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Corporate
Coach Group

More Output. Less Busy Work.

Productivity Training 1 day

Your future success depends on your productivity. It is important to realise that, nobody is paid for the amount of work they do. Rather, you are paid for your productivity. Sadly, some people often have 'busy but NON-productive days'. Productivity training is about increasing your efficiency rating, so that you add more value to your organisation.

Available as an open course at venues across the UK, as live online training via Microsoft Teams, or as bespoke in-house training tailored to your organisation.

★★★★★
"The course content was excellent and very detailed. I found the time management section very useful and lots of new methods to help me be better organised. I found the emotions section very interesting and a great way to approach the issues." - Hannatu Gentles, TY Danjuma Family Office Ltd
Quality Training
Established 1997
6 CPD Hours
Delivery Options Upcoming Dates

Course Overview

What is Productivity Training?

Most people work hard but are not as productive as they could be. The problem is rarely effort: it is the ratio of effort spent on genuinely high-value work versus low-value "busy work" that consumes time without generating proportionate results. This course addresses that imbalance directly, using the Productivity SOS framework to drive improvement across three domains simultaneously: yourself, the people around you, and the systems and processes your team uses every day.

The morning establishes the foundational distinction between busy work and productive work, introduces the Productivity P-List (Purpose, Plan, Prep, Personal Initiative) and Productivity SOS, and then applies those frameworks to practical challenges: prioritisation, interruption management, email, delegation and decision-making. Unlike our specialist time management training, which focuses primarily on organising your own schedule and workload, this course gives equal weight to making other people more productive and to improving the work systems that shape collective output.

The afternoon explores the mental side of productivity. A focused, optimistic mindset is not a personality trait; it is a trainable condition that determines how much of your knowledge and skill you actually deploy under pressure. We cover continuous improvement as a personal habit, how to extract learning from negative feedback, and how to translate the day's insights into lasting behaviour change rather than good intentions that fade by Friday.

By the end of the course, you will have a complete productivity framework and a written action plan ready to implement. The three months of free telephone coaching that follows supports you while you embed new habits in your actual working environment. For those who also want to develop broader leadership skills, our leadership and management training builds on many of the same foundations across a two-day programme.

Core Skills

The Key Skills Covered

This course develops six practical skills that together form a complete system for sustainable productivity, covering yourself, the people you work with and the systems that structure your work.

  1. 1

    Busy Work vs Productive Work

    Classify every task on two dimensions: value and deadline pressure. Identify which activities genuinely advance your goals and which merely fill your day with effort that delivers little lasting result. This distinction is the foundation of everything else on the course.

  2. 2

    The Productivity P-List

    Apply the four-stage model: Purpose, Plan, Prep, Personal Initiative. Move from reactive task-switching to purposeful, pre-planned execution that puts your best effort where it creates the most value. The P-List eliminates the unclear objectives and disorganised starts that waste significant time in most organisations.

  3. 3

    Productivity SOS: Self, Others, Systems

    Improve productivity across all three domains: your own habits and mindset, the performance of the people around you, and the work systems and processes that either enable or obstruct progress. Focusing on all three simultaneously produces significantly better results than addressing any single area alone.

  4. 4

    Decision-Making for Maximum Output

    Make better decisions faster by applying clear criteria, avoiding common cognitive biases and treating every outcome as a source of useful feedback. Poor and slow decisions are a hidden productivity drain; this module gives you a reliable framework for making sound choices under pressure.

  5. 5

    Positive Mindset and Energy Management

    Develop the mental resilience, optimism and physical energy needed to maintain high output consistently, not just when conditions are ideal. Productivity is as much a psychological discipline as a practical one; this module makes that discipline concrete and immediately actionable.

  6. 6

    Continuous Improvement

    Embed the habit of reviewing what worked, identifying what to change and systematically improving your approach each week. Applied consistently, continuous improvement compounds into transformational gains in personal and team output over time.

Who Is This Course For?

Who Should Attend This Productivity Training Course?

Designed for individuals and managers who want to generate more high-value output in less time, across themselves, their teams and their work systems.

Managers and Team Leaders

Improve your own output and gain practical strategies for making your team measurably more productive.

Individuals Feeling Overwhelmed

Identify which activities are genuinely productive and redirect your energy towards work that creates real results.

People Managers

Develop tools for coaching direct reports to higher performance and addressing the habits that reduce team output.

Business Professionals

Build sustainable productivity habits, sharpen decision-making and develop the positive mindset needed for consistent high performance.

Also highly valuable for business owners who find operational demands consistently crowding out strategic priorities, newly promoted managers balancing personal output with team leadership, and remote workers seeking structure and focus without a manager nearby.

