Experiential Leadership & Talent Development Training:
Transform Your Team's Potential
ABOUT US
Welcome to ZEN Coaching, a leading training provider of experiential leadership, management and talent development programs tailored to every level of your organisation, from graduates to board members. We are committed to empowering organisations by enhancing the skills and capabilities of their people. We believe that experiential learning, coupled with practical application, is the key to achieving lasting success, and our clients agree.
WHAT SETS US APART?
-
Hands-On Practice with Expert Business Actors: We emphasise skills practice through realistic simulations, allowing participants to experience and adapt to various scenarios in a safe environment.
-
Simplicity and Effectiveness: Our training focuses on straightforward techniques that are immediately applicable, ensuring participants can implement what they've learned without delay.
-
Real-World Experience: Our facilitators bring a wealth of experience from corporate environments, understanding the challenges you face and providing insights that resonate.
"We don't learn to drive a car by talking about driving cars. We have to get in and try it out."
The Challenges We Solve
Too often, talented professionals are promoted into leadership roles without the people skills they need to thrive. This creates real challenges for organisations:
-
Technically Skilled, People-Unprepared: Managers excel in their field but struggle with the human side of leadership — like motivating teams, managing conflict, and building trust.
-
Avoiding Difficult Conversations: Feedback gets sugar-coated or avoided entirely, leading to unresolved issues and missed opportunities for growth.
-
Communication That Lacks Impact: Messages get lost in translation, creating confusion, misalignment, and frustration across teams.
At ZEN Coaching, we help leaders overcome these obstacles with experiential training that turns theory into practice — building confident, capable managers who drive engagement and results.
Partnering with us means gaining access to simple yet effective techniques for seamless communication and influential leadership. By honing your ability to connect with and inspire those around you, your organisation will thrive with skilled and adaptable individuals who contribute to its growth and success.
Partner with ZEN Coaching to equip your team with the tools they need to navigate challenges, seize opportunities, and foster a culture of continuous improvement. Contact us today to embark on a transformative journey towards excellence.
Click here to find out why using actors and roleplay can be so uniquely useful and watch the video below for a bit more about what we do. Then book a FREE consultation here.
Tim Samuels
Founder and Director
Tim Samuels founded ZEN Coaching in 2019. With over 15 years of experience as a corporate roleplay trainer and actor, along with his time as a manager in both the private and public sectors, he has cultivated a profound understanding of how experiential learning resonates in everything we do. He's passionate about spreading the use of experiential training using actors to give delegates the chance to practise skills in a safe environment. He firmly believes that unless you feel and experience what it's like to try different behaviours and techniques, you'll never be able to change results in the long-term. After all, we don't learn to drive a car by talking about driving cars. We get in and drive them.
Tim's ultimate goal in establishing ZEN Coaching was to simplify the training process while maximising its impact. With this in mind, he has meticulously crafted our programs to equip participants with practical and effective tools for communication and influence. We are committed to ensuring that you leave our training sessions with a toolbox of strategies that you can seamlessly implement into your working life right away. He's delivered training in large organisations around the world as well as smaller local companies.
Tim is also a professional actor who has worked in film, TV and theatre. He's performed at the Royal Shakespeare Company and the National Theatre and appeared on Netflix and the BBC since he graduated from the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (LAMDA), a world renowned drama school, in London in 2006.
Before that, Tim used his BSc in Natural Science to find roles as a manager in the Civil Service and a project manager and analyst for a market research company. He's managed in the corporate environment, he knows the issues that can arise and the challenges you face. That has given him the experience and insights he needs to identify with the people he now trains.
Marianne Samuels
Director, Presentation & Voice Consultant
Marianne Samuels is a specialist in the field of voice training. She coaches actors, speakers and business professionals in the following areas: presentation speaking, dialect, pronunciation, production coaching and voice development. Building spoken voice skills and vocal confidence is at the heart of what she does to empower the individual. It is her aim to nurture vocal expression and improve personal brands.
Her client list includes professionals from Royal Shakespeare Company, Stagebox, Derby University, Nottingham Playhouse, Derby Theatre, BSkyB, Barclays, HM Revenues & Customs, NHS, London West, Ministry of Defence, British Gas, Selfridges, HSBC, RBS, Societe Generale, Zitron, Ernst & Young to name a few. She has also taught voice to doctors, dentists, childminders, healthcare practitioners, actors, presenters, undercover reporters, singers, lawyers, barristers, CEOs, salespersons, call-centre staff, managers, teachers, lecturers, students and children.
Marianne graduated with a Master’s degree in Voice Studies from The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama; London’s highly acclaimed, world renowned institution for voice training. She holds a BA Hons in Media Arts from Royal Holloway University of London, a diploma in leadership and management. Marianne is a trained dancer, actor and singer, a certified yoga instructor and vocal yoga teacher.
You can see more about her here: https://www.voice-ms.com/
Our Associates
Our associates are all highly skilled, knowledgeable and friendly professionals with many years experience delivering communication and behavioural change in global organisations. ZEN Coaching take great pride in their ability to work with all types of people and find the key interventions that will work for them, immediately.
Niall Macgregor
Facilitator & Coach
Niall is a facilitator and coach with over fifteen years experience. In his own career, Niall has also been an army officer, a professional actor and a full-time stay-at-home dad of four. Like those he coaches, Niall knows how it is to lead through uncertainty, to perform under pressure, and to balance a busy home-life with the demands of work and managing a career. As a facilitator, Niall brings all of that experience, and more, into the room to ensure delegates learn and develop but also that they have a fun, experiential time.
Niall attended the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst at an early stage in his career, where he learned a huge amount about himself as a leader. He is passionate now about helping other leaders to recognise and acknowledge what they are good at; to build confidence in themselves; to be goal-focused; and to take small steps when working on big personal challenges.
CORE VALUES
SIMPLICITY
We want you to be able to walk out the door and implement the techniques we recommend immediately, so we present the best, simple ideas that we've seen influence people and change behaviour.
EFFECTIVENESS
We've seen our techniques work across this country and around the globe. They can be used by anyone, regardless of seniority. They enable you to influence others and to create an environment more conducive to productivity. That's why we don't spend hours just talking about them, we give you plenty of time to practise through our roleplay.
FLEXIBILITY
ZEN Coaching want to tailor their ideas to best suit you and your organisation. As actors, we can think on our feet and challenge you in the ways that will produce the most learning. As trainers, we can present our ideas within a context that you recognise and can relate to.