Online and face to face training, coaching and events across the UK and Europe
Thrive Training Lab

Influencing & Persuasion

Build credibility, frame persuasive proposals and win support from colleagues and senior stakeholders — without relying on authority or pressure.

You may have the idea, expertise or ambition — and still want more confidence in how you express it. Meetings, presentations, feedback and difficult conversations shape your experience of work and your next career step. We understand that growth is personal, not just a line on a development plan.

Talk about your team Explore the course
Professionals planning a project together
Thrive Training Lab

Explore. Practise. Make it yours.

Duration

Half day · 3.5 hours per half day

Group size

6–8 delegates

Format

Online or face to face

Price — Face to face

From £1,100

+ VAT

Price — Online

From £899

+ VAT

where understanding becomes useful —

Why this course matters

Good ideas move further when you understand the people whose support they need.

What you’ll explore in the Lab

Most work depends on people you do not manage, making the ability to secure support across teams and senior stakeholders essential. This half-day course gives professionals, project leads and specialists a practical toolkit for ethical influence: understanding stakeholder motivations, building credibility and trust, and framing ideas around what matters to others.

Delegates explore how to map the people they need to influence, respond constructively to resistance and adapt their approach when influencing upwards. The focus is on making stronger proposals, navigating competing priorities and building the buy-in needed to move work forward without relying on positional authority or pressure.

a real challenge. a purposeful response.

The challenges this addresses

  • Proposals framed only around the presenting colleague’s own priorities
  • Resistance handled through pressure rather than genuine curiosity
  • Key stakeholders missing from plans to secure support
  • Senior conversations lacking a clear connection to stakeholder priorities

What this can change at work

Influence becomes more useful when it starts with understanding what matters to someone else. Mapping stakeholders, framing proposals and exploring resistance helps people build support without relying on line authority. Teams can bring competing priorities into the conversation earlier, giving the business a more considered way to move ideas forward and reach decisions that reflect the people involved.

Stakeholders considered early

Project leads identify whose support matters and explore their priorities before taking a proposal into a cross-team discussion.

Proposals framed for listeners

People explain recommendations in terms of what the audience values, rather than relying solely on their own team’s priorities.

Resistance explored openly

Colleagues ask questions about objections and adapt their response, instead of repeating the same argument more forcefully in meetings.

Inside the workshop

Working in a small group of 6–8, delegates move from stakeholder mapping and ethical influence principles to framing proposals and handling resistance. Interactive breakouts, peer-to-peer learning and live practice provide opportunities to test approaches to colleagues and senior stakeholders. Delegates leave with a stakeholder map, practical ways to strengthen their proposals and a clearer approach to securing support.

Make Influencing & Persuasion relevant to your business

Tell us where you want to make progress with the principles of ethical influence. We can discuss suitable workplace examples, priorities and access needs before agreeing the scope. Choose live online or face-to-face training for your UK or European team, with delivery arrangements agreed before booking.

Discuss this course

What the training covers

The scope below sets out the subjects covered. Workplace examples and practice are shaped around your team within the booked format.

  • The principles of ethical influence
  • Understanding stakeholder motivations
  • Building credibility and trust
  • Framing ideas for your audience
  • Handling resistance
  • Influencing upwards

What’s included in your booking

Your booked time and format
Half day · Live online or face to face, agreed before booking · 6–8 delegates.
Included in every course
  • Interactive, facilitator-led learningLive, hands-on sessions built around practice and participation.
  • Group discussionsShared conversations about real situations, so people learn from each other as well as the facilitator.
  • Breakout exercisesSmall-group practice, role-play and problem-solving, online or in the room.
  • Take-away materialsCourse materials, tools and templates to use back at work.
Facilitated learning and practical application
The subject coverage, exercises and facilitator feedback described above, with space to connect the learning to relevant workplace situations. The workshop description sets out the specific plans, prompts or tools developed in this course.

