How People Work
Individual Coaching
Success isn’t just about what you do and whether you’re good at it. It’s also about how well you work with others. Like it or not, we all work with other people.
Great work needs relationships based on trust and empathy, but we don’t get taught how to work with others. Learn how people work, and you—and your work—will have a better chance to succeed.
Who this is for
This is for you.
It’s for you because you work with other people.
No matter what you do, whether it’s in Github or Outlook, Excel or Asana, Figma or Visual Studio Code, Confluence (sorry) or Sharepoint (also sorry), you’re someone who needs to understand other people and communicate clearly with them — which also means thinking clearly about goals, strategy, and tactics. This is How People Work, but built for coaching.
Testimonial
Therapists need their own therapist. Strategists need their own strategist.
When what you do is see across things and peer into complexity, communicating can get complicated. Dan knows this - because it’s what he does too. This means you don't spend time explaining what you do or how you do it - the ambiguity, the mess, the layers. You just work on how to get better at it.
He truly listens - intently - and helps you better articulate what you already see clearly. The work moves fast because trust builds fast - it's easy to trust someone when you immediately recognize their expertise. When you don't have to explain the nuances. Focused, thoughtful, and deeply compassionate he is the perfect balance of guide and collaborator.
—Arabella
How coaching works
Coaching with Dan is like having your own expert, in your corner, focussed on your success and growth. During a session, we’ll
teach you, covering the four core topics of learning how to improve your relationships, become more influential, get rid of that business bullshit when you communicate, and techniques for better strategy;
mentor you, giving practical advice and what to do next (and what not to do next!) based on our experience of what works;
provide feedback; regularly share clear, specific things for you to do to help you thrive.
We work with people from different levels of seniority and different backgrounds—in fact, we welcome it. It doesn’t matter what your discipline is.
Coaching happens over video or by phone. We’ll work out a schedule, and you can buy sessions as you need them, or a package for more regular check-ins.
Testimonial
“The hands-on bootcamp with Dan saved my ass. He turned the tide of our engagement: we went from being on the back foot with our main contact to influencing up two layers. He left the project with stronger stakeholder relationships, learned patterns to influence the people who mattered, and better alignment in our team and the organization. Work with Dan however you can get him: bootcamp, workshop, you name it.”
—Alexis Kostibas, Sr. Manager Product at Truss
What coaching can do for you
You’ll be the person who knows who to influence, why to influence them, and how to persuade them to help your work succeed.
You’ll be more likely to get the answers you need from people because you’ll have stronger relationships built on trust.
It’ll be easier for people to support your work, because you’ll have learned to spot and remove bullshit, and know how to clearly communicate to meet different peoples’ needs.
You’ll be someone who can develop better strategies for success when you spot big problems, ones that really increase the chances of success, instead of creating strategies that feel like make-work. People will work with you because you’ll make goals clearer, strategy understandable, and tactics make sense.
Choose what you need, when you need it
Deciding what to work on can be hard, so we’ve made coaching easier. Choose from the four core topics of How People Work—or you’re always open to pick a freeform session.
Improve my relationships
Work on resetting working relationships, setting and managing boundaries, roles, and responsibilities.
Communicate more clearly
Whether it’s explaining products, services, or roadmaps, to everyday emails and decks, practice translating the complicated and complex into the clear and accessible.
Become more influential
Get what you need to be successful by building better mental models of how organizations and teams work, and learn the tools needed to identify and gain the support of critical people.
Focus on what matters
Most strategy is terrible, but not for lack of trying. Learn how to prioritize and set goals in difficult environments with limited resources, and how to improve existing strategy, goals, and tactics.
Meet your coach
With over 25 years of experience in the technology industry, Dan has worked in, as, and with VC-funded startup teams, executive leadership, the creative agencies, and U.S. state and federal technology megaprojects.
His work has won SXSW Best of Show, Cannes Lions, and he is a member of the British Academy for Film and Television Arts, and a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. A keynote speaker, his work has been published in WIRED and the MIT Technology Review.