Method
The performance language
There is a language to difficult conversations. Recognizable situations, named techniques to navigate them, and the layers a conversation moves through, from relationship to closing the deal. We call it the performance language.
Name it. You already speak part of the performance language. Years of practice taught you what works, but rarely why. Naming the concepts makes that explicit and gives your team a shared vocabulary. What works in your business, and what the strongest people on your team do well, can be discussed, taught and repeated.
Expand it. Linard recognizes the moves you already make and shows you complementary strategies. It teaches you to spot common situations and to respond to them with effective techniques. Your repertoire grows. More conversations you can handle with confidence, more deals close on better terms.
Customize it. You bring your own personality to the table. Linard helps you shape your own version of the performance language, building on the strengths you already have. The next level is reading the person across the table and adapting the language to them.
Internalize it. No multi-day course makes a language your own. You come to speak it through regular practice, honest feedback and targeted exercises. This is what a Linard training plan gives you.
Key Concepts
Conversational layers
Conversations move across four layers: from establishing a bond on the relationship layer, on to agreeing on how to proceed on the process layer, exchanging information on the facts layer, and finally reaching an agreement on the deal layer. A successful conversation requires you to both lead and follow your counterpart through these layers. Dissonance typically occurs when two people stay on different layers, for example one sharing facts while the other is still looking to establish trust on the relationship layer. Linard visualizes which layers were covered in a conversation and trains you to navigate them effectively.
Interaction profiles
Some counterparts are convinced by facts. Others need trust built on the relationship layer before they move toward a close. Linard reads behaviour on two axes: outgoing or reserved, and guided more by facts or by feelings. That gives four interaction profiles. They describe what someone needs in a given moment, not what kind of person they are. The same counterpart can show one profile while discussing price and another when the conversation turns personal. You practice against all four and learn to adjust while the conversation runs.
Situations and techniques
Situations are key moments in a conversation that determine whether you reach a favorable outcome. For example, your customer challenges your price. Techniques are established tactics to master situations. Depending on your own personality, some techniques come naturally while others may feel uncomfortable. Linard trains you to recognize and name situations, and helps you identify the techniques that play best to your strengths.
See a few examples on the right.See a few examples below.
Situation
Anchoring
The counterpart opens with an aggressive number or demand that pulls the whole negotiation toward their frame.
Building on strengths
Linard builds on positive psychology. It looks not only at what people lack, but above all at what they already do well. Positive emotions can widen the range of thoughts and actions a person considers. In a safe space, that makes it easier to try something new, and your repertoire grows step by step. Your strengths are your preferred ways of thinking, feeling and acting. The technique describes what works. Your strengths show your own path to it, which is why your strengths profile feeds directly into your training plan.
Active memory
Only what comes naturally and without much effort is available under pressure. Linard tracks which concepts you have used recently and which ones are about to drop out of your active memory. Your training plan encourages you to maintain a rich active memory and to keep extending it.
Training Sessions
As with any language, you learn the performance language by using it. Linard provides the exercises as training sessions, and every session follows the same structure.
Brief. You learn what the session covers and the theory behind it. You can adjust it to your needs, for example by choosing which interaction profile your counterpart will show.
Conversation. You speak, out loud and in real time. The other side responds to what you actually say, not to a script. Linard supports both a video mode and an audio-only mode.
Debrief. Every turn is analyzed across the four layers and against the techniques. You see what worked well, and Linard recommends your next-level moves. The results feed into your training plan.
Session Formats
Guided. Your AI coach explains techniques and situations, shows examples and answers your questions. It talks with you about your strengths and how to put them to use. For single moves, it plays the other side: you try, get feedback and repeat until the move holds. As in sport, you do not learn the whole game at once. You start with single moves and later use them under pressure in an independent session.
Independent. An avatar plays the person across the table in a full conversation. Nobody interrupts and nobody helps: it runs start to finish, the way the real meeting will. Choose a scenario prepared by Linard, or describe a real upcoming meeting and Linard builds a scenario from it. Think of it as the friendly match that prepares you for the tournament.