We get similar questions from most of the organizations we talk to. The answers below are written to give you enough clarity to decide whether a 90 Minute Lab makes sense for your managers → and which one to start with. If your question isn’t here, the fastest way to get an answer is a 20-minute call.lab.
dg@90minutelabs.com
FAQ → The Format
A 90 Minute Lab is a live, practice-first leadership workshop that focuses on one essential people skill. Each session runs for 90 minutes, is facilitated by certified professional coaches, and ends with every participant leaving with one practical tool they can apply immediately.
Because behavior change doesn’t require more time → it requires the right kind of practice. A 90-minute session focused on one skill, with deliberate practice and real feedback, produces stronger results than a full-day workshop that covers twelve topics without enough time to practice any of them. The format also respects the reality of most managers’ schedules: 90 minutes fits inside a working day without disrupting delivery, team rhythms, or the manager’s own workload.
Online labs are capped at 12 participants. This is a deliberate design decision, not a platform limitation. With 12 people, every participant gets active practice time, real feedback, and direct attention from the facilitator. Above that number, the session becomes a presentation. We run workshops for larger groups in a different format. Please contact us for details on how we run workshops for larger groups, or to discuss what works for your team.
Every engagement begins with a short discovery call with us – typically 20 to 30 minutes. We use that time to understand your company’s current context, the specific challenge you’re trying to address, who the participants are, and what success looks like for you. No preparation is required from your side or from the participants. The discovery call is how we make sure the scenarios and examples used in the lab reflect your actual environment, not a generic one.
Every participant leaves with a one-page practical toolkit → a concise, ready-to-use reference they can keep on their desk or return to before a difficult conversation. There is no 40-slide deck, no post-session reading, and no homework. The design principle is that one tool used consistently is worth more than ten tools used never.
All online labs are delivered online via Zoom, Google Meet, or Microsoft Teams.
In-person labs are delivered onsite in Berlin and across Europe. It’s possible to host the labs at your office, or at a rented event space. Please contact us for details.
The labs are designed to run in a plug and play format, without customization from your side – that is part of what makes them easy to roll out. The discovery call is where we do the customization work: we learn your context and adapt scenarios, examples, and focus areas accordingly. If you have a specific challenge that doesn’t map cleanly to one of the six labs, tell us in the discovery call. We will tell you honestly whether we can address it or whether something different would serve you better.
FAQ → The Content
The six labs cover the people skills that matter most for managers in fast-moving, international organizations: running effective 1:1s through coaching, giving feedback that leads to real change, communicating across different styles and personalities, managing hybrid and distributed teams, leading across cultures, and holding teams together through change and uncertainty. Each lab targets one of these skills specifically as a focused, practiced intervention.
The right starting point depends on what you’re observing in your organization. If feedback is being avoided or arriving too late, start with Feedback That Lands. If 1:1s feel unproductive or ownership isn’t flowing downward, start with Coaching 1:1s That Drive Ownership. If your teams are international or multicultural and alignment feels harder than it should, Lead Across Cultures Without Losing the Message is a strong entry point. Speak So They Can Hear You addresses general communication styles and influencing techniques, therefore, it’s a great starting point for most teams. If you’re not sure, describe what you’re seeing in a short message to us → we’ll recommend the right lab before you commit to anything.
Yes. Labs can be booked as standalone sessions or combined into a two- or four-lab series, and most organizations find that a series delivers stronger, more lasting results than a single session.
A standalone lab is the right starting point if you want to address one specific challenge quickly, or if you want to experience the format before committing to more. It works well as a response to a concrete signal such as a round of eNPS feedback pointing to a specific skill gap, or a cohort of newly promoted managers who need one immediate intervention.
A series works better when the goal is sustained behavior change across the management layer. Skills practiced once create awareness. Skills practiced repeatedly, with time between sessions to apply and reflect, become habits. The two-lab series suits teams addressing a challenge from more than one angle, for example, Coaching 1:1s paired with Feedback That Lands, or Cross-Cultural Communication paired with Communication Styles. The four-lab series is designed for organizations that want consistent development across four to six weeks, with each session building on the previous one.
If you are not sure whether a single lab or a series is the right fit, that is exactly what the discovery call is for. Describe what you are seeing in your organization and we will recommend the format that makes the most sense without pushing for the larger commitment if it is not warranted.
Both. The labs are especially effective for first-time and recently promoted managers who are making the transition from individual contributor to people leader as this is the most common gap and the one the labs are most directly designed to address. They are equally valuable for mid-senior managers who have been leading teams for years but have never received structured skills development. During the discovery call, we align on the experience level and context of your participants so the session is calibrated correctly.
