Newsletter

Everyone can describe how to handle a hard conversation. Far fewer can do it when the moment actually arrives. These three experiential techniques (Improv-Based Techniques, Structured Role Play, and Simulation Exercises) let people rehearse the hard stuff before it's real. What each one is built for, how they differ by the scale of what you're rehearsing, and why the debrief, not the activity, is where the learning happens.

Most groups have a list of conversations they are avoiding. Three new techniques that work by removing something the group could not remove on its own (Heard Seen Respected, What I Need From You, Crucial Conversations Framework).

This week's newsletter covers three new Conflict & Difficult Conversations techniques (Perspective-Taking Exercises, Clearing/Withhold Sessions, and Nonviolent Communication). A breakdown of each one, a free perspective-taking exercise you can run in 45 minutes, and why the most important conversation in any room is the one that almost does not happen.

Most groups have one way of working and apply it to everything. These four structured frameworks, including the Agreement-Certainty Matrix, Critical Uncertainties, Purpose to Practice, and Theory U, exist for the question most groups skip: what kind of challenge are we actually dealing with?

Drawing Together uses five symbols and no words to surface what a group actually thinks. Ecocycle Planning maps every activity onto a lifecycle so the team can see what needs to stop. Social Network Webbing reveals who knows whom and where the gaps are. Three new techniques, one free, two inside Pro.

The most honest conversation in your workshop happens over coffee 20 minutes later. This week, three new Visual & Graphic techniques that bring that conversation into the room. One is free to download for a limited time. Two are inside the Pro library.

The brainstorm went well. The wall is covered in ideas. Then someone asks "which ones do we go with?" and the room stalls. This week's three new techniques (Dot Voting, Multi-Voting, and Decision Matrix) all solve different versions of that moment. The free guide covers Dot Voting, including why most groups run it in a way that guarantees the wrong ideas win.

Three people in a room argue about "the customer" and describe three different people in their heads. The problem isn't disagreement. It's invisibility. Three new techniques this week (Empathy Mapping, Journey Mapping, Systems Mapping) for taking what sits inside people's heads and putting it on a wall where the group can see it, point at it, and change it together. The emotional line, drawn at the end of a Journey Map, tells you more about your service than any survey will.

Workshop commitments that never happen? Four decision-making techniques that fix the gap between agreement and action. One free guide included.

Three new facilitation techniques for when a group's thinking has gone stale. One free, two in Pro. All three ready to run on Monday morning.

Four new facilitation techniques for when the knowledge is in the room but something is stopping it from getting out. One free, three for Pro members.

My friends at Red Team Thinking are running a 90-minute Red Team Facilitation Bootcamp on March 30th. They'll walk you through Think-Write-Share, the Six Strategic Questions framework, and the research behind both tools.

Most brainstorms produce the same five ideas every time. These four generative techniques (Reverse Brainstorming, Brainwriting, Crazy 8s, and SCAMPER) are built for the moment that happens. What each one does differently, which group problems they solve, and why the standard brainstorm keeps failing.

These four large group methods (Search Conference, Appreciative Inquiry Summit, Real Time Strategic Change, and Whole Scale Change) put the people who'll implement the change in charge of designing it. What each one is built for, how they differ, and why cascaded briefings keep failing.

These four dialogue techniques (Wise Crowds, Celebrity Interview, Shift & Share, and Appreciative Interviews) are built to get what people know out of their heads and into the room. How each one works, what makes them different from standard discussion, and the mechanic where you turn your back to the group.

Most group conversations are just people taking turns talking. These four structured dialogue techniques (Bohm Dialogue, Samoan Circle, Socratic Circles, and Listening Circles) change that. A breakdown of when to use each one, when not to, and why most facilitators have never heard of them.

Most facilitation happens sitting down. People sit in a circle, sit at tables, sit in front of screens. The conversation lives in their heads and comes out through their mouths. Spatial and embodied techniques change that. They get people on their feet, moving around the room, and using physical position to express what they think, feel, or believe.

This week we added 12 new technique guides to the Facilitation Techniques bundle, bringing the total to 30 in this pack so far. Same format as before: each guide gives you a complete, step-by-step process for delivering a specialist facilitation technique. No theory, no waffle. Just clear instructions, exact timing, facilitator scripts, and printable reference sheets so you can run the technique tomorrow.

We just launched what promises to be the biggest bundle of new workshops we've ever built: Facilitation Techniques. It's a growing collection of technique guides designed for one purpose: to give you a clear, reliable process for running specialist facilitation methods you haven't tried before.

This week we released three workshops to use with your team based on books top CEOs recommend. Ted Sarandos (Netflix) reads a 122-year-old novella about a ship captain stuck in a storm. Satya Nadella (Microsoft) reads a story about Depression-era rowers who won Olympic gold. Simon Sinek recommends a parenting manual from the 1980s.

