Communication skills training for the conversations that matter at work
Clear updates, speaking up in meetings, influencing senior stakeholders and feedback conversations shape how a team performs. Most people are never shown how to have these conversations well. Communicating with Impact is practical and built around real situations from your team's working week, so people start using it straight away. For teams and managers, online or in person across the UK.
Who our communication skills training is for
This work is built for:
- Teams and managers who want to communicate more clearly in their everyday work
- People who want more confidence speaking up with senior stakeholders
- Specialists who need to explain complex work simply
- Groups who are happy to practise between sessions and try new approaches at work
It is not the right choice for:
- Formal presentation training, which is what our Presentation Skills Training is for
- A single short talk with no time to practise
When teams come to us for communication skills training
- People who find it hard to speak up in meetings
- Updates that take too long to get to the point
- Managers who need to pass information on clearly to their teams
- People who want to influence senior stakeholders and manage up with more confidence
- Feedback conversations that keep getting put off
- Specialists who need to explain their work to people outside their field
What Communicating with Impact is
The focus is everyday communication: giving a clear update, passing information on to a team, managing up (working well with your own manager and senior colleagues), giving and receiving feedback and influencing people you have no authority over. These are the conversations that shape how a team performs, and most people are never shown how to have them well.
Communicating with Impact is our communication skills programme. We designed and delivered it for Rare, part of Xbox Game Studios, in 2025, and it has shaped how we run this work ever since.
As with all our work, the emphasis is on practice. People record themselves giving a short update, watch it back, make improvements and record it again. Then they share their progress with the group for supportive coaching. It is a simple habit that builds self-awareness and confidence quickly.
What people are able to do afterwards
Give a clear, high-impact update in any meeting, using a simple structure.
Pass information on to a team clearly and consistently, so everyone hears the same message.
Manage up and have more productive conversations with senior stakeholders.
Get to the point quickly, putting the bottom line first in conversation and in writing.
Choose words and phrases that help you sound as capable as you are.
How it works
Dialling up your personal impact
Mindset, body language, voice and confident wording. Between sessions, everyone records a one-minute update, reviews it, improves it and records it again.
Communicating with focus
People share their recordings for supportive coaching, then learn practical ways to get to the point, report up and pass information on to their teams.
Creating impact through conversation
Listening, asking better questions, summarising and encouraging people to take ownership, practised on real situations people bring from their own work.
Apply it between sessions
Each module ends with something to try at work, so people arrive at the next one with real examples to share and learn from.
Thank you for delivering another fantastic programme. The feedback on this pilot has been brilliant.Ryan Taylor, Training & Development Lead, Rare, Xbox Game Studios
What happened at Rare, part of Xbox Game Studios
The programme ran as three virtual modules for a group of ten from across the studio, with practice at work in between. All but one of the group completed the video homework between the first two modules, recording themselves several times and improving each take. When they played their recordings to the group, the progress was clear to see.
By the final module, each person was sharing real examples of how they had changed the way they communicate with their team, their colleagues and senior people, and even with their families at home. We had restructured that last module to focus on day-to-day conversations rather than formal presenting, and the feedback confirmed it was the right decision.
Rare's Training and Development Lead described the feedback on the pilot as brilliant, and the sessions regularly finished before the group wanted them to.
What a three-part virtual communication skills programme looks like
This is the programme we ran for Rare in 2025: three live online modules, with practice at work in between. We shape the content around the conversations your own team needs to get right.
- Module 1
Dialling up your personal impact
- Speaking up with confidence, even when it feels uncomfortable
- Understanding why some messages land and others get lost
- Coming across with presence through your voice and body language
- Choosing words that sound as capable as you are, without hedging or over-apologising
- Module 2
Communicating with focus
- Getting to the point quickly, so busy people keep listening
- Reporting up to senior leaders clearly and concisely
- Giving updates that people remember and act on
- Passing information on so the whole team hears the same clear message
- Module 3
Creating impact through conversation
- Listening in a way that leaves people feeling properly heard
- Asking questions that get people talking and thinking
- Summarising so everyone leaves with the same understanding
- Encouraging people to own their problems, without taking them on yourself
Outcomes you can expect
- Clearer, shorter updates that get to the point
- More confidence speaking up with colleagues and senior people
- More influence with stakeholders and when managing up
- More confidence giving and receiving feedback
- Information passed on to teams clearly and consistently
- A shared set of simple frameworks the whole team uses
How it runs
| Format | Online over Teams or Zoom, or in person |
|---|---|
| Group size | Around 8 to 12 people, so everyone gets to practise and receive feedback |
| Duration | Three modules spaced a few weeks apart, with practice at work in between |
Questions
What is communication skills training?
Communication skills training helps people get better at the conversations that shape how a team performs: giving a clear update, passing information on to a team, managing up, influencing and giving and receiving feedback. Our programme, Communicating with Impact, does this through practical frameworks, video practice and real situations from your team's working week.
Who is this communication skills training for?
It is for teams and managers who want to communicate more clearly in their everyday work, people who want more confidence speaking up with senior stakeholders and specialists who need to explain complex work simply. It works best in groups of around 8 to 12 people.
How long is the programme and how is it delivered?
The programme runs as three modules spaced a few weeks apart, with practice at work in between. We deliver it online over Teams or Zoom, or in person.
How is this different from your presentation skills training?
Communicating with Impact focuses on everyday conversations at work: updates, influencing, managing up and feedback. Presenting with Impact, our presentation skills training, focuses on presenting to an audience, with live recording and playback throughout the day. Many teams do both.
Does communication skills training work online?
Yes. The Rare programme ran entirely online across three modules, and the video practice between sessions works just as well remotely.
Do people record themselves?
Yes, and it is one of the most useful parts of the programme. The recordings are short, people watch them on their own first and they only share them with the group when they are ready. The feedback is always supportive.
Can it be tailored to our team?
Yes. We build the practice around the conversations your team has, whether that is client meetings, project updates or working with senior stakeholders.
What about personal brand?
For emerging-talent and graduate programmes we run personal brand sessions: how you're experienced, what you're known for and how to build presence deliberately.
Further reading
5 steps to communicate with impact
Communicating with impact and influence in five steps: know your audience, shape a clear message, use body language, involve the room and listen properly.
How to overcome communication barriers at work
How to overcome communication barriers at work: the cultural, psychological and hierarchical blocks that stop a message landing, and what gets past each one.
How to improve communication between departments
How to improve communication between departments: why silos form, four changes that improve collaboration, what leaders must do and where the work fails.
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Let's talk.
If your team's communication is getting in the way of its results, we would be glad to talk it through with you.
We’ll reply within one business day.