Get your ideas across, win support and open the way to an agreement: how you speak shapes what you can achieve. This program sharpens your expression, reasoning and powers of persuasion. Drawing on the French art of conversation, precise language and a sensitivity to nuance, it also supports those who want to express themselves more fluently and effectively in French.
What gets in the way
A sound proposal fails to persuade. A meeting drifts without addressing the real issue. An objection pulls you away from your point. Some of your influence is lost between what you think, what you say and what others take away.
What you gain
Express an idea that people can understand, remember and support.
Make the case for a project, parry objections and negotiate clear commitments.
Adapt your words and your narrative to your audience, turning engagement into a clear next step.
A role, a text, a voice in French
Actors and their agents can arrange tailored support for a French-speaking role, a reading or a media appearance. Working from the text and the project, we explore intentions, precise wording, registers and cultural references to help the performer express themselves more naturally and in their own voice in French. The content and schedule are tailored to the project’s deadlines.
Five workshops to refine your practice
01
Forge decisive questions
Refine your questioning techniques and active listening: clarify requests, examine assumptions and move consequential business conversations forward.
By the end of the workshop, you will be able to
Distinguish facts, interpretations and assumptions in a business request.
Ask open questions and seek the details that deepen mutual understanding.
Reframe the issue and check with your counterpart that you have understood what matters.
In practice. Explore an unclear request through a structured conversation, then agree with your counterpart on the problem to address before proposing a solution.
02
Hone words that ring true
Strengthen your rhetorical skills and powers of persuasion: structure a recommendation and choose arguments that matter to your audience.
By the end of the workshop, you will be able to
State a clear proposition, distinguish claims, arguments and evidence, and specify the decision you seek.
Prioritize arguments in light of your audience’s concerns and values.
Choose examples and analogies that illuminate your message without distorting its meaning.
In practice. Present the same recommendation to finance and operations leaders, adapting your arguments while keeping your message consistent.
03
Shape fruitful agreements
Learn the foundations of principled negotiation with Rational Games: prepare alternatives, look beyond stated positions and build agreements that create value.
By the end of the workshop, you will be able to
Distinguish stated positions from underlying interests and prepare your best alternative to a negotiated agreement.
Explore options, use explicit criteria and assess concessions.
Clarify commitments and what implementation requires, then assess whether to reach an agreement.
In practice. Negotiate with asymmetric information, then review your preparation, the interests uncovered, possible trades and the strength of the resulting agreement.
Developed with Rational Games, this workshop combines practical simulations with an in-depth debrief to refine your negotiation practice.
For 25 years, Rational Games has taught negotiation through play to businesses and institutions. Its clients include the German Federal Foreign Office, Microsoft and Deutsche Bank.
04
Parry objections with confidence
Handle objections and difficult conversations: examine arguments, clarify misunderstandings and defend or revise your position with sound judgment.
By the end of the workshop, you will be able to
Distinguish substantive objections, misunderstandings and personal attacks.
Recognize false dilemmas and shifts in meaning, then restate the objection accurately.
Choose a proportionate response and make any remaining disagreement explicit.
In practice. Defend a proposal against different kinds of objections; identify each difficulty before choosing to rebut, clarify, concede a point or revise your position.
05
Master the art of eloquence
Bring public speaking, executive communication and storytelling together: explain a strategic direction, show what is at stake and build shared commitment to a project.
By the end of the workshop, you will be able to
Build a clear thread connecting context, challenges, choices and future direction.
Show what is at stake through stories grounded in facts, relevant imagery and examples.
Acknowledge the effort required and remaining uncertainties, then explain the next step.
In practice. Prepare a five-minute address introducing a real strategic direction; ask listeners to explain what they understood, remembered and identified as the next step.
Designed around your priorities
For leaders, experts, diplomats and professionals whose words shape a project, a relationship or a reputation.
Your speeches, interviews, presentations and negotiations provide the material. You prepare them, put them to the test and refine them through focused feedback. From incisive questions to a decisive address, the five workshops build progressive mastery; they can also form part of a bespoke selection from our fifteen workshops.
Philippe Gruca connects philosophy with the practice of negotiation and responsible leadership. He has taught at institutions including IÉSEG, Sigmund Freud University in Paris and SGH Warsaw School of Economics, and serves each year as an expert and judge at the Warsaw Negotiation Round. Programs are available in French, English, German and Polish.
