Joshua Kaufman

Imagine if conversations at work were clearer, calmer, and more productive.

How would it feel to work in a team where people:

• listen carefully and reflect understanding before responding
• facilitate inclusive meetings that move the project forward
• stay calm and constructive even when conversations become difficult

These are relational skills. They shape how teams collaborate, how decisions get made, and how much trust exists around the work.

What is relational fluency?

Modern product development depends on collaboration between designers, engineers, and product managers. Yet very few people are taught how to facilitate those conversations well.

Relational Fluency is a live six-week cohort for tech professionals who want to become more effective in the conversations that shape product outcomes and working relationships.

In this cohort we’ll practise skills for:

• setting clear context for discussions
• listening and reflecting back to ensure shared understanding
• facilitating discussions that lead to decisions
• giving and receiving feedback with care
• communicating with composure under pressure
• surfacing disagreement before it becomes conflict

The thread connecting these skills is psychological safety, which research consistently shows is the strongest predictor of high performing teams.

Who this is for

Relational Fluency is designed for people who work in collaborative product environments and want to improve how conversations happen around the work.

This cohort may be a good fit if you:

• work in product, design, engineering, or leadership roles
• regularly participate in discussions that shape product decisions
• want to handle feedback, disagreement, and alignment more skillfully
• care about both product outcomes and healthy team relationships

Why this matters now

As AI tools accelerate software development, the bottleneck in many teams is shifting.

Technical work is becoming easier to generate, but the conversations that shape decisions, alignment, and trust remain deeply human.

As the cost of cognitive work falls, economic value shifts toward the skills that remain scarce:

• emotional intelligence
• high-stakes decision making
• human empathy

In product teams, these show up as relational skills, which is the focus of Relational Fluency.

About the facilitator

I've spent more than 25 years working in technology, designing digital products and collaborating with cross-functional teams.

Alongside my work in product design, I trained as an integral coach and relational facilitator, focusing on the human side of how teams work together: communication, decision-making, feedback, and trust.

Relational Fluency sits at the intersection of these two worlds. It combines practical experience from the tech industry with skills that help people navigate the conversations that shape product outcomes and working relationships.

The next Relational Fluency cohort

All sessions take place on Wednesdays from 6:00 PM - 7:30 PM (BST).

• Wed, 15 April
• Wed, 22 April
• Wed, 6 May
• Wed, 13 May
• Wed, 20 May
• Wed, 27 May

Please note there is no session on 29 April.

Cost

£300.00, payable upon sign up. Please see the Terms & Conditions for the refund policy.

Apply

Participation is currently by application to ensure the cohort is a good fit for both participants and the cohort. This helps create a group of people who are genuinely motivated to practise and develop these skills together.

Questions?

If you have questions, please email me at .