Lead groups with
confidence, creativity and presence,
even when the stakes are high
For experienced change leaders, internal consultants and strategic professionals who lead meetings and workshops:
Build more creative, flexible and effective ways of working with groups through practice, expert feedback and ongoing support when you're back at work.
As AI changes how work gets done, creative human collaboration will help you stand out above the crowd.
Who it's for
Experienced professionals, who lead meetings & workshops, who have never been trained in facilitation.
Where
In person day: 15-16 June 2027
Leicester, UK
Ongoing support and virtual session in your workplace
Format
Initial self-assessment and goal setting session.
Two-day in-person workshop, then coaching support to end September 2027
Investment
Core: £1,397 + VAT early‑bird (ends 15th May), then £1,497
The problem
Facilitating groups is one of those skills you're expected to just pick up
Facilitating groups is one of those professional skills many people are simply expected to pick up as they go, by watching others, borrowing what seems to work, and learning through trial and error. But when you're already an experienced professional, that can become a costly way to develop, especially when the lesson happens in a workshop that really matters.
You've prepared carefully. You know your organisation, you understand the context and the language, and you have a clear plan for what the workshop needs to achieve. You may not be the subject-matter expert on every detail under discussion, but you know the territory and the people well enough to lead the work with credibility.
Then something starts to shift. Perhaps a stakeholder pushes back? The energy changes. A disagreement opens up. Or it simply becomes clear that the process you planned is no longer quite right for what the group needs.
And that's often the moment when control tightens. You hold more firmly to the agenda. You keep pushing the process you designed. You steer the conversation back towards the outcome you expected — even as part of you can see that what is happening in front of you is asking for something different.
Not because you're unwilling to adapt, but because you may not yet have the flexibility, confidence or range of alternatives to switch easily into an approach that better suits the group in that moment.
The workshop may not fall apart. You may still get to an outcome. But afterwards, there can be an uncomfortable thought:
I was trying to make the group fit my plan, rather than responding to what was actually happening.
That is not unusual when you have learned to facilitate mainly by watching others, borrowing approaches and working things out through experience. You build habits that serve you until the situation demands something beyond them. When that happens in important work, trial and error can be a very expensive way to develop.
A moment that changed everything
I know what it feels like when the plan alone isn't enough
Because sometimes the moment that exposes the limits of your current approach is the moment that pushes you to develop properly. It happened to me.
In 2003, I was leading an important programme of change involving board-level directors from international companies. We only had one hour together in a Brussels hotel and serious work to get through.
Then an American lawyer started talking. He kept talking.
Nearly ten minutes passed. People raised their hands and lowered them again. Others tried to come in and couldn't. I could feel the tension rising, and everyone was looking at me to do something. Nothing I tried made any difference. Eventually, under pressure, I shouted: "Shut up!"
To my astonishment, it worked. He stopped talking. We finished the workshop and achieved what we needed to achieve.
But that moment stayed with me. It showed me that being experienced, credible and responsible for important work was not the same as having enough depth in my facilitation practice to draw on when things became difficult. I had reached the edge of what I knew how to do and gone beyond, by shouting at someone. That went against everything I value! Ooops!
That experience became part of what pushed me to take facilitation much more seriously. I went on what I can only describe as a facilitation development bonanza around the world, reaching as far as New Zealand. I became professionally certified in 2006, achieved CPF-Master status in 2019, and have continued to develop, practise and write books about facilitation ever since.
I've been facilitating groups since 2000, and one thing I've learned is that good facilitation is not about having a perfect plan or controlling what happens. It is about having enough skill, flexibility and self-awareness to work with what is actually happening in the group.
That is why I created this programme, which has been honed and developed over many years.
Experienced professionals should not have to discover the limits of their approach when they are in the middle of an important meeting or workshop. They deserve the chance to practise, experiment, receive detailed feedback, broaden their options and develop this capability deliberately. On top, they deserve support as they take it back into their real work.
That is the kind of rich, tailored and supportive development that I have designed this programme to provide.
The Promise
Be ready for what the group needs — not just what you planned
Develop the competence and confidence to adapt, stay with the group, and be what's needed in the moment, so people can do their best work together.