Course Agenda

Productivity Training Course Details

AM

Morning Session • Defining productivity, the P-List and Productivity SOS

Establish a clear and practical definition of productivity, distinguish busy work from genuinely productive activity, and learn the two core frameworks (the Productivity P-List and Productivity SOS) that underpin every other skill covered on the course.

Productivity training teaches people to distinguish between low-value activity ('busy work') and high-value activity ('productive work'). Most people work hard but spend a disproportionate amount of their time on tasks that consume effort without delivering meaningful results. The course explains what productivity actually means, why efficiency is its foundation, and introduces the two core frameworks that organise the rest of the day: the Productivity P-List and the Productivity SOS model.
The fundamental question is: what result do I ultimately want to achieve? This sounds simple, but a surprising number of people cannot answer it clearly in relation to their current work priorities. We use this question to establish each delegate's Major Definite Purpose: the single most important outcome they are working towards. Everything else on the course builds on this foundation, because you cannot decide what is productive without first knowing precisely what you are trying to produce.
The primary principles establish that productivity is not the same as being busy; that efficiency determines the ratio of output to effort; and that improvement is always possible regardless of your current level. We examine what distinguishes a highly productive person from a merely busy one, why most people systematically underestimate the value of planning, and the foundational habits that consistently separate high performers from those who feel perpetually behind.
Busy work is short-range and low value: it fills time and creates activity but generates little lasting progress. Productive work is long-range and high-value: it moves important projects forward, prevents future problems and creates results that compound over time. We introduce a practical classification system that lets you evaluate any task before committing your time to it, and examine the common psychological traps that pull even experienced professionals towards busy work when they know better.
The Productivity P-List is a four-stage model for executing work at a high level. Purpose ensures you know exactly what you are trying to achieve and why. Plan gives you a written, sequenced roadmap for getting there. Prep removes the friction that delays a start: gathering materials, clearing the workspace, briefing the people involved. Personal Initiative is the commitment to take ownership and act without waiting to be told. Together, the four stages eliminate the disorganised starts, unclear objectives and passive waiting that waste large amounts of productive time in most organisations.
The SOS framework divides all productivity problems into three categories. Self covers the habits, mindset and decisions that make you personally more or less productive. Others covers the skills for making the people around you, including your team, colleagues and direct reports, more productive. Systems covers the processes, tools, procedures and workflows that either enable or obstruct progress. Most people focus only on self-improvement, leaving enormous productivity gains untapped in the Others and Systems domains. This course develops all three simultaneously.
We run a structured diagnostic exercise in which delegates examine their own working week and identify specific examples in each SOS category: personal habits that cost time, people around them who reduce their output, and systems or processes that create unnecessary friction. This diagnostic makes the rest of the course immediately personal and relevant rather than generic. You leave with a clear picture of your three highest-priority productivity targets before lunchtime.
A Major Definite Purpose is a specific, written, time-bound statement of the single most important result you intend to achieve. Research consistently shows that people with a clear primary purpose accomplish significantly more than those who spread their effort across many competing priorities. On this module we show you how to define your Major Definite Purpose, how to use it as a decision-making filter for everything else in your schedule, and how to maintain focus on it under the daily pressure of interruptions, urgent requests and routine tasks.
We introduce a two-axis classification system based on value and deadline pressure that produces four distinct task categories. High-value, high-urgency tasks are completed first; high-value, low-urgency tasks are scheduled proactively before they become crises; low-value tasks are delegated, batched or simplified; low-value, non-urgent tasks are considered for elimination entirely. You will practise applying this system to a real workload and leave with a clear priority order for your current work.
Interruptions carry a disproportionate cost: research suggests a single interruption can require 15 to 20 minutes of recovery time before you regain full concentration on the task you were doing. We distinguish genuine urgent requests from habitual interruptions that could be batched, redirected or prevented, and give you a set of practical techniques for protecting your most important focused work time without damaging your relationships with colleagues or your team.
Email is both essential and one of the most pervasive sources of low-value activity in modern workplaces. We introduce a structured approach to processing email at scheduled intervals rather than monitoring it continuously; writing messages that generate fewer unnecessary replies; using clear subject lines that communicate urgency and required action; and setting realistic expectations about response times that protect your focus without making you unreachable to important contacts.
Delegation is one of the highest-leverage productivity tools available to anyone who has tasks they can assign to others. We examine the criteria for choosing what to delegate: the other person has the skills needed; the task provides a development opportunity; completing it yourself would prevent you from doing more valuable work. We cover how to delegate clearly using a structured brief and how to monitor progress without micromanaging, along with practical techniques for overcoming the common reluctance to hand work on.
Time spent on recurring problems is doubly costly: you lose the time spent on the problem itself, and you miss the opportunity to prevent it from recurring. We introduce a structured approach to problem-solving that separates symptom from cause, generates a range of options before committing to a solution, and builds a preventative action into the response so that the same problem does not return. Fast, accurate problem-solving is a significant productivity multiplier when practised consistently.
Poor or slow decisions are a hidden productivity drain. Delayed decisions create bottlenecks; wrong decisions create rework; indecision under pressure tends to produce the worst of all outcomes. We cover a clear decision-making framework based on gathering relevant information, establishing measurable criteria, evaluating options objectively and committing to a course of action. We also examine the most common cognitive biases that lead to poor decisions under pressure and give you practical techniques for avoiding them.
PM

