Amplify your team’s impact 📈
Do you want to give your people the skills to thrive? If they need to:
- explain the value of their work
- lead teams
- influence colleagues
- run meetings or workshops
…then a bespoke course in effective communication will catalyse change. Teams don’t develop these skills by magic! They need to learn and practise together.
In-house training is a tried and tested approach, for three reasons:
- Short programmes, tailored to your team. We’ll run half-day sessions at your workplace or offsite:
- the training will address your team’s goals and growth areas
- choose one of our standard programmes or design your own
- An expert coach. Jonathan Kahn has trained high performing teams
like GDS. He’ll identify where your team is blocked and show you what to work on:
- apply communication techniques to real workplace scenarios
- each person gets individual coaching
- We’ll show you how to make the changes stick. Embed your new skills into
everyday work:
- identify ambitious goals for your team—and agree success metrics
- set up a peer coaching programme for ongoing practice
You’ll see improvements from day one.
Clients include:
What is in-house training?
In-house training means that we deliver a bespoke communication course at your offices. Sessions are short and focus on the communication skills the team needs to thrive.
Groups are up to 12 people, and could be:
- a team who work together every day
- people in similar roles (like new managers)
- members of the same discipline (like researchers or engineers)
Choose one of our standard programmes or design your own.
Course programmes 🎓
Choose one of our standard programmes (or we’ll design a custom one):
Explain the Value of your Work with Storytelling
This programme is for teams who need to:
- advocate for their work or methods
- build relationships (with colleagues or partners/clients)
- reframe technical requirements in plain language
Skills we’ll cover:
- storytelling: how to capture your audience’s attention
- non-verbal communication and physicality
- speaking off the cuff
Leadership Skills for New Managers
This programme is for businesses who want to:
- “grow their own” leaders by skilling up new managers or individual contributors
- reduce expensive, risky hiring processes
- improve retention with a career path for existing staff
Skills you’ll learn:
- leadership styles
- how to coach junior colleagues (includes active listening)
- handling conflict
How to Run a Room
This progamme is for staff who need to:
- chair meetings or workshops
- involve stakeholders or customers in decisions
- synthesise ideas and respond to issues from multiple people
Skills you’ll learn:
- how to enable creativity without losing focus
- getting people with divergent interests to agree on “good enough” solutions
- techniques for running virtual rooms
The Swiss Army Knife
This programme is for businesses who want to:
- give staff a communication toolkit to make everyday work more effective
- learn new techniques together
- embed new behaviours
Skills you’ll learn:
- active listening
- effective feedback
- collaboration skills (saying, “yes”)
How it works
People love our training sessions. They learn new skills and try out techniques. They discover talents they never knew they had. And they have fun doing it.
Which raises the question: is that enough for you? Are you looking for a one-off workshop or a significant impact?
Make the changes stick with peer coaching
We’ve found that clients who plan for ongoing practice get the best results. They embed new behaviours into their team’s culture. People keep using the approaches for years and spread them across the business.
We recommend the peer coaching approach. That means:
- People pair up with a coaching “buddy”. They support each other to develop communication skills.
- Peer coaches meet to discuss goals, reflect on progress and decide what to practise next.
- Volunteers coordinate the programme. They pair people up, arrange meet-ups and share resources.
Setting up a peer coaching programme is effective and low-cost. All you need is:
- sponsorship from team leaders (for example, scheduling time or booking rooms)
- volunteers from your team to run the programme
We’ll show you how to do it.
Before the training
To get the most from in-house training, you need to choose goals beforehand. We will:
- Run a kick-off meeting with team leaders (1 hour, via Zoom). You’ll choose goals and success metrics.
- Show you how to identify staff who can organise peer coaching.
Afterwards
After the training we’ll:
- Share a digital handout. It describes the techniques, explains the theory and offers further reading.
- Run a review meeting for team leaders (1 hour, via Zoom). You’ll assess progress against your goals and agree a plan to make the changes stick.
- Provide resources to support peer coaching.
One-to-one coaching with Jonathan Kahn (optional extra)
We recommend that you combine in-house training with one-to-one coaching for all participants. Over a series of 3 sessions, Jonathan will show each person how to apply what they’ve learned to their real work context.
Your coach: Jonathan Kahn
Jonathan Kahn is a communication coach who’s worked with hundreds of people since 2013. He’s trained engineers, designers, accountants, surgeons, research scientists, CEOs and UN Peacekeepers. He works in London and online, with people around the world.