What do a former FBI hostage negotiator, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, and a Harvard psychologist have in common? Their research now powers five new workshops in your workshop library.

This week we released three new workshops that help teams build the fundamentals that make everything else work: daily disciplines that create momentum, the ability to navigate change without getting stuck, and coaching conversations that develop people instead of creating dependency.

This week we released three new workshops that tackle the challenges holding most professionals back: scattered focus, political blind spots, and giving up when things get hard.

This week we released a new workshop designed to help teams kick off 2026 with intention, energy and clarity. Instead of diving straight into business as usual, Ignite 2026 gives your team space to reflect on the past year, choose what matters most, and leave with concrete plans for making this their best year yet.

This week we released three new workshops that tackle some of the most universal challenges people face: limiting beliefs, mental suffering from overthinking, and trying to control what they can't control.

This week we released a new pack of 10 workshops for one of the hardest challenges you face: repairing a struggling team. These workshops give you a practical route to diagnose dysfunction, reset trust and safety, fix broken conflict patterns, and restore clarity around roles, decisions, and accountability.

This week you get 3 new workshops added to your Bestselling Book Workshops bundle. Each workshop includes frameworks, hands-on practice, and take-home tools for immediate application and impact.

This is a focused 60-minute session where your team uses the Pareto Principle to pinpoint the few tasks, issues, or priorities that drive the biggest impact.

This workshop introduces the core principles of Nonviolent Communication and helps your team practise speaking honestly and listening with empathy in real workplace situations.

This is a practical, interactive workshop where your team will learn how to use polarity maps to explore a real tension they face, uncover the benefits and risks on both sides, and agree on simple actions to keep the right balance in their work.

This practical, hands-on workshop equips you to flex your leadership style to match the needs of each team member and situation.

This is a practical, interactive session where your team will try out key Scrum practices, reflect on the experience and explore if Scrum is the right fit for how you work.

This practical, interactive session helps your leadership team strengthen trust, clarify purpose and priorities, and define clear roles so you work better together, make faster decisions, and reduce stress, confusion and friction across the team.

This practical hands-on workshop helps your team build a stronger team culture, communicate more openly and align around what matters so everyone feels safer, more connected and better equipped to work together.

This workshop equips teams with the principles of Extreme Ownership, helping team members take full responsibility for their actions, improve communication, foster trust, and create a culture of accountability that drives performance and collaboration across the team and organisation.

This is a practical, interactive workshop helps teams apply the principles of the bestselling book, The Go-Giver, to build stronger relationships, work with greater purpose, and create more value for others.

This workshop helps leadership teams apply key insights from the book The Hard Thing About Hard Things to navigate challenges, make tough decisions, and build resilience in their teams.

This is a practical, hands-on workshop based on the insights from the book Thanks for the Feedback by Douglas Stone and Sheila Heen that helps you and your team build confidence in receiving feedback, reduce defensiveness, and turn everyday conversations into opportunities for learning, trust and better collaboration.

This practical workshop based on the insights from the book Getting to Yes by Roger Fisher, William Ury, and Bruce Patton introduces your team to the core principles of effective negotiation, helping each member communicate clearly, manage conflict constructively, and reach better agreements that strengthen trust and collaboration.

This practical workshop based on the insights from the book The Lean Startup by Eric Ries helps teams adopt a mindset of experimentation to improve how they work—one small, tested change at a time.

This is a practical, hands-on workshop based on the ideas from Brené Brown that helps your team practise the everyday skills that build trust, foster courageous conversations, and make space for honest feedback—without the jargon or fluff.

This workshop is based on insights from the book "Your Next Five Moves: Master the Art of Business Strategy" by Patrick Bet-David.

A simple team workshop using the McKinsey 7-S Model that helps uncover misalignment and turn it into progress.

A practical workshop that helps your team design tiny daily habits, strengthen culture and build lasting performance improvements (based on insights from "Atomic Habits" by James Clear)

Six practical team workshops based on the Drexler/Sibbet Team Performance Model

Run this 2.5-hour workshop to help your team recognise and reduce unconscious bias at work, improve decisions, and build a fairer, more inclusive culture (based on insights from "Biased" by Jennifer Eberhardt)

Run this 60 minute workshop to help your remote team turn recurring disagreements into constructive conversations, reduce friction and build trust.

Run this 60-minute virtual workshop to uncover motivation blockers, boost engagement and energy, and help your remote team feel more connected and inspired.

Run this 60-minute remote workshop to uncover information silos, improve knowledge sharing, and build clearer, more collaborative communication across your virtual team.

Run this 3-hour workshop to help professionals challenge stakeholder assumptions, reframe client problems and become trusted advisors without losing trust.