Imagine going into a meeting or workshop knowing you have a variety of ways to respond. You've prepared carefully, but you're not dependent on the plan unfolding exactly as expected. If the energy shifts, tension appears, or the group needs something different, you have the flexibility and judgement to adapt without immediately tightening control or forcing the process back onto familiar tracks.
You won't leave with a perfect script for every situation. Why? Because groups don't work like that. You'll leave with something more useful: the competence and confidence to adapt, stay with the group and respond to what's actually needed in the moment.
The real transformation goes deeper than technique. You become more able to stay present, grounded and connected to the group when pressure rises. Instead of slipping into "I need to control this", you can stay with "we can work this through together."
That changes how you show up. How you show up changes what becomes possible for everyone else. You create more space for people to think, contribute, disagree, explore and take ownership. You're running a process more skilfully but you're also becoming someone who can create the conditions for better collaboration.
That is the promise of this programme: not certainty, not control, but the competence and confidence to adapt, stay with the group, and be what's needed in the moment, so the group can do its best work together.
Fit Check
This is for people who take working with groups seriously
You don't need to call yourself a facilitator. You do need to care about helping people think, collaborate and make progress together.
This programme works best for experienced professionals who are willing to practise, reflect, experiment and take responsibility for how they work with groups.
You may be a change leader, internal consultant, strategic business analyst, HR leader or another strategic professional whose role increasingly depends on bringing people together and helping something useful happen. The common thread is not your job title. It is the kind of professional you want to become: someone whose leadership shows up not only in what you know, but in what becomes possible through the people you bring together.
This programme is for you if...
You're already experienced in your field, but you know there is more to learn about how groups work and how to help them work well together.
You want more than a handful of techniques; you want to become more flexible and responsive as well.
You care about helping people contribute, think and take ownership, rather than simply pushing them through an agenda or driving them towards your preferred answer.
You're willing to practise, experiment and receive feedback, because you want to build genuine capability, not just collect more ideas.
You see effective, creative, human collaboration as an increasingly important part of your professional value.
You recognise that as AI changes how work gets done, honing distinctly human skills now matters more than ever: the ability to collaborate, exercise judgement, work creatively with others and help groups do their best thinking together.
This programme is probably not for you, if...
You'd really like a script for every situation, that you can stick to whatever is happening in the group.
You are mainly looking for a bag of techniques to collect and deploy, rather than thinking deeply about why, when or how to use them.
You'd prefer not to receive detailed feedback or examine the impact your own behaviour has on the group.
You believe that keeping control of the group is key, rather than creating the conditions for people to think, contribute and work things through together.
You'd rather not experiment or occasionally feel stretched while trying new ways of working.
You don't want to engage with the theory behind good facilitation, not for theory’s sake, but enough to understand why different approaches work and let that understanding influence how you practise.
This programme is not about learning how to make a group comply with your plan, nor is it about collecting techniques without understanding them. It is about becoming more skilful, creative and responsive in how you work with people: combining practice, reflection and just enough theory to improve the choices you make in the moment.
Why this matters now
You were never supposed to learn this by trial and error alone
You would never expect to become excellent at change, strategy, analysis or HR simply by watching colleagues, borrowing a few ideas and hoping experience filled in the gaps. Yet, that is how many experienced professionals have learned to facilitate groups.
For years, you have been expected to run meetings and workshops because it was simply part of your job. You prepared, observed what others did, picked up techniques that seemed useful and learned from what happened. That can take you a long way, but it can also leave you without enough depth, flexibility or choice when the group needs something different or when the stakes get much higher.
You already have considerable professional expertise. Facilitating groups is also a serious capability: one that can be understood, practised and deliberately developed.
Participants in this programme often discover that what once felt vague, intuitive or difficult to define starts to make sense as a discipline in its own right. They leave with more confidence, more practical options and a clearer idea of how to keep improving.
There is an opportunity here too. Your colleagues may not yet be thinking seriously about developing this capability. But as AI changes how work gets done, the ability to help people think together in a group, to collaborate as humans creatively and make progress together becomes even more valuable.
