Experience – With over 7,400 staff in the UK and 110 countries worldwide, the British Council offers your company a depth of skills and experience few other training organisations can match. Last year alone, the total number of British Council students and exam candidates was 1.3 million. This global network of expertise, together with our extensive local knowledge and experience, enables us to design and deliver high quality training to exactly suit your needs.

Quality – Our trainers have internationally recognised teaching and training qualifications, as well as international experience in a range of business fields. Our training programmes are tailored specifically to meet your needs, with practical, student-centred activities, including case studies, role-play and project work.

Innovation – Our classrooms let you make use of the latest educational technology and learning software and include full internet connectivity, interactive whiteboards, and audio/ video facilities. You will have unlimited access to our Self Study Centre with a range of interactive resources to further develop the skills you learn in the classroom. To help you manage your learning, we offer innovative blended learning solutions, combining self-paced online learning with classroom study.

Interpersonal Communication Skills
Build your awareness of factors that influence successful communication and develop interpersonal skills. Learn how to:

• how you communicate with greater confidence
• control how they are communicating
• develop more positive and productive business relationships.

Business Writing Essentials
Develop the fundamental skills required for writing effectively, in a clear, contemporary style. Participants learn how to:

• write more clearly and accurately
• develop an effective approach to planning and writing
• identify and avoid common grammar errors

Effective Emails and Letters
As a follow-up to Business Writing Essentials, examine how to express yourself with real impact in letters and emails. Learn how to:

• tailor your writing style to fi t the readers’ needs
• plan and organise your writing to fi t their purpose
• write clear, concise and complete letters and emails

Reports that Work
Deals with fundamental skills needed for planning, structuring, writing and checking reports. Participants learn to:

• improve their ability to plan, organise and analyse reports
• write clearer, more structured reports
• apply the main report formats.

Fine Tuning: Writing Skills for Managers
Perfect your skills in writing letters, emails, faxes, reports and proposals and be a resource for your staff. Learn how to:

• write more effective documents
• be better equipped to edit and review your staffs’ writing
• become a resource/guide for team members and subordinates.

Customer Service Essentials for the Frontline
Develop the interpersonal skills required to provide excellent customer service. Learn how to:

• plan, organise and analyse reports better
• use body language and empathy to improve customer service
• develop strategies for dealing with difficult customers.

Managing Customer Service
Create a customer-focused culture in your company through innovation, teamwork and communication. Learn how to:

• set customer service standards understanding of customers
• present a positive customer service image to their target market
• create and implement a customer-focused culture
• measure the effectiveness of their customer service approach.

Effective Negotiation Skills
Develop the practical skills required for successful negotiations at all levels, including how to:

• apply successful negotiation techniques to specific business situations
• structure negotiations and control or influence outcomes
• put your views across firmly and clearly, but in non-confrontational ways

Time Management
Effectively manage the barriers to efficient and effective work practice, including techniques for prioritising tasks, dealing with time wasters and planning schedules. Learn how to:

• apply techniques for analysing and prioritising your workload
• set goals for better organisation of tasks and time
• explore ways of delegating less important duties
• enhance productivity and performance
• reduce stress.

Motivating Your Team
Great leaders know how to inspire and get the best from their people and this course is designed to equip managers with the skills and knowledge to motivate others. Learn how to:

• understand what motivates people at work
• identify work style and behavioural characteristics and apply appropriate motivation techniques
• know how to create a motivating environment
• write action plans for a productive workplace.

Success with Presentations
This highly practical workshop provides you with a full understanding of how to prepare, organise and deliver presentations. It demonstrates techniques for creating interest and impact that reflect the positive style and personality of the speaker. Learn how to:

• start and continue a presentation with confidence
• structure presentation materials clearly
• close convincingly
• use visual aids effectively
• support presentation content with good visual and vocal delivery
• give the audience what they need in a way that they will find easy to remember and understand.

In addition to our Professional Training workshops, we offer regular courses in Professional English for business, financial and legal professionals, leading to internationally-recognised certificates from Cambridge ESOL and ACCA.

International Certificate in Financial English (ICFE) – developed jointly by Cambridge ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages) Examinations and ACCA (the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants)

International Legal English Certificate (ILEC) – developed by Cambridge ESOL Examinations with Translegal.

Business English Certificate (BEC) – offered at three levels from Intermediate to Advanced by Cambridge ESOL Examinations

It’s not always easy for busy professionals to attend regular courses, or to take time off work for training. Blended learning offers an ideal solution by combining online study with personal feedback from the trainer, and shorter, face-to-face sessions. This means that you can decide when, where and how long you study each week, giving a level of flexibility to suit even the busiest professional.

Currently we offer two programmes in this format:

International Certificate in Financial English (ICFE) – This flexible 100-hour course is designed to deliver up to 75 hours online learning with 25 hours face-to-face teaching. Although this is the typical format, other combinations can be tailored to the needs of your organisation.

International Legal English Certificate (ILEC) – as with ICFE, this flexible course combines online practice with face-to-face input and review sessions and is ideal either for ongoing skills development or intensive preparation for the Cambridge examination.

As well as these courses, we can also put together tailored programmes in Business English combining self-study online with face to- face training in the workplace.