Fresh ideas give confidence (5)
I believe the answer is:
aside
'confidence' is the definition.
The answer and definition can be both related to communication as well as being singular nouns.
Maybe you can see a link between them that I can't see?
'fresh ideas' is the wordplay.
'fresh' indicates an anagram.
'ideas' is an anagram of 'ASIDE'.
'give' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for aside that I've seen before include "Line spoken to the audience of a play" , "I.e. sad (anag.)" , "Out of other people's hearing" , "Ideas (anag)" , "Quiet words spoken" .)