You now have a chance to develop this distinctly human capability that can help you stand out for the right reasons.
You would never expect to become excellent at change, strategy, analysis or HR simply by watching colleagues, borrowing a few ideas and hoping experience filled in the gaps. Yet, that is how many experienced professionals have learned to facilitate groups.
For years, you have been expected to run meetings and workshops because it was simply part of your job. You prepared, observed what others did, picked up techniques that seemed useful and learned from what happened. That can take you a long way, but it can also leave you without enough depth, flexibility or choice when the group needs something different or when the stakes get much higher.
You already have considerable professional expertise. Facilitating groups is also a serious capability: one that can be understood, practised and deliberately developed.
Participants in this programme often discover that what once felt vague, intuitive or difficult to define starts to make sense as a discipline in its own right. They leave with more confidence, more practical options and a clearer idea of how to keep improving.
There is an opportunity here too. Your colleagues may not yet be thinking seriously about developing this capability. But as AI changes how work gets done, the ability to help people think together in a group, to collaborate as humans creatively and make progress together becomes even more valuable.
You now have a chance to develop this distinctly human capability that can help you stand out for the right reasons.
The method
You don't learn to facilitate groups by watching videos or reading about it
Real capability develops through practice, feedback and supported application, until what you know becomes something you can actually draw on when you need it.
There is a big difference between understanding an idea and being able to use it when real people are in front of you.
You can read about facilitation, watch videos, collect frameworks and recognise good practice when you see it. All of that can be useful. But none of it, on its own, tells you how you behave when the energy changes, when someone challenges the direction, when the group stops responding to the process you planned, or when your own instinct is to tighten control.
That is why this programme is built around a developmental cycle:
understand → practise → receive feedback → apply → reflect → adapt
You begin with your own working context and current capability. Then, in the in-person workshop, you get to understand and apply some useful theory: you facilitate and try out different approaches, experimenting, noticing your habits and receiving detailed expert feedback on what is happening. That gives you a safe place to stretch before your next important workshop is underway.
The development then continues online and back in your own working environment. You take what you have practised into real meetings and workshops, and the ongoing support helps you reflect on what happened, make sense of it, and adapt again.
That is where the learning starts to become usable. It's no longer something buried in your notes, but instead you can draw on it whenever a group needs you to respond differently.
The aim is not to leave you just knowing more about facilitating groups.
It is to leave you more competent and confident as you facilitate them.
What changes when you develop this properly
Participants consistently describe the same shift:
More confidence, more options, greater creativity, plus feeling ready to put what they've learned into practice.
People arrive at the programme from different starting points. Some feel openly nervous or underprepared. Others already have plenty of experience, but recognise that they have become rigid, repetitive or limited in the approaches they use. What is striking is how consistently the language changes afterwards:
From:
To:
"Out of my depth and clueless."
→ "Appropriately nervous. It's still an unpredictable environment, but now I have tools and have practised."
"Okay, but rigid."
→ More relaxed, creative and happier."
"Stuck in a rut."
→ "Excited! There's so much more I could do. I've learnt stuff I didn't know I didn't know."
"Daunted and suffering with a lack of ideas."
→ "Ready! Looking for opportunities."
"I was always underprepared, having received no training previously."
→ "I feel confident that I will be able to deliver high-quality sessions consistently."
There is a common thread running through all of them: greater agency. People leave with more to draw on, a clearer understanding of what good facilitation involves, and more confidence in their ability to put it into practice. They haven't just learned something. They say: "I can do more now — and I want to go and use it."
The Journey
From where you are now to greater confidence, flexibility and impact with groups
A clear development journey that starts with your real working context, gives you space to practise and experiment, then supports you as you apply what you've learned back at work.
Understand where you are
and where you want to go
You begin by assessing your current competency against the facilitation self-assessment, then looking ahead to where you would like to be in a year's time.
That gives you a clear starting point and a personal direction for the programme. It is not simply about identifying gaps. It is about asking where you want to be in a year in the way you work with groups and what that would make possible for you.
One-to-one coaching
Share your context and self-assessment with your expert trainer, Dr Penny Pullan CPF-Master, in a one-to-one coaching session online.