Follow-up coaching, refresher sessions and additional delivery days are not automatic inclusions; any additions are agreed in your proposal. Travel, venue arrangements and any software licences are confirmed separately where relevant. Prices exclude VAT.

Outcomes

The capabilities delegates work towards through the training and practice:

  • Map the people you need to influence
  • Frame proposals around what others value
  • Respond to resistance constructively
  • Win support from senior stakeholders

the next conversation is where it counts —

Take it back to work.

Choose a real situation where you want to apply the learning. Use it to turn an outcome into a manageable first step, then reflect on what changes.

Choose

Start with one priority: Map the people you need to influence.

Apply

Try the approach in a relevant task or conversation. Note what felt useful and what you would adapt.

Review

Reflect on what happened, seek feedback where appropriate and choose your next step. Follow-up support can be discussed separately.

Bring this topic to your next event

We can discuss adapting Influencing & Persuasion into a keynote or large-group session, focusing on the themes most relevant to your audience. Depth, activities, timings and any follow-up depend on the format and package you choose; an event session is not a substitute for the full course.

Explore Speaking & Events

More from Communication & Influence Lab

Flagship programme

Skills Online Lab Pt 1:
Grow, Communicate & Prioritise

Three live online labs that build a growth mindset, sharpen everyday communication and help people take control of their time and priorities.

3 × 2.5-hour live online sessions (7.5 hours)Maximum 6 participants

Course synopsis

The skills that change a working week are rarely complicated — they are the ones people get to practise, try out and talk about. Skills Online Lab Part 1 brings together three foundations of personal effectiveness in one connected series. Participants start with how they respond to challenge and setbacks, move on to communicating clearly with different people and channels, and finish by taking control of their workload with practical prioritisation and weekly planning. Each live online session is a small-group working lab using participants' own situations, and the time between sessions is used to try a personal action at work and bring the experience back to the group.

3 live sessions · 2.5 hours each

Outcomes — you'll be able to

  • Recognise fixed-mindset triggers and reframe setbacks as learning
  • Structure clear messages and listen to understand
  • Adapt communication to different people and channels
  • Prioritise workload with a simple framework and plan the week
  • Leave each session with a practical action to try at work

Included in every course

  • Interactive, facilitator-led learning
  • Group discussions
  • Breakout exercises
  • Take-away materials

Live online

From £1,499 per group+ VAT

Course details

Flagship programme

Skills Online Lab Pt 2:
Meet, Feed Back & Perform

Three live online labs to run meetings that lead to decisions, give and receive feedback with confidence and build the habits behind consistent high performance.

3 × 2.5-hour live online sessions (7.5 hours)Maximum 6 participants

Course synopsis

Teams perform best when meetings lead somewhere, feedback is shared openly and good habits hold up on a busy week. Skills Online Lab Part 2 focuses on how people work together and keep performing. Participants learn to plan and facilitate meetings that end in clear decisions and owners, give and receive feedback that is specific, fair and useful, and build the everyday habits that support consistent performance without relying on longer hours. Each live online session is a small-group working lab with breakouts, practice on real situations and a personal action to try before the next session.

3 live sessions · 2.5 hours each

Outcomes — you'll be able to

  • Plan meetings around the decision or outcome needed
  • Facilitate inclusive discussion online and in the room
  • Give specific, balanced feedback and receive it without defensiveness
  • Build a small set of habits that support consistent performance
  • Leave each session with a practical action to try at work

Included in every course

  • Interactive, facilitator-led learning
  • Group discussions
  • Breakout exercises
  • Take-away materials

Live online

From £1,499 per group+ VAT

Course details
Your people. Your priorities.Ready to Thrive? Build your Lab.A programme shaped around your people — and the progress you want to make.

your next step starts here —

Ready to step into the lab?

Your business. Our training. Together, we thrive.

Bring the challenge your people want to work on. We'll shape a practical training workshop or coaching experience around it — with room to explore, practise and take a useful next step.

Start a conversation