You’ve got options. Here’s why this one’s different.
When work feels harder than it should, the instinct is to fix it. Too many meetings, managers holding on instead of delegating, hybrid teams drifting apart. The question isn’t whether to act. It’s how.
You could hire a consultant. Build something in-house. Google “leadership training” and pick whoever ranks first. Or you could work with a workplace learning and culture partner who’s been helping organisations like yours think differently about work since 2009, with 450,000 people across the world as proof it works.
Here’s how we stack up.
Think Productive vs hiring a consultant
A consultant arrives, does a diagnosis, hands over a report, and leaves. The insight might be brilliant. But insight without behaviour change is just a very expensive document.
At Think Productive, we don’t just tell you what needs to change. We work with your people to make the change stick. Our workshops, programmes and Culture Flow methodology create the shared language, habits and accountability that keep things moving long after we’ve left the room. Clients come back to us years later because the work lasted. As one Head of Trading at Sky told us: still going strong five years on, inbox still at zero.
The difference: A consultant diagnoses. We help your people actually do things differently.
Think Productive vs building it in-house
In-house L&D teams are brilliant at knowing their organisation. What they often don’t have is a ready-made body of expertise, field-tested content, and facilitators who do this every single day.
There’s also something an external partner brings that’s hard to replicate internally: credibility, fresh perspective, and permission to say the things that sometimes need an outside voice. People listen differently when the message comes from beyond the organisation. And because we work across hundreds of organisations, we bring insight from what’s actually working elsewhere, not just what’s always been done here.
Our team are inspirational, memorable subject-matter experts. Not generalists who’ve been given a slide deck. They’ve written books on everything from productivity and meetings to kindness in leadership and nutrition. Graham Allcott, our founder, literally wrote the bestseller on being a Productivity Ninja. When your people are in the room with one of our facilitators, they know they’re in the hands of someone who genuinely lives this stuff.
You also don’t have to start from scratch. We bring a full suite of tried-and-tested workshops covering everything from Fixing Meetings to Thriving Teams to We Need to Talk, all of which can be delivered tomorrow, adapted to your context, or woven into a bespoke programme we co-design with you.
The difference: Your L&D team knows your organisation. We know learning. Together, that’s a powerful combination.
Think Productive vs other training providers
There are plenty of training providers out there. Most will run a session, collect the feedback forms, and move on. The problem is that a great day doesn’t automatically become a lasting change. People leave energised and return to the same inbox, the same meeting culture, the same habits.
We design for the day after. And the month after. Our blended learning approach, Impact Clinics, and Culture Flow methodology create the conditions for habits to hold, even when work gets busy. 94% of our participants recommend our workshops, and clients tell us time and again that they can see a palpable difference between colleagues who’ve been through our programmes and those who haven’t.
We’re also genuinely different as an organisation. We’ve run a four-day week since 2011. We lead with trust and kindness. We remind our own people they’re human, not superhero, and that philosophy runs through everything we do with yours.
The difference: Most providers train people for a day. We help organisations change how work actually happens.
Think Productive vs doing nothing
We get it. Budgets are tight. The diary is full. There’s always something more urgent than investing in how people work. But here’s what doing nothing costs.
According to Gallup’s research across 2.7 million employees, organisations with highly engaged people see 23% higher profitability, 43% lower staff turnover, and 18% higher productivity. Disengaged, overwhelmed people cost real money in recruitment, sick leave, lost focus and missed opportunities.
Making space for learning isn’t a nice-to-have. It’s how organisations build the competitive edge that compounds over time.
The difference: Doing nothing feels safe. It rarely is.
What you actually get with Think Productive
- Expert facilitators who are inspiring, practical and human. Not PowerPoint readers.
- A full programme suite covering productivity, wellbeing, communication, leadership, management, culture and more, all deliverable online or face-to-face.
- Bespoke design when you need it. We’ll co-create something that fits your organisation’s specific challenges and goals.
- Real staying power. Impact Clinics, blended learning and our Culture Flow methodology ensure the change doesn’t evaporate after the workshop.
- A track record that speaks for itself. Google, Microsoft, HSBC, the NHS, Coca-Cola, Penguin, Vodafone and hundreds more have trusted us with their people.
