Babel: Stronger communication and more confident teams

A two-part programme for the Babel team, designed to strengthen communication, build confidence and help people handle everyday challenges more effectively.

The challenge

Babel was growing and wanted to create more consistency in how people communicated across the business.

The opportunities weren’t centred around formal presentations or big pitch moments. They sat in the everyday interactions that shape relationships and performance over time: client conversations, team meetings, feedback discussions and moments where people needed to influence, challenge or make decisions.

There was also a broad mix of experience levels across the group. The programme needed to feel relevant and useful whether someone was earlier in their career or managing others.

The aim was to give people practical tools they could apply immediately while building stronger habits over time.

What we delivered

We designed a two-part programme focused on communication, confidence and management capability.

Personal impact and presence (two half-day sessions)

This part of the programme focused on helping people communicate with greater clarity and confidence across client and internal situations.

Sessions covered:

  • understanding individual communication patterns and impact
  • building an Impact Blueprint for meetings, pitches and client conversations
  • getting to the point more clearly
  • structuring thinking so messages land more effectively
  • communicating with greater confidence in meetings and conversations
  • handling challenge and pushback constructively
  • practising scenarios drawn directly from agency life

 

Sessions combined coaching, discussion and opportunities to test ideas in the room and refine them through feedback.

Feedback and management skills (split by level)

This part focused on supporting managers and senior team members in areas they found most challenging.

Sessions covered:

  • what effective line management looks like in practice
  • giving direct feedback clearly and constructively
  • running stronger one-to-ones
  • approaching performance conversations with more confidence
  • understanding common feedback patterns and pitfalls

practical language and frameworks for more effective conversations

Everything was grounded in situations the team recognised and could apply immediately.

Outcomes:

The impact showed up in everyday behaviour.

Conversations became clearer and more direct. People communicated their thinking with greater confidence and feedback became more specific and useful. Managers felt more comfortable addressing issues earlier and creating clearer expectations.

Across the team there was greater consistency in communication, whether in client conversations, internal meetings or one-to-ones.

Because people had opportunities to practise and apply the ideas throughout, the learning carried through into day-to-day work rather than staying in the room.