Advanced Communication Skills Masterclass 2 Day Programme - Understanding and Challenging our own Professional Behaviours

Knowing how you come across under pressure is not something you can work out alone. The conversations that go wrong at work rarely get replayed. Nobody debriefs the tone you used with a distressed relative, or the way a disagreement with a colleague ended, and the feedback that would change it never arrives.

Two days with a senior trainer and experienced medical education actors. Day one builds the frameworks: what effective communication delivers for patients, staff and the organisation, where it breaks down under pressure, and the techniques that hold a difficult conversation together. Day two puts them to work in small groups, with scenarios drawn from conflict, complaints and feedback, and personalised guidance on your own communication style.

You leave with frameworks you can name, behaviours you have practised in front of people who will tell you the truth about them, and a plan for the situations you know are coming.

Day one: frameworks and technique

By the end of day one you will be able to:

• Understand what effective communication delivers for patients, staff and the organisation, and what it costs everyone when it fails.
• Identify the barriers that derail a conversation under pressure, from time and hierarchy to assumption and unspoken expectation.
• Apply communication frameworks to high pressure scenarios, including conflict, complaints and breaking difficult news.
• Practise active listening, questioning and reframing so a conversation stays recoverable once it has started to go wrong.
• Give developmental feedback that names the behaviour clearly without diminishing the person in front of you.

Day two: practice and personal feedback

By the end of day two you will be able to:

• Work through role play scenarios with medical education actors, covering conflict resolution, feedback and managing complaints.
• Receive targeted small group support on the specific communication challenges you brought with you.
• Test your own communication style against honest, structured feedback, and adjust it in the room rather than months later.
• Model professional behaviour in situations with no clean answer, and hold the respect of the team while you do it.
• Build an individual plan for carrying new behaviours into your everyday practice.