CLC Partner

Many professionals feel they could have handled international communication and leadership moments better, with more clarity, confidence, or impact, even when things went “well enough”. If you have felt doubt, discomfort, or disappointment across situations like these, you are not alone.

The challenge is often compounded when English is not your first language. Making your meaning clear, influencing others, and staying diplomatic all take extra effort, and it can be hard to see when your language is limiting your impact or results.

Getting the right support at the right moment is difficult. Busy schedules make traditional coaching or training hard to use, and development is often treated as something separate from real roles, responsibilities, and international situations.

CLC Partner gives you structured, ongoing, and on-demand coaching, training, and mentoring focused on culture, communication, and leadership, built into day-to-day work so development supports the work you are already doing rather than competing with it.

John Graham

Your CLC Partner

“Cultural effects are subtle and hard to recognise. Our own culture shapes how we think, decide, and communicate, so we often repeat the same mistakes without realising.”

CLC Partner gives you flexible, on-demand coaching, training, and mentoring for the cultural, communication and leadership moments that matter most to you.

Present and negotiate

Prepare and deliver with clarity, impact, and influence in international settings.

Collaborate and facilitate

Keep meetings focused, manage feedback and conflict, and strengthen relationships.

Lead and develop

Motivate, delegate, and coach to reduce pressure and build capability in your team.

Work across cultures

Recognise different expectations, adapt your style, and build trust and partnerships.

Use it in the way that suits you best

On your own

By sharing hours

with family, friends, or colleagues

As a company perk for employees

to access when needed

Your sessions adapt to your goals, pace, and availability, and you don’t even need a fixed focus before starting. Book some hours, choose your first session, and begin improving right away.

With 30 years of international experience working with foreigners and English speakers across industry and global learning and development, the support is grounded in real global work, strong cultural awareness, and practical people skills. Alongside more than 20 years in Global L&D, this brings clear methods, structured guidance, and skills you can apply immediately in international and multilingual environments.

CLC Partner – How it Works

1. Meet

Free 30-minute discovery call to explore your situation, priorities, and context.

No obligation and no need for a fixed focus yet.

2. Book

Choose a starting package and number of hours that feel right for now.

Most people begin small and extend once they see value.

3. Work & Apply

Just get started and use sessions when you need them.

Focus on your real CLC situations: communication, leadership, or cross-cultural challenges.

4. Review & Refine

Adjust focus, pace, or format as your needs evolve.

Extend, scale up, pause, or stop based on your priorities and results.

CLC Partner – Example Cases

Here are some examples of how CLC Partner support has been applied in practice. Your solution will be designed to meet your goals, schedule, and team size:

Case 1: Stepping into a presentation-heavy role

A European executive was moving into a new role that required regular English presentations. He had not been using English recently so wanted lots of practice and felt unsure about structure, confidence, and impact. He also wanted a clear process he could reuse, not just tips.

We agreed a 30-hour programme over four months, delivered in 90-minute sessions once or twice a week, built around his upcoming presentations. The focus was on presentation structure, communication clarity, rehearsal, and feedback that he could reuse independently. As his new company was Asian, we also explored cultural differences he was noticing in meetings.

He began delivering clearer, more confident presentations, developed a repeatable approach he could apply independently, and understood his new foreign colleagues better.

Case 2: Finding focus in a shared, flexible setup

Two young colleagues in their first roles were struggling when working virtually with international partners. They were unsure what was causing the problems, where to start, and their availability was unpredictable, so they needed a flexible and cost-effective approach.

We began with a joint session to explore challenges and set priorities. From there, we agreed which topics to cover together, including virtual meetings, project updates, negotiation skills, and key cultural differences, and which sessions worked better individually, based on upcoming tasks and pressure points. On one occasion when both were unavailable, their colleague stepped in and used the booked session.

They gained clarity on the real causes of their difficulties, improved confidence in virtual communication, and used shared hours in a way that adapted to changing work demands without losing momentum.

Case 3: Preparing for international negotiations

A functional manager holding international negotiations wanted support not only with negotiation skills, strategy, and structure, but also practice, correction and improvement so her language choices were not getting in the way.