Your input will allow her to tailor the programme to suit you and your needs, and to provide initial feedback and input on your development.
Practise, stretch and get feedback
The two-day in-person workshop is the intensive part. You learn and apply useful theory, facilitate for real, try unfamiliar approaches, notice your habits and receive detailed expert and peer feedback.
This is where you begin to build more understanding, more options and a clearer sense of how you want to develop.
Take it back into real work
You then return to your own meetings and workshops.
Over the following three months, two online sessions with your cohort, accountability and access to coaching help you apply what you have learned, reflect on what happened and adapt.
Your confidence becomes grounded in real experience in your workplace, not just what happened during the in-person workshop.
Keep developing your capability
The formal programme ends, but the development does not.
You return to the goal you identified at the beginning: where did you want to be a year from now in the way you work with groups?
By this point, you'll have a clearer understanding of your practice, greater competence and confidence, more creative options and a habit of learning from every meeting and workshop you lead.
The programme gives you the foundations, feedback and momentum to keep developing your capability alongside the rest of your professional expertise — so it becomes an increasingly valuable part of how you lead change, influence others and get work done through groups.
You’ll leave with a clear direction for continuing to build your capability long after the formal programme ends.
What you'll be able to do
Practical skills you can use with groups you're already leading
This is not a collection of disconnected techniques, but a broader, more thoughtful way to prepare, work with people, respond when things change, and help groups reach useful outcomes:
Prepare productively and creatively in minimum time: get clear about what the group really needs, think deliberately about how people will work together and choose approaches that serve the purpose, so your preparation gives you confidence and flexibility rather than just a detailed agenda...
Get beyond the same loud voices, and stop hierarchy distorting the conversation: design participation so quieter perspectives can surface and seniority does not determine what gets heard, so the group can draw on more of the knowledge, experience and thinking in the room...
Know when to intervene or stay out of the way, and be able to work proactively with conflict: learn to notice tension, understand your own response to it and decide whether the group needs challenge, support, space or something different — so you can work with disagreement rather than smoothing it over, suppressing it or jumping in too quickly...
Help groups reach decisions, commit to action and take ownership: use approaches that help people work through different perspectives, make genuine choices and shape what happens next together, so outcomes belong to the group and actions are more likely to happen...
Bring more creativity into the way groups work: move beyond the familiar agenda–discussion–Post-it routine by exploring visual, participative and unexpected approaches that still support your purpose, so you have more ways to unlock thinking, energy and useful results...
Turn passive participants into engaged, active contributors: use deliberate structures, visual approaches and involve people in a variety of ways, especially in virtual sessions where disengagement can happen so fast, so you get better thinking, broader participation and more commitment from everyone in the group...
Course location and logistics
Where the two days happen, and what to expect
When? The course will run next on Tuesday 3rd and Wednesday 4th November 2026.
Where? We'll be in Leicester, in the Cathedral Quarter, specifically at St Martin's House Conference Centre, 7 Peacock Lane, Leicester LE1 5PZ. Our room will be the Wycliffe Room, with lots of space for learning, practising and reflecting.
Staying overnight? There will be subsidised rooms available at the award-winning St Martin's Lodge, just opposite. An alternative is the Holiday Inn, St Nicholas Circle, which is 5 minutes' walk away.
Coming on the train? Leicester Station is 15 minutes' walk away, or a short taxi ride.
Parking? If you need disabled parking, let us know. Otherwise, we suggest either the Europark car park at St Nicholas Circle or the nearby Highcross car park.
Timings and meals? We will start shortly after 9am and finish just before 5pm, with a 45-minute break at lunch, which is provided. We will have tea and coffee breaks throughout the day as needed, with unlimited hot drinks on tap. We cater for a range of dietary requirements.
What this programme is worth to you...
When you look at the individual elements, plus the level of personalised practice, feedback and support involved, the value adds up quickly to thousands of pounds.
This is not a two-day workshop that ends when you leave the room. The value comes from the full development journey: understanding where you are now, practising in a small cohort, receiving detailed feedback, applying what you learn back at work, and having continued support while you do it.