Afternoon Session • Mindset, continuous improvement and action planning

Explore the crucial mental side of productivity: develop the right mindset, use continuous improvement to eliminate recurring inefficiencies, and leave with a written action plan to implement the moment you return to work.

Your mental state has a direct effect on the quality and quantity of your output. A distracted, anxious or pessimistic mind makes slower decisions, avoids difficult tasks, produces more errors and finds it harder to take initiative. A focused, optimistic and energised mind processes information faster, tackles challenges more readily and sustains effort over longer periods. We open the afternoon by establishing precisely what a productive state of mind involves and why developing it is as important as mastering any of the practical tools covered in the morning.
We cover a set of evidence-based mental habits that reliably improve productivity: maintaining a clear, written goal to direct attention; using optimistic self-talk rather than self-criticism after setbacks; managing physical energy through sleep, nutrition and movement; designing your environment to support focused work; and using the first 15 minutes of each day to plan intentionally rather than reacting to whatever arrives first. Each habit is immediately actionable; no personality change or extended lifestyle overhaul is required.
Continuous improvement applied to personal and team productivity means systematically reviewing what worked, identifying what to change and testing a modified approach before the next review period. We introduce a simple four-step weekly review habit: observe results, analyse causes, plan a change, implement it. Used consistently, this cycle compounds over time into significant gains in output and ensures you are not just maintaining your current level of productivity but actively improving it each week.
Negative feedback, interpreted correctly, is the most reliable signal that your current approach needs to change. Defensive reactions to critical feedback prevent learning and guarantee the recurrence of the same problems. We introduce a framework for separating the emotional response to negative feedback from its practical information value, extracting specific and actionable lessons, and converting each piece of critical feedback into a concrete change in your method. This reframing turns every setback into a source of competitive advantage rather than a source of demoralisation.
Knowledge without implementation produces no results. We dedicate a significant portion of the afternoon to the specific challenge of translating the course content into lasting behaviour change. We cover why people consistently fail to act on training insights: competing priorities, unclear first steps and lack of accountability, and how to overcome each barrier. Each delegate identifies the three to five changes they will make, sequences them in the right order to build momentum, and commits to a clear start date and a measurable indicator of success.
The course closes with a full review of all the key concepts covered during the day, from the Productivity P-List and SOS framework through to mindset development and continuous improvement. Each delegate completes a written action plan specifying what they will do differently, by when and how they will know it is working. The plan is designed to be realistic and immediately actionable. Three months of free telephone coaching follows the course, providing ongoing support while you embed new habits in your actual working environment.

Availability and Pricing

Delivery Options

Choose the delivery format that best fits your schedule and team.

All options deliver the same high-quality content.

Online Live Training

£350 +VAT

per delegate

Interactive live sessions delivered via Teams using our superior green-screen technology.

  • Same content as face-to-face
  • Learn from home or office
  • Delivered via MS Teams
  • Laptop or tablet with webcam
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Most Popular

Open Course

£475 +VAT

per delegate

Early bird offers available

Join scheduled courses at venues across the UK including London, Birmingham, Manchester & more.

  • Venues across the UK
  • 9:00 am to 4:30 pm
  • Tea and coffee from 8:45 am
  • Network with peers
Book Open Course

Bespoke In-House

£2250+VAT

per training day

We come to you. Training delivered at your premises, tailored to your team's specific needs.

  • Your premises or online
  • Tailored to your organisation
  • Dates to suit your schedule
  • We can train in your timezone
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All Our Training Includes

Full 1 day of expert training delivered by an experienced trainer
CPD-endorsed course: 6 CPD training hours (plus 2-3 additional hours via post-course online learning)
Full digital interactive course notes
Official training certificate
Access to free additional training material via our post-course portal
3 months of free telephone coaching while you implement your learning

Questions? Call 020 3856 3037 or 01452 856091

Upcoming Dates

Next Available Course Dates

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No upcoming dates are currently listed.
Please get in touch to enquire about availability.