CLC Partner sessions combined negotiation preparation with targeted language support, built around her upcoming negotiations. We worked on win-win strategy, persuasive framing, situational language, and how cultural expectations were shaping her partner’s approach.

With a clear preparation framework, cultural insight, situational language templates, and extensive practice, she entered her negotiations better prepared, more confident, and ready to influence.

Case 4: After group training, individual needs emerge

Following a communication skills, virtual meetings, and cultural competence company training with seven groups, feedback showed that many participants wanted individual support linked to their own personal leadership and communication challenges.

We started with one low-risk CLC Partner trial session for all interested participants. This allowed everyone to bring their own situations and test the format. All agreed to continue, and we held a further nine individual sessions per participant, using participants’ current leadership and communication challenges as the working material.

The coaching deepened the results of the training and, because the support adapted to their needs rather than following a fixed programme, participants could apply learning immediately to their roles, gaining clearer direction and greater confidence.

Case 5: Working across cultures when expectations differ

A commercial manager working with new Chinese customers felt that relationships were polite, but progress was slow and decisions unclear. His English was not the issue, but he sensed that expectations, communication style, and decision-making norms were misaligned, without knowing exactly how.

CLC Partner sessions focused on unpacking ongoing interactions, emails, and meetings to identify cultural patterns influencing trust, hierarchy, and commitment. We explored where expectations differed, where assumptions overlapped, and how he could adapt his approach without losing authenticity.

He adjusted how he framed proposals, followed up conversations, and interpreted responses. As a result, communication became clearer, relationships strengthened, and collaboration felt more predictable and effective.

Case 6: Extending training with company-wide support

An SME’s CEO recognised that employees lacked skills and experience when working with foreign partners. Following communication skills training for all staff and leadership training for managers, the CEO introduced CLC Partner as a flexible development option employees could use in direct connection with live client work, including meetings, negotiations, presentations, and pitches at exhibitions or conferences.

We agreed a one-month trial, with times and participants arranged weekly by HR. Sessions included one-to-one and pair formats, with monthly reporting so themes and progress were integrated into the company’s LMS and assessments.

The trial was extended to six months. Employees applied learning directly to real situations, HR gained visibility of development needs, and the company benefited from a flexible solution without fixed schedules or long-term commitment.

CLC Partner – Why it works

Easy to get started

No fixed programme and no need for a fully defined focus.

Flexible, on⁠-⁠demand support

Use sessions when you need them, not when a course schedule says so.

Real situations, real progress

Work on your actual communication, leadership, and cross⁠-⁠cultural challenges.

Adapts as your needs change

Adjust focus, pace, or format as responsibilities and situations evolve.

Individual, team, or company use

Book for yourself, share hours, or offer it as a company-wide development perk.

Grounded in global experience

Built on real industry work and international learning and development.

Immediate application

Prepare for real situations, apply clear methods, and build capability through reflection.

Low risk, no long⁠-⁠term lock⁠-⁠in

Extend, pause, or stop based on value and results.

CLC Partner – Packages

These packages show common ways to start working with John as your CLC Partner.

Each package is flexible: duration, focus, pace, and number of people can be adapted to fit your goals, availability, and context.

Package 1

Individual Focus

A focused series of 1-to-1 sessions for professionals who want targeted support on a specific communication, leadership, or cross-cultural challenge.

This is the most common starting point and an easy way to try it out with minimal commitment.

Package 2

Extended Partnership

An ongoing partnership, usually over several months, involving one or more people and designed to support continuous development as priorities evolve.

Ideal when you want regular input, time to apply learning between sessions, and space to refine focus as needs change.

Package 3

Company Package

A flexible company-level arrangement giving employees access to 1-to-1, pair, and micro-group sessions with John.

Designed to work as a practical development perk or as part of a wider learning and development approach, without fixed schedules or rigid programmes.

Company Training

Designed for teams or departments who want to grow together.

These sessions focus on your organisation’s real communication, leadership, and cultural challenges, helping you build confidence in how you communicate, collaborate, and lead.

Find out more

Open Group Training

Ideal for individual professionals open to learning, practising, and applying new ideas alongside peers from different organisations and countries.

You’ll build the skills, gain new perspectives, and develop the confidence needed to succeed in international projects and collaborations.

Find out more