Here’s what’s included:
Individual assessment + goal-setting session with Penny
Your facilitation self-assessment and individual session establish where you are now, where you want to be in a year, and what you most want to develop, and enable Penny to tailor the programme for you.Two-day intensive in-person workshop
With the cohort limited to 10, there is time for substantial practice, experimentation and detailed, individual feedback.Two online cohort sessions
Reconnect with the group after the workshop, share what is happening back at work, hold each other to account for actions, reflect on your practice and continue developing together. This ensures you're ready for online and hybrid groups tooThree months of individual asynchronous coaching and support
Bring the situations you are actually facing at work into the programme and get support as you apply, reflect and adapt.(Optional: three formal one-to-one coaching sessions with Penny tailored to your development)
A Few Useful Extras to Help the Learning Keep Working
Bonus 1 — Your Printed Full-Colour Workshop Workbook
Stay fully involved instead of trying to capture everything in notes.
You'll receive a professionally printed, full-colour record of what the group did, explored and created across the two in-person days, so you can revisit the learning, approaches and ideas whenever you need them back at work...
Value: huge
Bonus 2 — Signed copy Making Workshops Work: Creative Collaboration for Our Time
Go deeper into the thinking behind effective workshops and creative collaboration.
Take away Penny’s practical guide to designing and leading workshops that help people think and work together, so you have a resource to return to as you prepare for new situations and continue developing your practice...
Retail value: £19.99
Bonus 3 — Signed copy Virtual Leadership: Practical Strategies for Success with Remote or Hybrid Work and Teams
Strengthen the way you lead when people aren’t all in the same place.
Use Penny’s practical strategies for remote and hybrid work and teams — so you can bring stronger engagement, collaboration and effectiveness to the virtual groups you lead...
Retail value: £32.99
These are practical resources you can keep returning to after the live programme ends.
A Serious Investment in a Capability You’ll Keep Using
Choose the level of support that fits how you want to develop
The core programme includes your individual assessment and goal-setting, two-day intensive workshop, two online cohort sessions, three months of individual asynchronous coaching/support, the printed full-colour workbook and signed copies of two books.
Core Programme
Assessment, workshop, cohort sessions & coaching support:
£1,397 + VAT
Early‑bird price — full price £1,497 + VAT after 20 Oct
Individual assessment & goal-setting
Two-day intensive in-person workshop
Two online cohort sessions
Three months of asynchronous coaching support
Printed & PDF workbook, plus two books
Enhanced Programme
Everything in Core, plus dedicated 1:1 coaching sessions for three months:
£1,797 + VAT
Early‑bird price — full price £1,897 + VAT after 15th May 2027
Everything in the Core Programme, plus
Three private 1:1 coaching sessions, providing more tailored, individual input than the core programme.
Dedicated time on your own situations, challenges and development in greater depth
Whichever option you choose, you'll work directly with me, Penny Pullan CPF Master, throughout the programme. Because I run this independently and cap the cohort at 10, there's no handoff to a junior trainer or delivery team. From the initial assessment and in-person workshop through to the follow-on support, you're working with the person who designed the programme.
You Don’t Have to Make a Blind Commitment: Your programme begins with an individual consultation. We’ll look at your current capability, the groups and situations you work with, and where you want to develop. If, after that conversation, you feel the programme isn’t right for your needs, you can step away and receive a full refund or have your invoice cancelled. That means you can secure your place now, knowing that the first step is all about making sure this is the right development for you.
Here's what happens next
You’ll know exactly what to expect from the moment you secure your place.
Once you join the programme, the process is straightforward:
You’ll receive your confirmation and payment receipt or invoice details, so you have everything you need for your own records or for your organisation.
You’ll receive our Facilitation Skills Self-Assessment. This gives you a clear starting point and helps you think about where you are now, where you want to be in a year, and what you most want to develop.
You’ll book your initial consultation with Penny, at a time to suit your schedule
We’ll talk through your context, the kinds of groups and situations you work with, your current assessment of your competence, plus your goals for the programme and the year ahead.You’ll receive the practical details for the two-day in-person workshop. You’ll also identify a real upcoming meeting, workshop or piece of work to keep in mind so the learning is immediately relevant.
