Ryan Donaghy
English Communication Skills Coach for Finance and Data Professionals.
Hi, I'm Ryan 👋
I work with finance and data professionals to help them excel in their English communication to advance in their careers.Since 2021, I've been working with professionals with backgrounds ranging from internal corporate finance, to investment firms, to consulting firms, to data analytics teams. People that work a lot with business data and strategy.I strive to help them communicate more confidently in client/stakeholder meetings; delivering data-heavy presentations; make an impact in interviews; and ultimately move forward in their careers.
Balancing Your Skillset ⚖
Finance and data professionals get rewarded for focusing on their technical skills — from analytics and modelling to forecasting or budgeting.But you need to be able to express your ideas effectively in English or you don't get the credit you deserve.I know that finance and data people like to focus on Excel, SQL, Power BI and so on. So to balance out their skillset and help them perform their job more confidently, I help them raise their English communication skills too.
I primarily work with 3 types of clients (Click below)
What Some Clients Are Saying
Improving your English as a Finance/Data Professional
If you find it difficult speaking up in meetings, delivering presentations, making an impression in interviews, or discussing the data, what can you do to improve?I typically see finance/data people taking a "general" approach to English — watching Netflix series, reading in English, speaking with colleagues when they get a chance, or maybe they studied in an academy in the past.This approach develops a foundation. It means you can understand your colleagues, express your ideas and gradually expand your vocabulary. Great.➡ But it's SLOW and it often doesn't help build your confidence for work. So this is why I take a functional approach. I.e., Directly applied to your work in finance/data.🖊 For example, if you're learning vocabulary, you're focused on vocabulary that will help you discuss data, business performance, business plans, models or forecasts.🖊 It means focusing on how you can express your ideas effectively in stakeholder/client meetings. Or delivering more engaging data/finance presentations or pitches.🖊 It means focusing on report-writing rather than general writing skills. Or applying pronunciation to discussing data/financials.It's always focused on the end goal of being a more fluent and confident data, finance or investment professional.
What Other Clients Are Saying
My Approach
I've tailored two separate approaches — one for finance and investment professionals; another for data analytics professionals.My "Excel in Communication" Programme has been tested and adjusted based on my work with numerous finance and data professionals. The overall structure is as follows:1️⃣ Building Confidence in Meetings
This addresses how you make suggestions, requests, disagree and and build rapport with stakeholders/clients.It also includes various role-playing exercises to expand your vocabulary, explain technical ideas, structure your thoughts, and more.2️⃣ Taking Control of Your Voice
There are various steps you can take to communicate your ideas and your data more clearly with stakeholders/clients.You may be able to communicate your ideas clearly. We can enhance this by focusing on some key areas of your pronunciation.And then we want you to communicate your ideas in an engaging way. This involves taking control of your rhythm, pitch, as well as your intonation. We also practice this in a finance/data context.3️⃣ [If needed] Refining your writing skills
Targeting the areas of writing skills that are most relevant to you — report writing, email writing and PPT drafting.4️⃣ Developing your confidence in key situations
In meetings, presentations and interviews, it's always more challenging to express our ideas and make a good impression.We may need to engage with the audience, clearly structure our ideas, persuade them, and make an impactful impression. All of this while we are under pressure. This requires specific role-playing and practice.In interviews, we are especially put under pressure, so we need to do specific practice to better structure your ideas and make a lasting impression.***This approach is an intensive approach varying from 5 - 10+ weeks depending on the client's exact needs. We address the key areas a data/finance professional needs to improve on in order to communicate more confidently in their work. It can be adjusted slightly to best suit your needs.I have also adapted some other approaches to suit clients:- Longer-term weekly classes focused on improving spoken fluency working in business, where the focus is on various topics from the "Retail Industry", to "What Makes A Company Fail", to "SaaS Businesses". There are various exercises, discussions and role-playing, along with feedback on expressing your ideas and improving fluency.- Upgrade your English communication skills for finance and data interviews. So much attention is given to the technical skills, but you need to be able to communicate your value too. We focus on key areas of the interview process (behavioural questions, technical questions, project/deal experience). We do various exercises to communicate technical ideas clearly, integrate professional vocabulary for interviews, put you on the spot to handle the pressure. All to develop your confidence going into your interview and a make a lasting impression.- I sometimes work on an Ad Hoc basis, helping clients with short-term presentations. Typically this has a focus on finance or data. In these instances, you can reach out through LinkedIn or by email.- I am also open to corporate workshops, corporate training or interview skills training. Any interested employers or organisations can reach out by email or through LinkedIn.
