Helping Agency Leaders Handle Tough Client Conversations

This agency partnered with Experience Institute on a 1.5 day Winning the Room workshop + follow-up 1:1 coaching. With support from Ei facilitators and in-house leaders, participants deepened their skills in reading the room, responding to the room, owning the room, and keeping the room when the conversation gets hard. Through several rounds of practice and feedback with realistic scenarios, participants improved in confidence, tone, posture, and fluidity.

After the experience, 94% of participants felt more able to maintain trust and goodwill, even when navigating a difficult conversation.


The participants describe the impact the best:

• “So far this is one of the best workshops I’ve attended in this point in my career (as a senior level manager). Thank you!”

• “I am noticing a huge difference in my confidence. And how people are responding to me. I feel like I'm more credible because of the confidence that I'm exuding.”

• “I feel like this was tailored and personalized for me. So that's what's helped me keep all of this front of mind.”

From the workshop to a client fire

During a 1:1 coaching session, a director shared how she put the training to work. In the middle of a fast-changing client crisis, she and four colleagues from the workshop used the Facts, Feelings & Needs framework to find the client’s unspoken need: visibility into the work as it evolved. They introduced daily 15-minute check-ins and built an Excel “command center” so the client could track status between calls. The director called these changes incredibly valuable for everyone. A shared language helped a cross-functional team respond under pressure and find a simple, low-cost fix.