You’ll attend the two-day intensive workshop.This is where you’ll learn and apply useful theory, practise, experiment, receive detailed feedback and explore more creative, flexible ways of working with groups.
You’ll take the learning back into your workplace, with support. Over the following three months, you’ll join two online cohort sessions and have access to individual asynchronous coaching and support as you apply what you’ve learned in real situations.
If you choose the enhanced option, you’ll also have three private 1:1 coaching sessions. These give you dedicated space to work through the meetings, workshops, stakeholder challenges and group dynamics you’re facing in your own role.
And remember: the initial consultation is also your fit check. If, after that conversation, you feel the programme isn’t right for your needs, you can withdraw and receive a full refund or have your invoice cancelled. The aim is to make the whole journey feel clear, supported and connected to your real work from the start.
Still Wondering If This Is Right for You?
A few answers to the questions experienced professionals ask about this programme
"I already lead meetings and workshops. Is this going to be too basic?"
No. The programme is designed specifically for experienced professionals who are already working with groups as part of their role.
You won’t be treated as a beginner or asked to discard what already works for you. We start with your current competence, your real working context and the situations you actually face, then build from there.
The aim is to deepen your understanding, broaden the ways you can work with groups, and help you become more flexible, competent and confident when something different is needed.
“I’m already very busy. How much time will this realistically take?”
The intensive element is the two in-person days.
Before that, you’ll complete the self-assessment and have an individual consultation at a time to suit your schedule. Afterwards, the development is spread across three months, with two online cohort sessions and individual support available when you need it.
The intention is not to give you another large workload. It is to help you apply what you’re learning to meetings, workshops and group situations that are already part of your role. This means that much of the development happens through the work you’re doing anyway.
"How do I know I’ll actually be able to use this when I’m back at work?”
That question is one of the reasons the programme is structured the way it is.
You won’t just hear about useful ideas or watch somebody else demonstrate them. You’ll learn and apply useful theory, practise, experiment and receive detailed feedback during the two in-person days.
Then you take the learning back into your own meetings and workshops. Over the following three months, two online cohort sessions and individual asynchronous coaching and support give you space to reflect on what happened, work through real situations and adapt what you do next.
The learning doesn’t have to make the journey from training room to workplace on its own. That journey is part of the programme.
“How do I make the case for my organisation to fund this?”
You’re not simply asking your organisation to pay for a facilitation course.
You’re developing a capability that affects the quality of meetings and workshops, stakeholder engagement, decision-making, conflict, collaboration, action and the way change gets done through groups.
It also strengthens an increasingly important part of professional value: the ability to enable effective, creative human collaboration as AI changes how work gets done.
And you don’t need to start with a blank page when making the request.
Copy and adapt this:
Subject: Professional development request — Facilitation Intensive Programme
I’d like to request approval to attend Penny Pullan’s Facilitation Intensive Programme.
The programme is designed for experienced professionals who already lead meetings and workshops as part of their role, and focuses on developing more effective, creative and flexible ways of working with groups.
This is directly relevant to my work because I regularly need to bring people together, engage stakeholders, support decision-making and help groups make progress — often without formal authority and sometimes in complex or high-pressure situations.
The programme includes an individual assessment and goal-setting session, a two-day in-person workshop with substantial practice and expert feedback, two follow-up online cohort sessions, and three months of individual coaching and support while I apply the learning back at work.
I expect the development to help me:
* run meetings and workshops more effectively
* engage a wider range of stakeholders
* manage conflict and different perspectives more skilfully
* help groups reach clearer decisions and take stronger ownership of actions
* improve the quality of collaboration, including in virtual settings
* build a capability that is becoming increasingly important as AI changes how work gets done and human collaboration becomes more valuable
The core programme fee is £1,497 + VAT.
I’d be happy to discuss how I can apply the learning to current projects and share the value back into the organisation.
"What if I join and then realise it isn’t right for me?"
Your first step is an individual consultation with Penny.
We’ll look at your current competence levels, the groups and situations you work with, and your goals for the programme and the year ahead.
If, after that conversation, you feel the programme isn’t right for your needs, you can step away and receive a full refund or have your invoice cancelled.