Contact Us

Frequently Asked Questions

Course FAQs

You can book directly online via our course dates page, call us on 020 3856 3037, or make an enquiry and we will call you back. We accept payment by BACS, cheque or credit card. Once booked, you will receive a confirmation email with full joining instructions.
Yes. We can deliver this course exclusively for your team at your premises or online, on dates to suit you. Bespoke in-house training is priced per day rather than per delegate, making it cost-effective for groups of four or more. We can also tailor the content to address your organisation's specific challenges.
The most reliable approach is to work on all three domains covered by the Productivity SOS framework. Start with yourself: examine your own habits, identify the patterns that consume time without delivering value and replace them with deliberate, high-value actions. Then look at others: the people you work with either help or hinder your output, and there are specific strategies for making them more productive without creating conflict. Finally, examine your systems: the processes, tools and workflows that either enable or obstruct progress. Improving productivity across all three domains simultaneously produces significantly better results than focusing on any single area alone.
A more productive team delivers better results with the same or fewer resources, reduces errors and rework, creates more time for innovation and improvement, and generally reports higher job satisfaction because members spend more of their time on meaningful work rather than low-value activity. For the manager, a highly productive team reduces daily fire-fighting, creates space for strategic thinking and makes it easier to attract and retain capable people. The Productivity SOS framework gives managers practical tools for developing these outcomes systematically rather than hoping they emerge naturally.
Four factors consistently explain differences in productivity between individuals and teams:
  1. Goal clarity: people who know precisely what they are trying to achieve, and why it matters, consistently outperform those with vague or shifting objectives
  2. Mindset and mental energy: a focused, optimistic and well-rested mind processes information faster, makes better decisions and sustains effort for longer
  3. Skills and habits: the specific behaviours people have practised until they are automatic, including prioritisation, planning and decision-making
  4. Work systems and environment: the processes, tools, structures and culture in which people operate either accelerate or obstruct productive work
This course addresses all four factors directly through the Productivity SOS framework.
Yes, the training is highly interactive. Sessions include group discussions, exercises, case studies and individual action planning. The trainer actively teaches expert content rather than simply facilitating discussion, so delegates leave with structured knowledge they can apply immediately. The style is engaging and practical throughout.
Delegates come from a wide range of roles and sectors: managers and team leaders who want to improve their own output and that of their team; individual contributors who feel busy but not productive; project managers seeking to deliver more with the same resources; business owners managing operational demands alongside strategic priorities; and HR and L&D professionals looking for a practical, results-focused programme. The core challenges addressed on this course (distinguishing productive work from busy work, making others more effective and improving work systems) are universal regardless of industry or seniority level.
Open courses run from 9:00 am to 4:30 pm. Delegates are welcome to arrive from 8:45 am; tea and coffee are available from that time. The course includes mid-morning and mid-afternoon breaks plus a lunch break.

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On This Page

  1. 1 Course Overview
  2. 2 Key Skills
  3. 3 Who Should Attend
  4. 4 Course Agenda
  5. 5 Delivery Options
  6. 6 Upcoming Dates
  7. 7 FAQs

Book This Course

Online Live Training £350 +VAT
Open Course £475 +VAT
Bespoke In-House £2250 +VAT/day
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Questions? Call us on

020 3856 3037
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Customer Reviews

What Delegates Say About This Course

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★★★★★

"Really clear and engaging content, in a really good flow. Lots of discussion that felt natural and relevant and inclusive. Not too overwhelming which I often find with training. Feels like I’ve been equipped with the tools to succeed with confidence. Chris was really engaging, inspiring and clear. The training flew by (in a good way) and the information has actually stayed in my brain! Loved it and will be recommending to others 100/100"

Katarina Stankovic

GWI

★★★★★

"Very helpful concepts, extremely well organized and practical for our personal and work life. Exercises are very hands-on and helped grasp the material better while reflecting on real life examples. Chris is an amazing, inspiring presenter. He kept us engaged the whole day. Answered all questions and 100% knowledgeable of the subject he was presenting. An excellent, passionate presenter. "

Emma Kolitsi

Kings College London

★★★★★

"Excellent course, very useful, full of tips to put into actions, relevant. Very interactive and straight to the point. Useful listening to other people's experiences/perspectives. Good structure and breaking times. Excellent food. The trainers presentation was insightful. Many examples make the concept easier to understand. Very energetic, he kept the attention high."

Elisa Cairoli

Adobe

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Ready to Do More of What Matters?

Enrol on our next open course, attend a live online session from anywhere in the UK, or speak to us about tailored in-house delivery for your team.

Book Open Course Enquire about In-House

Or speak to a member of our team directly:

020 3856 3037 01452 856091