Success Stories from Our Management Skills Training Programmes

Our client began in 1844 and developed into the UK's number one specialist logistics provider of inbound services to the beverage industry. They provide solutions from wherever beverages are produced around the world. Their Supply Chain Team work in close collaboration with the retailers and alongside all the supply chain stakeholders to develop the best possible system of collaborative planning, forecasting and replenishment.

A training need arose to support 16 international Supply Chain executives located in Europe, South America, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand. Individually, they managed between 10 to 50 suppliers in their home countries. The firm’s annual conference and get-together was an ideal time to set aside a day of focused training to reinforce and advance their skills to develop strong engagement with existing suppliers and retailers.

The agreed brief was to focus on the skills required to create a powerful first impression, revisit and develop core communication skills, practise influencing models and tools and learn how to build win-win negotiation into supplier discussions. The session was designed to have frequent opportunities for practice and personal feedback, supported by short, interactive lectures.

Following the workshop, the Contracts and Operations Manager wrote to Babel to say “A note of thanks to you from the team for the support/encouragement throughout the day. The facilitating was impeccable, and the content was just right to whet the appetite for more. Everyone passes on their thanks … they loved it”.

Our client is a world-leading global fabless semiconductor company. In their fast-paced industry, their engineers often struggle to find the time to focus on tasks as they are managing so many incoming requests. The challenge is compounded by working with counterparts in multiple time zones across Europe, India and Taiwan.

The L&D Specialist turned to Babel to design a course that would encourage their teams to limit distractions and find focus. Our brief was to create an environment where their participants could say no to low-priority work, block out the latest and loudest requests, and commit their time and energy to the most important projects and people.

The content of our Personal Effectiveness and Time Management course includes the key to time management principles and self-management, handling stress and communicating assertively to gain control of your time. We help delegates make recommendations that people will listen to and act upon. The participants learn techniques for prioritising tasks and delegating, managing time spent in meetings/on emails/group chat, applying strategies for remote working, agreeing working methods and next steps and what they can do to help reduce stress, balance effectiveness and maintain efficiency.

The format of the training is delivered in-company as a one-day workshop and for international remote teams online with a live trainer in two x 3-hour sessions.

Our client builds award-winning housing developments throughout London and southeast England. Through their Sales Academy, they recruit and train people to become Sales Consultants within the business. Upon joining the Sales Academy, candidates undertake 9 weeks of intensive training to help them take the lead in helping the customer to identify and purchase their new homes.

Babel’s course is designed to enable the Sales Consultants to negotiate successfully with international customers. We guide them on how to prepare for a negotiation by identifying their ‘variables’ – and those of their customers – and setting targets and a bargaining range. They practise a 5-phase negotiation process and learn how to achieve movement in the negotiation and to manage the negotiation process.

The participants also learn how to adapt their style when negotiating with customers from other cultures, recognising the universal ‘good behaviours’ of negotiation which transcend culture and learning techniques for dealing with difficult customers, aiming towards a win-win relationship. The final exercise is a lively team negotiation which enables them to practise and embed the skills they have learned during the workshop.