What Some More Clients Are Saying
Developing Confidence for Professionals in the UK/US
I've tailored two separate approaches — one for finance and investment professionals; another for data analytics professionals.This is a short-term intensive programme (usually lasting between 4 - 8 weeks depending on the client's needs)The goal in this case is purely focused on building confidence.
- Confidence with clients, stakeholders and management.
- Confidence structuring and expressing your ideas in meetings.
- Confidence engaging your audience in presentations/pitches.
- And confidence with rapport management and leadership skills.The key steps to this approach is as follows:1️⃣ Expressing Your Ideas Effectively
This addresses how you make suggestions, requests, disagree and share your ideas in meetings.Depending on your needs, it may include role-playing exercises, practice structuring your ideas on the spot, navigating tricky situations with stakeholders/clients, explaining technical ideas concisely and more.2️⃣ Controlling Your Speech
You likely have a moderate control over your speech in meetings and presentations. We want to increase this control to make you a more engaging speaker, and more confident communicator.We may look at your rhythm, your pitch control, how to avoid going monotone, your volume control to create suspense, how effectively you use your body language, and more.3️⃣Engaging the Audience
In presentations, your audience's attention is your most valuable asset. We will explore how to manage that asset to improve your leadership and persuasion skills.This will likely include how you interact with slides, how you apply your speech control (from section 2) to presentations, how you structure your thoughts for audience questions, how you explain the story of the business, and more4️⃣ Making It All NaturalOnce you gain control over your speech, learn to how engage the audience, manage relationships and deliver compelling presentations, we need to make this natural.So we will spend plenty of time practising these skills in order to find your own voice, to lay out a roadmap for continuous improvement, and so you don't have to think about any techniques in important situations.***Throughout this process, we will highlight your strengths and weaknesses and adjust our focus accordingly in order to find the most efficient path to improving your confidence.
What Some More Clients Are Saying
Developing Confidence for Upcoming Interviews
Primarily, this approach is tailored for finance and investment professionals.
Although if you are a data professional, you can contact me directly as I am currently tailoring an approach for this also.This is a short-term intensive programme (the duration may vary between 1 - 5+ weeks depending on your needs).The goal in this case is focused on building confidence for interview skills to either break into finance or advance your career towards a promotion or another company.The structure is tailored to address the key communication aspects of both junior and senior interviews
- Personality and fit questions
- Technical and direct questions
- Deal/Project experience (if appropriate)
- Rapport-building, and preparing questions of your ownThe key steps to this approach is as follows:1️⃣ Storytelling for InterviewsTelling “your story” to both highlight your qualifications and show your human side.
Using your experiences to show (rather than tell) your valueThis will include structures for your answering questions, practice applying those structures, and feedback on ways to highlight your value.2️⃣ Technical QuestionsTackling some relevant technical questions and explaining your train of thought clearly and effectivelyThis will include practice answering a series of technical questions from different categories. In particular, we will look at how you structure your answers, gather your thoughts, and clearly and concisely express technical ideas.3️⃣Advanced Interview SkillsWe will walk through a preparation process to find the right questions to ask about the company and the role.We will also discuss and practise ways to build rapport with the interviewer. This will both help put your nerves at ease and make you a more memorable candidate.If appropriate to you, we will also practise discussing your past project or deal experience to highlight your involvement, your industry knowledge, and again to show the value you are able to contribute.4️⃣ Role-PlayingWe will look to integrate what we have covered in previous weeks through a more intensive mock interview.
This will include the storytelling, handling direction questions, technical questions, building rapport, etc.We don't want you trying to balance too many things on the day of an interview. So we need to make your interview skills come naturally to you.***Depending on your needs and agenda, this may be a very short or a longer interview preparation process. We will also adjust the process to ensure we focus on the key areas to improve your confidence.
What Some More Clients Are Saying
Take the Next Step
All it takes to communicate more confidently and advance in your career is taking a structured approach.If you want to take a step forward in your English communication skills, schedule a free strategy call below.