Soumyashree Chatterjee

Leadership and People Capability

Leadership Communication

Many capable managers struggle not with strategy but with saying difficult things clearly. This programme gives leaders a practical structure for the conversations they tend to avoid or handle poorly.

ClassroomVirtual

The workplace situations it addresses

  • Feedback conversations that get diluted or avoided altogether
  • Team direction that is understood differently by different people
  • Leaders who default to email or written instructions to avoid a hard conversation

Intended audience

  • First-time and mid-level managers
  • Senior leaders looking to sharpen team communication
  • High-potential employees preparing for people-leadership roles

Practical learning outcomes

  • Structure a feedback conversation so the message and the relationship both land intact
  • Set clear, checkable direction for a team rather than vague intent
  • Recognise when a conversation is being avoided and choose to have it anyway
  • Adapt communication style to the person and the situation, not just personal habit

Indicative topics

  • Structured feedback models
  • Setting direction that can be acted on
  • Listening under pressure
  • Difficult conversations
  • Communicating change and ambiguity

Learning experience and methods

  • Realistic manager-employee role plays
  • Structured reflection using participants' own recent conversations
  • Group discussion of what worked and what didn't in shared scenarios
Typical duration
One or two days
Group size
[CONFIRM: recommended participant range]
Availability
Classroom, Virtual
Optional follow-up
[CONFIRM: whether manager reinforcement or follow-up sessions are included in this engagement]

Customisation options

Scenarios are built around the organisation's actual team structures and the kinds of conversations its managers report avoiding.

What the organisation should provide

  • A short briefing on current manager capability gaps, if known
  • A representative group of managers at a similar level for the cohort

Frequently asked questions

Is this only for new managers?
No. The content is calibrated to the cohort. First-time managers focus on foundational structure; more senior leaders focus on communicating through ambiguity and change.

Related programmes

Planning a leadership, sales or behavioural learning intervention?

Tell Soumyashree about the audience, business need, location and preferred format. He will respond to discuss the requirement and determine an appropriate starting point.