Insights from AGL

Training impact.  We think it should be measurable.

Before and after every AGL workshop, participants score themselves 0–10 on the specific skills the session is designed to build. Every brief is different, so we measure different things each time.

Here’s the stand-out impact from five recent sessions:

→ Elevator pitch: confidence in speaking about themselves delivering their pitch up 72% (4.6 → 7.9)
→ Future leaders: ability to manage stress  managing stress up 68% (5.6 → 9.4)
→ Personal narrative: structuring a compelling and clear message up 48% (6.1 → 9.0)
→ Storytelling: confidence telling their company’s story up 32% (6.5 → 8.6)
→ Elevate your influence: structuring a clear message up 21% (7.0 → 8.5)

What drives the uplift in AGL training sessions?   Coaches with deep sector expertise, workshops that are entirely tailored to the client, and practical frameworks people can start using immediately.  Our ethos of building in plenty of coached practice is also crucial - in pairs or small groups. 

Thank you to the clients, participants and coaches behind these sessions. If you’d like to see any specific changes within your teams, please do get in touch.

Our coaches regularly work on a 1:1 basis with C-Suite executives, supporting them to increase their impact by communicating with real human connection.

Yes we have been known to be brutal… but in the nicest possible way… !

At AGL, we believe in radical candour. The trust we've built with this client meant we could say what needed to be said, challenge directly, and support practically.

In this particular case, our work directly contributed to a major commercial success.

We always have our clients’ best interests at heart and do what it takes to help them meet their objectives when the stakes are high.

Well, this made our day!

“10/10 - make this a recurring masterclass! AGL has made me rethink how I land on what I want to say and how to showcase my best self.”
Graduate Programme employee - Shell

Confident employee ambassadors are a huge commercial asset (just look at the inexorable rise of Kathryn Turner!)

We were delighted to deliver a Personal Elevator Pitch masterclass for a group on Shell's Graduate Programme.

Each participant had been selected to represent Shell at events for undergraduates hoping to follow in their footsteps and apply for the programme.

We tailored a communications masterclass to help them represent Shell with confidence, covering:

● Crafting an elevator pitch that balances personal and professional stories
● Understanding how a purely professional narrative can make you credible, but less engaging
● Using the Trust Equation to build rapport quickly
● Using active listening and open questions with the TED framework: Tell me more, Explain, Describe
● Preparing mind, body and voice for maximum impact
● The 4 Ps: Pitch, Pace, Power and Pause
● Handling challenging questions using APAC: Acknowledge, Probe, Answer, Confirm

Huge thanks to everyone for throwing yourselves into every exercise.

Shell’s future applicants are in very good hands.

Have you heard of transhumanism? If not, you've probably heard its language.

It's the idea that we should use technology to radically "upgrade" humans: superintelligence, living forever, merging with machines.

According to Dr Alex Thomas (University of East London), speaking on the podcast ‘Your Undivided Attention’, transhumanist ideas now run through much of the way Silicon Valley talks about AI. Apparently, many people working now see ordinary human beings as a limitation to overcome because we are too slow, too emotional and too flawed…

Thomas argues that real intelligence is relational. It comes from our exchanges with other people. We couldn’t agree more.

In our view, humans are categorically not a ‘problem to be solved’. Our ability to connect, and to be our real, authentic selves when doing so, is the whole point.

At AGL we work with "unedited" humans every day:

→ A leader whose voice shakes before a big presentation
→ A team that need some honest feedback and support to come together and work cohesively
→ A pitch where trust has to be won quickly
→ A conversation that changes a career

None of the people we coach need ‘upgrading’. We simply help them hone the very things that make us all human: presence, listening, empathy and the courage to speak out and vocalise what’s really important.

Thank you to Tristan Harris, Alex Thomas and Center for Humane Technology for another fascinating listen.

View the video here: https://lnkd.in/eEfNNjX6

A special moment for AGL: nearly ten years after he first spoke with our founder, Ant Gordon Lennox, Andy Coulson joined us to talk about leadership communication and resilience.

In conversation with James Kidner, a great friend of AGL, Andy shared many excellent insights. One that really stuck with us was the importance of not just acknowledging failures but putting them to work, using them to learn and grow.

Thank you to everyone who joined us and in particular to James and Andy.

If you want to ensure that your leadership legacy is not defined by a lettuce, or your keynote speech remembered for something like a jar of gherkins, we can help.

We put the right coaching support in place to help you lead with clarity, shape your narrative and deliver your messages with impact so that people remember you for the right reasons.

We often get asked ‘who do we coach?’

The answer is we coach people at all levels of seniority - including Founders, C-Suite, Leadership Teams, Future Leaders, Early Careers and private individuals.

A few examples from across October:

𝐅𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐧𝐮𝐦 & 𝐌𝐚𝐬𝐨𝐧: A workshop on the Change Journey for Heads of Department

𝐒𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐥: A Personal Narrative masterclass for Early Careers

𝐋𝐥𝐨𝐲𝐝𝐬 𝐁𝐚𝐧𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐆𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐩: Working with a cross-section of individuals at all levels

𝐓𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐅𝐢𝐫𝐦: Speechwriting for senior leaders

𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐭𝐲 & 𝐈𝐧𝐯𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐚𝐧𝐲: Workshops on Leading Change and Communicating Change for senior leaders

𝐇𝐢𝐠𝐡 𝐄𝐧𝐝 𝐋𝐮𝐱𝐮𝐫𝐲 𝐆𝐨𝐨𝐝𝐬 𝐅𝐢𝐫𝐦: AGL’s ‘Briefing Course’ workshop for Future Leaders

𝐅𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐒𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐢𝐜𝐞𝐬 𝐒𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐨𝐫: AGL’s ‘Briefing Course’ masterclass for senior leaders from various firms

𝐂𝐨𝐫𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐅𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐎𝐫𝐠𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐬𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧: Feedback workshop for senior team

𝐏𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐢𝐮𝐦 𝐁𝐞𝐚𝐮𝐭𝐲 𝐁𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐝: Elevator Pitch workshop for Future Leaders

𝐈𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐝𝐮𝐚𝐥𝐬: 1:1 Executive coaching for many senior leaders, founders and private individuals

From those in their first job, to the Chairman and everyone in between, if you want to get real about human connection, AGL can put the right support in place to help you.