So you can secure your place without having to make a blind commitment.
If you know this is a capability you want to strengthen, this is your opportunity to do it properly
Not by collecting a few more techniques, nor by waiting for the next difficult workshop to teach you another lesson.
Instead you'll give yourself the space to understand, practise, experiment, receive feedback and apply what you learn back in the work you're already doing.
Remember, if, after your initial consultation, the programme doesn’t feel right for your needs,
you can step away with a full refund or cancelled invoice.
Cohort capped at 10 people · workshop in Leicester on 15-16 June 2027· Early‑bird ends 15 May 2027.
You'll begin with an individual consultation to make sure the programme is right for your context, current competence levels and goals for the year ahead.
What Does the Shift Actually Feel Like?
The change isn’t about believing every group will suddenly become easy or predictable.
It’s about having more competence, more confidence and more creative options to draw on when you’re in the room — and being better equipped to respond to what the group actually needs.
Different starting points. Different personalities. But the same underlying change:
more confidence, more options and a greater readiness to work with what happens in the room.
From feeling out of depth to feeling equipped for the unpredictability
“Before the programme, I felt out of my depth and clueless.”
During the programme, they had the opportunity to practise, try different approaches such as dealing effectively with conflict and build a broader range of options to draw on.
“Now I feel appropriately nervous. It’s still an unpredictable environment, but now I have tools and have practiced.”
[Name, Role]
From rigid to more relaxed and creative
“I felt OK, but rigid.”
Through practice and feedback, they were able to experiment with different ways of working rather than relying only on familiar approaches.
"Now I feel more relaxed, creative and happier."
[Name, Role]
From stuck in a rut to seeing new possibilities
“I was stuck in a rut.”
The programme opened up a wider range of approaches and gave them the chance to explore what else might be possible when working with groups.
"I'm excited! There’s so much more I could do. I’ve learnt stuff I didn’t know I didn’t know."
[Name, Role]
From stuck in a rut to seeing new possibilities
“I was stuck in a rut.”
The programme opened up a wider range of approaches and gave them the chance to explore what else might be possible when working with groups.
"I'm excited! There’s so much more I could do. I’ve learnt stuff I didn’t know I didn’t know."
[Name, Role]
From underprepared to confident in delivering consistently
“I was always underprepared, having received no training previously.”
By developing capability deliberately, through theory, practice, feedback and application, they built a stronger foundation for the meetings and workshops they lead.
"I feel confident that I will be able to deliver high-quality sessions consistently."
[Name, Role]
The change isn't about believing every group will suddenly become easy or predictable. It's about having more competence, more confidence and more creative options to draw on when you're in the room — and being better equipped to respond to what the group actually needs.
Don't leave it too late...
If you want to join the next cohort, act now...
The in-person workshop takes place on 15-16 June 2027, places are limited to 10, and the early-bird price will end on 15 May.
This programme is deliberately kept small. The cohort is capped at 10 people because the quality of the experience depends on having enough space for everyone to practise, experiment, receive detailed feedback and get direct access to Penny throughout the programme.
Core Programme: £1,397 + VAT before 20 Oct · £1,497 + VAT after
Enhanced Programme: £1,797 + VAT before 20 Oct · £1,897 + VAT after
You will keep running meetings, workshops and important group conversations. If you already know you want more confidence, creativity and flexibility in how you handle those situations, waiting till next time simply means continuing to learn mainly through experience and trial and error.
If this is something you know you want to become better at, there is value in starting before a high-stakes workshop reminds you why this matters.
If you know this is a capability you want to strengthen, this is your opportunity to do it properly
Not by collecting a few more techniques. Not by waiting for the next difficult workshop to teach you another lesson.
But by giving yourself the space to understand, practise, experiment, receive feedback and apply what you learn back in the work you’re already doing.
So that when the plan is no longer enough, you have more confidence, more creative options and greater flexibility in how you work with the group.
Cohort capped at 10 people · workshop in Leicester on 15-16 June 2027 · early‑bird ends 15 May 2027
You'll begin with an individual consultation to make sure the programme is right for your context, current competence levels and goals for the year ahead.