stay with HR.
I don't advise on a real situation with HR or legal sides to it. Nothing sent afterwards names a scenario.
Up to 16, at a fixed fee.
Capped at 16. Above that, most people spend the session watching, so for a larger cohort I run it twice.
£750 at the launch rate, then £1,000 standard. The fee is fixed in writing before the date is held. Scenarios built from your own documents are £250 extra, and charities, CICs and social enterprises get 25% off.
Full rate cardWhat managers' bosses ask first.
Do managers need to be good at acting?
No. Nobody is asked to be funny or inventive. They play a character in a situation close to one they already know.
Will they have to play in front of their peers?
Yes, in pairs, with the room watching. The first hour builds up to it, and anyone can sit a round out and rejoin.
Can it use our own policies and processes?
I write the scenarios from what you tell me on the pre-call. If you want them built from your own documents, that's a £250 supplement.
What if it doesn't work for our managers?
Then you don't pay for it. Tell me within seven days and the fee is refunded in full, deposit included.
Get a price and a date.
Tell me the group size and roughly when. You'll have a written quote back within one working day, and the fee is refunded in full if the session doesn't land.
Ask for a price