Stop dreading the awkward conversation. A framework, the language, and live practice on your actual upcoming conversation — so disagreements turn into better decisions, not damaged trust.
The conversation has been on your to-do list for three weeks. Every day it sits there has a cost — the issue gets worse, the team notices you're avoiding it, and you start telling yourself a story about the other person that makes it harder to start the conversation when you finally do. Avoidance compounds.
This workshop is built on the framework developed at the Harvard Negotiation Project by Douglas Stone, Bruce Patton and Sheila Heen (the authors of Difficult Conversations: How to Discuss What Matters Most), combined with the SBI feedback model used by the Center for Creative Leadership. It's the framework that underpins how the best UK managers actually navigate workplace friction.
The day is built around your actual upcoming conversation. Delegates name the one conversation they've been avoiding, prep it with the 5-step framework, practise the open in pairs, and leave with the plan they'll execute that week — not a workbook.
Built on Stone, Patton & Heen (Harvard Negotiation Project)Every TESS workshop is designed backwards from the change you want to see in your team's behaviour. Here's what coaching graduates do differently on the Monday after.
A 4-section prep template — facts, feelings, identity, intention — that makes the conversation 70% done before you open your mouth.
A repeatable open that gets you past the small talk and into the substance without the recipient feeling ambushed.
Situation, Behaviour, Impact — drilled until you can deliver it without the qualifier that softens it into uselessness.
Separate position from interest. Get to the real concern under the surface objection.
Three responses for the three most common deflections — without escalating, capitulating or letting it drift.
Avoid the conversation that ends without an agreement. Leave with a specific action, owner and date.
Half-day format. A focused three-and-a-half hour block — the structure compresses to fit the time without losing the live practice.
Genuinely the first time I've left a coaching course able to do it on Monday. The live rounds with feedback made the difference. My 1:1s have completely changed shape.
Pricing depends on group size, delivery mode (live online vs in-person) and whether we tailor the curriculum to your sector. Closed cohorts start from a few hundred pounds per delegate for half-day workshops and scale from there. Book a 15-minute discovery call and we'll give you a concrete figure within 24 hours.
Difficult Conversations is a focused half-day workshop by design. A full day dilutes the urgency of the live practice on your actual conversation. If you want a deeper treatment, look at Coaching for Performance which folds the SBI model into a longer coaching skills day.
We're flexible. Most cohorts run with 10–20 delegates, but we regularly deliver for smaller groups of 2–4, particularly for senior teams or specialised sectors. The live coaching rounds work better with even numbers, but we'll make any group work.
Live online is our default and works well for coaching — breakout rooms make the practice rounds work cleanly. We also deliver in-person at your site or a venue you choose, particularly when the cohort already work in the same room.
Typical lead time from a first call to delivery is 2–4 weeks. We can move faster if you need to — the limiting factor is usually your calendar, not ours.
Yes. The frameworks (GROW, TGROW, observable behaviours) stay the same; the examples, exercises and case studies are tailored to your sector, tools and your team's real work. We discuss this on the discovery call and rebrief the practitioner before delivery.
Yes. Every delegate receives a CPD-certified digital certificate on completion. The certificate references the hours of learning and the frameworks covered, so it can be added directly to a CPD record for any chartered or professional body.
We allocate a TESS coaching practitioner based on your sector. All practitioners are independently qualified coaches (ILM Level 5 or equivalent) with active corporate coaching practices. We'll send the named practitioner's bio after the discovery call.
Two ways in. Book a 30-minute discovery call below, or fill out the form and we'll reply within 24 hours with cohort options for your group.