Practical, by design. Every lab is built around real scenarios → the situations your managers are actually navigating, not textbook examples. Participants spend the majority of the session doing, e.g.: practicing a coaching conversation, working through a real feedback moment, rehearsing a cross-cultural interaction. The frameworks introduced in each lab are simple enough to use the following week without referencing notes.
No. The labs are not accredited programs and participants do not receive certificates of completion. The design priority is behavior change, not credentials. If your organization requires accredited training for compliance or reporting purposes, the labs are not the right fit, and we will say so.
FAQ → The Buyers
Yes. This is exactly what the labs are designed for. No competency framework, training needs analysis, or internal L&D infrastructure is required. The discovery call replaces the briefing document. The one-page toolkit replaces the follow-up program. The entire format is built for organizations that want the impact of good leadership development without the overhead of building a program from scratch.
The most reliable signals are the ones already showing up in your organization: eNPS comments that reference management quality, exit interview themes that point to the manager rather than the role or the company, team performance that has stalled despite strong individual capability, or feedback loops that aren’t working → issues escalating upward, reviews that surprise people, or relationships between managers and their teams that feel stuck. If any of these are familiar, the labs address the underlying skill gap directly.
Manager quality is consistently the strongest predictor of team engagement scores. Gallup research shows that 70% of the variance in team engagement is attributable to the direct manager. When eNPS results surface themes like “I get confusing feedback,” “my manager doesn’t listen,” or “I don’t feel supported in my development,” these are signals of specific, trainable skill gaps. The labs target those gaps directly. Organizations that run a lab series and resurvey their teams typically see movement in the management-related items on their next eNPS cycle.
Yes, and we can help you frame it. The most straightforward ROI case for a single lab is replacement cost avoidance: if one manager’s skill gap contributes to one mid-senior employee leaving, the cost of that departure → typically 50 to 200% of annual salary in recruitment, onboarding, and ramp time – far exceeds the cost of the lab. A four-lab series at €2,160 + VAT against the cost of one avoidable departure at a Berlin tech company typically represents a return of 10 to 50 times the investment. We are building a simple ROI calculator for this → available soon on the website.
Online labs are capped at 12 for quality reasons. For larger groups, we run multiple cohorts of the same lab, which has the added benefit of consistent skill development across a wider manager population. In-person sessions have more flexibility on group size and format. Get in touch to discuss what works for your headcount and budget.
Yes. Online labs are delivered worldwide. The content is in English and designed for international teams. In-person delivery is available in Berlin and across Europe. In addition to Germany, we have worked with teams based across the UK, the Netherlands, Spain, Poland, Italy, and Lithuania. Labs can be delivered in Spanish and Polish delivery upon request.
The labs are designed for groups. A minimum of four participants is recommended to make the practice exercises meaningful. For individual manager development, one-to-one coaching is a better fit. If you are interested in individual coaching alongside or instead of the labs, get in touch and we can discuss what that looks like.
FAQ → Pricing
Online labs start from €900 + VAT per session. Labs can also be booked as a two- or four-lab series, with series pricing available at a saving on the per-session rate. In-person delivery is priced based on format, group size, and location → get in touch to discuss what works for your team.
Full pricing, series options, and current introductory rates for new clients are set out in the brochure. Download it below, or reach out directly at dg@90minutelabs.com and we will walk you through the options that make sense for your situation.
Download Brochure →
FAQ → Logistics
The first step is a short conversation, not a commitment. Send us a message at dg@90minutelabs.com with a brief description of what you’re trying to address, and we will come back to you within one business day to schedule a 20-minute discovery call. From there, we agree on the lab, the date, and the format. The whole process from first message to confirmed session typically takes less than a week.
We recommend a minimum of two weeks between booking confirmation and the lab date → enough time to complete the discovery call, align on context, and communicate the session to participants. For in-person delivery, four to six weeks is more realistic to allow for travel and logistics.
A stable internet connection, a device with a camera and microphone, and access to your company’s preferred platform. No specialist software, no pre-reading, and no downloads required. Participants receive a short joining note before the session with everything they need to know.
No. Sessions are not recorded. This is a deliberate choice: recording changes the dynamic of a practice session. Participants need to feel safe to try things that don’t go perfectly → which is precisely when the learning happens. The one-page toolkit is the take-home artifact. It captures the framework and the key tools without replicating the experience.
English is the default language for all labs. Spanish and Polish delivery is available on request at no additional cost. If your team works in a language not listed here, get in touch and we will tell you honestly whether we can accommodate it.
Sessions can be rescheduled with a minimum of five business days’ notice at no charge. Cancellations made with less than five business days’ notice are charged at 50% of the session fee. Full details are included in the booking confirmation.
Still have a question?
The fastest way to get an answer is a short conversation. No commitment, no sales process → just a direct response to whatever you need to know before deciding.
Or if you’re ready to see the full picture, including topics, pricing, and series options → download our brochure.
dg@90minutelabs.com