Help individuals and leaders build resilient mindsets and practical coping tools to thrive under pressure (based on insights from "Option B" by Sheryl Sandberg and Adam Grant).

Boost cross-team collaboration with this 90-minute workshop that helps break down silos, build trust, and create practical actions for better alignment.

Turn team conflict into collaboration with this 90-minute workshop to uncover root causes, build communication skills, and create a team conflict charter.

Improve inter-team communication with this 90-minute workshop that identifies barriers, builds understanding, and creates a shared communication plan.

Align your team with a workshop that clarifies purpose, focus and strategic priorities so you move from surviving to truly winning (based on insights from "Playing To Win" by Alan G. Lafley and Roger Martin).

Strengthen your team’s strategic thinking, adaptability, and unity with a workshop that turns ancient battlefield wisdom into modern collaboration (based on insights from "The Art of War" by Sun Tzu).

Strengthen your team’s foundations with a half-day workshop that applies Hackman’s Five-Factor Model to clarify goals, roles, and support systems so your team can perform with greater trust, focus, and impact (based on insights from J. Richard Hackman’s research on effective teams).

A 1-day strategy workshop that helps your team escape cut-throat competition by uncovering new customer value and uncontested markets (based on insights from Blue Ocean Strategy by W. Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne).

A 2–3 hour GRPI-based workshop to clarify goals, roles, processes and relationships so your team builds stronger alignment, trust and performance.

Run a workshop that teaches your team to structure ideas and communicate with impact (based on insights from "The Pyramid Principle" by Barbara Minto).

Help your organisation build adaptable, interconnected teams that share information, trust each other and execute autonomously in complex environments (based on insights from Team of Teams by General Stanley McChrystal, Tantum Collins, David Silverman, and Chris Fussell).

Help your team pinpoint where they are on the Forming–Storming–Norming–Performing journey so you can tackle conflict, build trust, and move confidently toward high performance.

Align your team using the Bateson & Dilts Pyramid so they feel more connected, motivated, and effective working toward shared goals.

Help your team overcome public speaking anxiety and deliver clear, engaging messages that land every time (based on insights from “The Art of Public Speaking” by Dale Carnegie).

Help your team spot and escape Victim, Persecutor and Rescuer patterns with the Karpman Drama Triangle and build healthier, accountable relationships.

Help your team build self-awareness, trust and clearer communication with a Johari Window workshop that expands the open area and strengthens relationships.

Help your team uncover personal values, align goals and build a one-year action plan in a half-day workshop that boosts trust, motivation and performance.

Help your team recognise and overcome self-deception so they can see others as people, rebuild trust and lead more effectively (based on insights from "Leadership and Self-Deception: Getting Out of the Box" by The Arbinger Institute).

Help your team embrace a growth mindset so they see challenges as opportunities, learn from setbacks, and keep improving together (based on insights from "Mindset: The New Psychology of Success" by Carol S. Dweck).

Develop emotionally intelligent, resonant leaders who can understand, manage, and positively influence emotions to boost trust, motivation, and performance across their teams (based on insights from "Primal Leadership" by Daniel Goleman, Richard Boyatzis, and Annie McKee).

Develop the mindset and skills to move from chairing meetings to truly facilitating workshops—letting go of control, staying neutral, and guiding groups to generate their own ideas, decisions, and commitment.

Unlock intrinsic motivation across your team with a workshop that boosts autonomy, mastery and purpose so people perform at a high level because they want to, not because they have to (based on insights from "Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us" by Daniel H. Pink).

Help groups move beyond shallow dot-voting to deeper, fairer and more transparent decisions by using structured alternatives like Delphi, Nominal Group Technique, decision matrices and silent brainstorming that surface real insights instead of just counting stickers.

Help leaders create teams that feel safe, supported, and deeply committed with a workshop that builds safety, vulnerability, and people-first leadership in everyday behaviour (based on insights from Leaders Eat Last by Simon Sinek).

Run a silent, introvert-friendly brainstorming session that gives everyone an equal voice, generates more (and better) ideas, and quickly turns them into clear themes the whole group can build on.

Run a workshop that helps your team clarify its Hedgehog Concept, confront the brutal facts, and build a culture of discipline so you can move from merely good to truly great (based on insights from Good to Great by Jim Collins).

Run a purpose-driven workshop that helps your team uncover its shared WHY, connect day-to-day work to deeper meaning, and inspire more aligned action (based on insights from "Start with Why" by Simon Sinek).

Help your team build authentic relationships and positive influence by practising simple, everyday communication habits that boost trust, collaboration and impact (based on insights from "How to Win Friends and Influence People" by Dale Carnegie).

Empower your team to boost effectiveness, strengthen collaboration and sustain long-term performance by practising the 7 habits together in a simple, structured workshop (based on insights from "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People" by Stephen R. Covey).

