The lighter side

A short relocation poem about tannins
by T Gaskin

Damian, based in South for sins,
Located now in St ‘Albins’.
He's finding 'tea' the major source
of feeling homesick for the North;
The water yields a heavy slick,
He serves the tea in wedges, thick.

Tetley, Typhoo, Yorkshire Gold,
(He's not very posh if truth be told)
PG, Clipper, 99 brand,
(that's 'Co-op', which the South have banned)
They all just taste of muddy water,
The tea 'don't taste like what it oughta'.
And even cups in cafés, dear,
Where you would hope the water's clear,
They put the milk in on the bag,
with water cool and high price tag.
Despite a search Home County-wide,
He's just not being satisfied.

At night, with bag and mug he roams,
and pines for brews of Northern homes.
So cheer him up, for goodness sake,
Pop in for slice of tea and cake.

Testimonials

"Basically, it was about having the conversation you didn't want to have. And the feedback was excellent."

Paul Stubbs

Head of Learning & Development, Davis Langdon

"It worked brilliantly. The scenario was engaging and very real and it got people thinking intellectually but also emotionally. People got a huge amount out of the process. The whole was very well received and it did the job it was supposed to do extremely well."

David Love

Principal, Leadership & Management Development, Office for Public Management

"The case study materials were rigorous, in-depth and very challenging."

Ray O'Connor

Learning & Development Advisor, Addleshaw Goddard

"Those playing the clients were absolutely on top of their facts and understood not only the factual issues but also the legal issues."

Matthew Bruce

Senior Associate, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP

"How are you different from other providers we've worked with in the past? The bespokeness."

Catherine Boddington

Head of Learning & Development, Addleshaw Goddard

"It's a way of delivering training without it being a presentation, a way of being near to real life and practical as possible without getting the actual person in and rehearsing it with them."

Paul Stubbs

Head of Learning & Development, Davis Langdon

"Sometimes you need somebody to help upfront rather than doing it wrong and trying to get it right next time."

Andy Martin

Managing Partner, Strutt & Parker

services

From rehearsing individual leadership conversations to global assessment centres, our services are tailored right down to the individual delegate on the day and we make it our business to give you what you need to deliver real benefits to your organisation.

In addition to the services we offer, a large proportion of our work is bespoke and we deliver across a wide range of issues. We are also able to partner with other learning and development experts.

All of our rehearsal team have excellent acting skills, previous experience as successful professionals and business people, and the ability to give clear, specific, evidence-based feedback and ask great coaching questions.

Our processes include:-

Transformational Conversations

Rehearsing your critical work conversation with real-time feedback and coaching, helping you to achieve goals and strengthen relationships with clients, colleagues and business partners.

Business Simulations

Recreating and rehearsing work situations, with feedback and coaching allowing people to gain practical experience without risk. How can that help me?

Forum Theatre

Rehearsing future scenarios and challenges, bringing them to life and engaging the whole organisation in rehearsing solutions and committing making them work. How can that help me?

Presentation and Communication Workshops

Gaining and practising key communication skills for presentations and/or gaining 'Presence' with the benefit of theatre techniques and approaches. How can that help me?

Assessment Centres

Recreating and rehearsing key job tasks to assess competencies, allowing you to find the best fit before you invest in appointment or promotion.

The Thinking Environment ™

A powerful framework for rehearsing the thinking we do prior to taking action, specifically focusing on allowing people to do their own best thinking and overturn limiting assumptions. Applications to leadership, transforming meetings, peer coaching support, mentoring, learning sets and culture change.