The Say It Method
Most business problems are a conversation nobody’s had
Nine times out of ten, the problem someone brings me turns out to be something they have never actually said to the person it is about. Months of it. Sometimes years.
Say It is the method I built to fix that — and it works whether you’ve had a week to prepare or four seconds.
Stumble or Storm
Faced with a conversation they don’t want to have, almost everyone does one of two things. Both cost you.
Stumble
Around nine in ten of us
You know what you want to say and you stop yourself. Sometimes you delay it. Sometimes you water it down until it barely registers. Often you say nothing at all.
It felt too uncomfortable, it was easier not to, and you didn’t want the argument. So nothing changes, the frustration builds, and you go home and tell your partner exactly how you feel — while the person it’s actually about hears none of it.
Storm
The rest of us
You say exactly what you think, driven by emotion that has had a long time to build. This isn’t only shouting. You can be just as aggressive quietly.
The message gets delivered and so does the damage. Most people know before they’ve got back to their desk that they could have handled it better.
And a Stumbler can become a Stormer
Months or years of holding it in, and then one day it arrives in about four seconds. That’s the most expensive version of all, because it is the hardest thing to come back from.
Both roads end in the same place. Respect lost, nothing resolved, and the conversation still waiting for you.
What it’s costing you
None of this stays between two people. An unsaid conversation doesn’t sit still — it leaks into everything around it.
In time
Projects slow down. Decisions get made twice. Collaboration between departments quietly stops, and problems that should take an afternoon take a quarter.
The work still gets done, but it gets done around the obstacle rather than through it — and everyone involved knows it.
In money
Recruitment fees when somebody leaves rather than raises it. HR time, and occasionally legal costs, when something that could have been a five-minute conversation becomes a formal process.
And the cost of replacing someone who was, until fairly recently, good at their job.
Where Say It came from
What I kept seeing
About ten years into coaching, I noticed something I couldn’t unsee. Almost every session opened with a problem — a stalled project, a number being missed, someone not performing. And almost every time, once we got underneath it, the problem was a person.
So I started asking the same question. How much of what you’ve just told me have you actually said to them?
The answer was almost always none of it
These were serious people bringing serious problems to a session they were paying for. Months of frustration, real cost to the business, and not one word of it said to the person it was about.
I wasn’t coaching people through business problems. I was coaching them through conversations that weren’t happening. So I built a method for it.
What Say It actually is
A mindset, not a script
Say It is a communication method built on self-awareness, clear thinking and empathy. It isn’t a set of words you memorise and repeat.
It changes how you think about an uncomfortable conversation before you have it, and how you react when one arrives without warning.
Who it’s for
Business owners, senior executives and team leaders. Whether you employ people, manage a team inside a larger organisation, or deal with freelancers, suppliers and clients.
If you deal with people, it applies.
Two versions, because real life has two speeds
Most of the time you can see the conversation coming and you have time to prepare for it. Sometimes it arrives without any warning at all. Say It has a version for each.
For the conversation you know you need to have. You’ve got time to think, and the method gives both of you the room to resolve something that matters.
One minute everything is calm, the next it isn’t. Someone arrives at your desk already angry, or it kicks off in a meeting. No preparation time, and you have to deal with it now.
Instant is what you reach for when somebody else Storms. It’s the reason the method survives a normal working week, and not just a booked meeting room.
How you learn it
The method is fixed. How you learn it depends on what’s actually happening in your business.
One to one
Where the problem sits with a handful of people — a leadership team working around each other, or one person carrying a conversation they’ve been putting off for months.
This is the most common starting point, because that’s usually where the silence starts.
Workshops
Where it’s wider than a few individuals. A department that has stopped talking to another department, or a team that has learned it’s safer to say nothing.
Everyone leaves with the same language for the same problem, which is most of the battle.
Talks
Conferences and company events, for audiences who won’t be booking a coaching session but will recognise themselves inside the first two minutes.
The method doesn’t change
What changes is the format, and that follows what’s actually wrong rather than what’s easiest to sell.
Which is what the first conversation is for.
Where to start: the Culture Health Check
Before any of this, it helps to know what you are actually dealing with — not what the leadership team believes is happening, but what people will only say to someone from outside. By 5:15pm you’ll know how your team really feel, and what to do about it.
Stage one
Scope
A call with you and whoever owns the problem, to agree who I need to speak to and what we’re actually looking for.
Stage two
Prepare
Anonymous surveys go out to the people you choose. Responses are collated and read closely before I arrive.
Stage three
The day
Your senior team, two managers and two team members through the morning. The afternoon analysing it. Findings presented to you at 16:30, before I leave.
Stage four
Report
The written findings afterwards: what I heard, where the risks are, and the actions most likely to change it.
£2,800No VAT
One day of your team’s time — not one day of work. The fee covers the scoping call, all preparation, the surveys, the day itself and the written report.
Carried out on site, not online. Travel and any overnight stay outside London agreed with you beforehand.
What my clients say
26 Google reviews — all five stars
Jason spins traditional coaching and mentoring on its head to deliver a service driven by his own business success… He is extremely enthusiastic about his work and has an honest straight-down-the-line approach… Jason is a great strategic ally for SMEs.Laura PearceFounder & MD, Strand
Jason is one of those ‘stand out’ kind of people. He’s massively driven and always delivers. He is brutally honest and transparent in the way he deals with people which builds success for his clients and team.Alistair BryanCEO, Bray Leino
What I like about Jason is, he has actually been there and done it with his own companies and really understands every aspect of growing a business.Csaba KantorBusiness owner
He is very level headed and has a good business brain, so by putting two heads together you can achieve much more than you would have done on your own. Have a coffee with him, you won’t regret it!Nigel AdamsOwner, TheProbatePropertyShop.com
It’s felt like a full business ‘makeover’, and I am now in a much better position both professionally and financially than I was a year ago.Sarah PohlingerOne to One Pensions & Investment Support
Jason’s business coaching is like no other. His knowledge of how businesses develop, mature and then sustain is of the most extensive I have come across.Charlotte ZachariaOwner, The Z2 Group
We’ve been working with Jason to help take our business to the next level… We hope Jason will be there to support us for many years to come.Simeon Fuller
Unlike most other coaching programs every client has a bespoke mentoring program tailored to their business… his advice is always honest and straight to the point.Alex Tillbrook
He has moved my business in a way that I am so grateful for… he was like a partner in my business.Andrew ScrippsA J S Painters & Decorators Ltd
Jason’s coaching and mentoring has proved invaluable to me, not only as a sounding board for business ideas and solutions but also in more difficult career choices and changes.Guy Jaques
Accreditations
Registered Corporate Coach with the Worldwide Association of Business Coaches (WABC) · Institute of Leadership & Management (ILM) · The Business Coaching Academy · BIMA Resident Coach
Let’s see if the fit is right
It starts with a chat — coffee, Zoom or phone, 45 minutes, no charge and no pitch. Tell me what’s going on and what you’re trying to achieve. If I’m not the right person for you I’ll say so, and you’ll still come away with something useful.