Conversations that change something
Reviews, feedback, 1:1s. Most managers can run the conversation. Far fewer can say what was different afterwards. That is what this half day changes — with one page of preparation, one shape for the conversation, and a move for every reaction they will meet.
The conversation, in four moves
What your managers do differently on Monday
They prepare in fifteen minutes
One page per person, filled in the same order as the conversation itself.
They say what they saw
Two specific moments, instead of a judgement about the person.
They keep going when it gets hard
Denial, emotion, excuses, acceptance — a named move for each one.
What makes feedback training for managers stick
Everyone gets a good conversation
One standard across the leadership team, so what a team member experiences follows their work.
Concrete enough to act on
Two moments a camera could have filmed — so the next step is obvious to both of you.
Confident when it gets personal
A named move for every reaction, so the conversation keeps going and lands.
Everything they leave with
The ownership question
“What could I have done differently?” Asked first, by the manager, out loud. It takes their own ego out of the room — and that is what makes it safe enough for the other person to do the same.
The Feedback Canvas
One page per person: where they are, what great looks like in this role, two moments a camera could have recorded, why it matters to them, and the commitment.
The shape of the conversation
The whole conversation as one line to follow: their view, your read, one thing to keep, one thing to change, their move, next actions.
The four reactions
Whatever comes back is denial, emotion, excuses or acceptance. Each gets three things you do, in order — including the one that decides how the rest of the conversation goes.
Feedback training that is half practice
Managers who have run reviews for years want to practise. So they work on their own real cases from the first ten minutes: the session opens with them telling us how the last round went, and closes with them blocking the next conversations in their calendar before they leave the room.
A filled-in page and two dates in the calendar
How the half day runs
They tell us how the last round actually went. No input from us yet.
The ownership question, then the canvas, filled in for someone real.
The shape of it, then run out loud in pairs.
The four reactions, and a rehearsal with a hidden one.
Calendars open. Two conversations blocked, in the room.
SkillDay trainers work with teams at
Across more than 50 topics, in-house and online.
Questions we get asked
Who is it for?
Anyone who runs review, feedback or 1:1 conversations with a team — team leads, department heads, project leads. It works best when a whole leadership layer goes through it together, because that is what creates the shared standard.
Does it fit our own review process?
Yes. We work with your forms, your cycle and your competency wording — send them over before the session and they show up in the exercises.
What do participants need to bring?
Two people in mind: one who is on track and one where something needs to change, with two or three concrete observations each. That is the whole preparation.
How many people can join?
Eight to sixteen for the inhouse half day, twelve to twenty for the online version. Both keep everyone practising rather than watching.
Can we run it for several groups?
That is the usual case. The design is the same every time, so a leadership population of eighty goes through the same standard in five or six sessions.
German or English?
Both, with the same materials, delivered by a native speaker.
SkillDay is a network of around six expert trainers and facilitators delivering more than 50 topics for teams across Europe and online. This training was designed in-house and is delivered by the trainer whose practice fits your room — in German or English.
Bring it to your managers
Tell us how many leaders, roughly when, and whether you want it inhouse or online. You get a date and a fixed price back, usually the same day.
Request a dateHamburg · Europe-wide & online · German or English