Jonathan is a skilled listener. Clients describe his, “uncanny knack for identifying the major issues to address.” He understands how people learn new skills—and what gets in the way. Which means he can:
- get people using new skills immediately
- show them where to focus to get the outcomes they need
His unique approach comes from an unusual career path, starting as a web developer. He realised that what’s difficult about websites isn’t code—it’s getting people to work together. This insight started him on the path to becoming a communication coach.
Since then he’s learned advanced improvisation and facilitation techniques. He has organised—and presented at—conferences worldwide. He’s also trained the UK’s leading digital teams, like the Government Digital Service. After more than a decade in London, Jonathan now lives in West Wales with his partner and two children.
Benefits of in-house training
The benefits of in-house communication training include:
- tailored programmes
- a shared reference point for communication skills
- inspiring new team practices
Let’s discuss each one in turn.
Tailored programmes
At our open courses we cover a range of skills and techniques over two days. In-house training is different: it focuses on the needs of your group. It’s the most efficient way to amplify your team’s impact. That means:
- everything we cover is relevant to people’s jobs
- the team will apply their new skills as soon as they get back to work
A shared reference point for communication skills
Learning new skills together is a powerful experience. The team gets a shared reference point for effective communication. Staff will be enthusiastic to take part because they’ll:
- understand how the training makes the team more effective
- build their own skills at the same time
Inspire new team practices
In-house training makes a stronger impression than sending a few people on a course. Because everyone learns together, they’re more open to change. They also enjoy the chance to shape something new.
This means that the team can change how it works, by:
- embedding the techniques into team routines (for example when giving feedback)
- encouraging each other to practise their skills
- setting up a peer coaching programme
What’s included
Choose between face-to-face and remote options.
Face to Face
The face-to-face option includes:
- half-day workshop at your offices/offsite for 4-12 people, led by Jonathan Kahn
- travel to anywhere in mainland UK (no extra charge for expenses)
- kick off and review meetings with team leaders
- digital handout: describes the techniques, explains the theory, offers further reading
- resources to support peer coaching
Remote
The remote option includes:
- 2 × 2-hour live sessions via Zoom for 4-12 people, led by Jonathan Kahn
- kick off and review meetings with team leaders
- digital handout: describes the techniques, explains the theory, offers further reading
- resources to support peer coaching
Pricing
| Option | Group size | Price per group |
|---|---|---|
| Face to Face | 4–12 people | … |
| Remote | 4–12 people | … |
Skill up the crew
What people say
“Jonathan ran a truly excellent workshop at GDS. Engaging, collaborative and intensive—and hugely enjoyable. As one participant put it, ‘one of the best pieces of training I’ve had at work (here or elsewhere)’. ”
—Adam Maddison, Head of Agile Delivery, Government Digital Service“Jonathan demonstrated his value early in helping us to shape what we knew would be a challenging day. He quickly grasped our requirements, demonstrated an uncanny knack for identifying the major issues to address, and proved to be an excellent facilitator on the day.”
—Miles Cheetham, Head of Propositions, Open Banking“Jonathan helped our leadership team to improve our communications with each other and our clients. We learned valuable new techniques and skills that we’ve been able to put into practice day to day. His coaching was considered, patient and valuable.'”
—Jon Topper, CEO, The Scale Factory
Questions & answers
We’ve answered some common questions about in-house training:
Is in-house training suitable for my team?
In-house training suits teams who:
- need to communicate effectively to succeed
- want to boost their impact by learning new skills together
How will a workshop make my team more effective?
Most of our clients have never focused on communication skills before. And yet, they need to communicate well to succeed.
Because of this, a face-to-face workshop can make a significant impact. You will:
- learn new approaches together
- practise applying them to realistic scenarios
If you keep practising after the workshop, you’ll see dramatic changes to the way the team works.
Why do you limit groups to 12 people?
Communication skills don’t click until you use them in a realistic scenario. We keep groups small so there’s enough time for everyone to:
- apply their new skills to a workplace scenario
- get individual coaching and feedback
I want to train a larger group. What are my options?
We suggest that you either:
- split into groups of up to 12 people, or
- ask people to sign up for a limited number of spots
Our budget is limited. What do you recommend?
A low-budget plan in three steps:
- Find the people in your team who are most enthusiastic about developing communication skills.
- Send them on our open course.
- Ask them to report back to the wider group.
They could even teach your team some of the techniques they learnt at the course. (We’ll supply resources and tips.)
Do you offer courses for individuals?
Yes! Check out the face to face course.
Book a consultation
A 30-minute consultation with communication coach Jonathan Kahn.
During the call Jonathan will:
- assess your team’s communication needs
- show you which areas to focus on
- recommend a suitable programme
Take the first step!