A 30-minute call with one of our founders. We listen, we say honestly whether behaviour change is the right intervention, and we walk through realistic options. No deck. No hard sell. If we are a good fit, we may offer a taster session in exchange for anonymised research data, get in touch and we will discuss specifics.
Our Mission
Why Sidestream's behaviour-change methodology is built the way it is, straight from our founder.
What This Workshop Is Good For
The workshop works best when there is a specific behavioural shift you want to see in your team. Below, twelve concrete situations where teams have used a session like this. If something rhymes, the fit is probably good.
A team that has gone visibly quiet in the last two quarters.
A near-miss or incident that shouldn't have stayed silent.
Managers who avoid difficult conversations until they explode.
Bias patterns that surveys keep flagging but training never shifts.
A new leadership cohort that needs to default to better behaviours under pressure.
A restructure or transformation about to launch into a tired team.
Risk aversion that is quietly killing the innovation pipeline.
Burnout signals that policies and apps don't seem to move.
Two functions that keep blaming each other for the same outcome.
A new cohort joining a culture you would like them to challenge, not absorb.
A pitch, presentation or town hall that needs to actually land.
A team rebuilding after a setback, scandal or hard year.
A Clear Division of Labour
You know your organisation. You know the behaviour or shift you want to see. You bring that, clear and specific, to the prep call.
Everything else is our craft. The dramaturgy, the actor casting, the scenario design, the moment of pressure, the debrief structure, all of that we build. A free hand in design and flow is not a luxury, it is the mechanism that makes the workshop work. If we are constrained to follow a script you have already written, we cannot deliver a Sidestream workshop, and the research data is meaningless.
A Concrete Example
An illustrative example. Same team, same problem, what we turn it into. Read left to right.
"Our middle-managers avoid giving honest feedback. We want them to default to it within 90 days."
Specific behaviours, naming tension early, owning the impact, closing the loop within 48 h. Designed scenarios where avoidance is costly within 5 minutes.
Three live actor scenes in a manager's afternoon, a deadline missed, a peer in tears, a defensive direct-report. No slides. Each manager faces all three.
Managers have done it once already, under pressure, with feedback. The next real conversation is now their second, not their first. Plus a 3-page snapshot.
Same logic, different topic. We start where you are; we own the journey from brief to debrief.
What You Get
This is not a demo, not a webinar, not a sales pitch dressed as a workshop. It is the same standard of session we would deliver to any paying client, the only difference is who pays.
Three to four hours, on-site at your office (or a venue you arrange). Up to 20 participants. Designed around one specific behavioural challenge in your team, chosen together in a 30-minute prep call.
Live actor-based role-play, behavioural-tools instruction, structured debrief, delivered by our senior facilitators. The same evidence-based, UCL-rooted methodology used in our paid engagements.
After the workshop, you receive a 3-page summary of what was observed, what shifted, and what we'd recommend next. Useful even if you never work with us again.
This is, first and last, a research programme. We are extending the UCL-rooted study that began with Laumann (2020), measuring how immersive, theatre-based methods compare with conventional formats across sectors and team sizes. To do that rigorously, we need real teams in real organisations. Your contribution to the science is what funds the workshop. The exchange below is straightforward, and transparent.
The only invoice you receive
No hidden fees, no upsell, no "consulting hours" to clear afterwards. Itemised receipt for travel and (if needed) a single night of accommodation. That is the entire financial commitment. The workshop itself, design, facilitation, actors, materials, follow-up report, is fully covered by Sidestream as part of our ongoing applied research.
Who This Is For
How It Works
Book a 30-minute call. Tell us briefly about your team and one behavioural challenge.
We confirm slot, sign a simple research-use agreement, and agree the focus behaviour together.
We design the session around your specific situation, brief the actors, and finalise logistics.
Half-day on-site workshop with your team. Written behavioural snapshot delivered within 7 days.
We can only run a handful of pilot workshops per quarter. If you've read this far and it sounds like a fit, the next step is a 30-minute call, no commitment, no slides.
Honest Answers
Behavioural observations during the session (timing, choices, response patterns) and anonymous post-session feedback. No video. No individual names attached to anything published. Full GDPR compliance, written agreement signed before the session.
Yes, the contents of the workshop, the specific scenarios you bring and any individual identifiers stay confidential. What we use is aggregated, anonymised behavioural patterns. If even that is too much, this offer isn't the right fit, and we won't push it.
No. We do not run a sales pitch during the workshop. If you decide afterwards you'd like to keep working with us, great, but the offer stands on its own. If you walk away after the snapshot, you walk away with a free workshop and useful insights, and we walk away with research data. Both fair.
Standard-class rail or economy flights for 2–4 facilitators, plus one night of mid-range accommodation if the location is more than 3 hours away. Itemised receipts shared in advance. No surprises.
Typically 3 to 5 organisations per quarter, depending on team capacity. We prioritise diversity, sectors, sizes, geographies, so the research data is broad. First-come is not first-served, but the application call is fast.
The case studies page shows six real engagements, the approach page covers the methodology, and the trailer on the homepage captures the feel of a live session in three minutes.