Help your team turn vision into measurable progress with a Balanced Scorecard workshop that translates strategy into clear financial, customer, internal, and learning/growth KPIs and a concrete action plan to hit them.

Help your team make faster, clearer decisions with a workshop that creates a shared language for decision-making styles, surfaces how choices are really made today, and builds a simple framework everyone can use to choose the right approach for every decision.

Help your team move from opinion-driven to evidence-based prioritisation with a simple impact-vs-doability matrix workshop that quickly builds consensus on what to do first and turns your highest-value ideas into clear, owned actions.

Use a simple before, during and after workshop checklist so you stay in control, impress sponsors, and consistently deliver smooth, professional sessions even when things go wrong behind the scenes.

Grab a free toolkit of 11 battle-tested workshop activities. Each one solves a specific team challenge, from problem-solving and conflict resolution to collaboration, communication, planning, and performance.

Break down silos with a simple Team Collaboration Contracts workshop that gets every team making clear, mutual commitments so they stop working as isolated islands and start supporting each other to hit shared goals.

Use this Stakeholder Mapping workshop to pinpoint who can make or break your project, see how they influence each other, and build a practical plan to turn blockers into allies so change actually sticks.

Use this fast problem-solving workshop to turn vague, talk-heavy meetings into focused sessions where a clear owner, an engaged team, and a simple structure rapidly generate better ideas, stress-test them, and leave with a concrete action plan everyone can get behind.

Use this stakeholder-focused Think/Feel/Say/Do visioning workshop to align your team around a vivid 12-month future that’s defined through your key stakeholders’ eyes. So everyone knows exactly where you’re heading, why it matters, and feels committed to making it real.

Download a ready-to-run pack of 12 proven team-building workshops that help you generate ideas, solve problems, manage risks, boost collaboration and turn any group into a high-performance team without spending hours designing sessions from scratch.

Use this PEST Analysis workshop to help your team scan political, economic, socio-cultural, and technological shifts so they stop fearing external change and start turning it into concrete opportunities, prioritized actions, and competitive advantage.

Help your team replace messy, ego-driven debates with fast, focused and genuinely creative parallel thinking so they reach better decisions together (based on insights from "Six Thinking Hats" by Edward de Bono).

Help your team rebuild trust, embrace healthy conflict, commit, hold each other accountable and focus on shared results with a practical workshop that tackles what’s really breaking teamwork (based on insights from “The Five Dysfunctions of a Team” by Patrick Lencioni).

Help your team deeply understand your competitive landscape and spot strategic opportunities by running a Porter’s Five Forces workshop that maps where power really sits in your industry and how to turn it into sustainable competitive advantage (based on Michael E. Porter’s Five Forces framework).

Help your organisation navigate uncertainty with a workshop that surfaces practical, team-driven strategies to prepare for downturns, stay resilient, and turn tough times into opportunities (grounded in five lessons from navigating multiple recessions and downturns).

Re-energize your team after a holiday lull with a fast, Google-style design sprint that helps them map a real challenge, generate bold ideas, rapidly prototype a solution, and test it with users all one focused day.

Learn how to turn big, ambitious team goals into simple daily micro actions. Use this step-by-step workshop to prioritise, assign, and track real progress.

Run a Team Dimensions Analysis workshop to quickly reveal strengths, gaps, and priorities across 9 key areas so your team can improve where it matters most.

Close every workshop with confidence using this simple 3-step formula that checks objectives, embeds learning, and gathers feedback so participants leave feeling it was time well spent.

Run better retrospectives with the Start > Stop > Improve framework. A simple, low-tech workshop to surface insights, build consensus, and drive continuous team improvement.

Help your team define a clear, inspiring purpose in just 1 hour with this simple workshop that turns scattered ideas into a shared, motivating “reason why.”

Boost team performance with this Anti-Goals workshop that stops low-impact work, frees up time, and refocuses your team on what matters most.

Improve workplace communication with 6 practical strategies that make your requests clearer, bridge generational gaps, and boost the chances of colleagues taking action.

Learn a simple “Who What When” action-planning method that turns every workshop or meeting into clear next steps, real ownership, and follow-through.

Discover the “How Wow Now” workshop method that helps teams brainstorm boldly, surface breakthrough ideas, and confidently prioritise what will drive the biggest results.

Download a free pack of 10 proven workshop activities to energize meetings, spark creative ideas, solve problems and plan actions—complete with step-by-step guides.

Boost the quality of any meeting with the Think-Write-Share technique. A simple, science-backed process to surface better ideas and ensure every voice is heard.

Learn how to give feedback people actually appreciate using the simple FBI model (Feelings–Behaviour–Impact) so you strengthen relationships and improve team performance.