English proficiency is not enough. Advanced soft skills like collaboration and decision-making, all bolstered by workplace-relevant English skills, are now a necessity. However, research indicates a critical gap, with 90% of employees seeking language training, yet only 33% currently receiving it. This disparity opens a golden opportunity to boost your business and gain a competitive advantage. Understanding and meeting customer expectations in international markets is essential for achieving company success, as it directly influences customer loyalty, retention and revenue growth.
“Being able to speak English is directly linked to success in international business settings and is essential for communicating with people from diverse cultures and backgrounds. Proficiency in English can also expand our career possibilities and open up new professional opportunities."– Takenobu Miki, TORAIZ Inc. President, Japan.
What can language training help with to ensure a successful business?
Improving language skills for your employees is a powerful step towards achieving corporate success. By investing in English language training, you are equipping your entire team with the necessary tools to navigate global markets and communicate effectively with international partners and customers. In addition to this, there are other actions you can take to skyrocket your business plan.
There is no one straight answer but corporate English training can contribute to whether your own business flourishes or not in these ways:
Cultural knowledge and sensitivity
Understanding and respecting cultural differences can significantly enhance international business operations. It fosters a positive working environment and aids in building strong relationships with partners and customers from diverse backgrounds.
Innovation and adaptability
The ability to innovate and adapt to market changes is crucial for successful businesses and for sustaining growth. Businesses that consistently seek out and implement new ideas stay ahead in competitive markets.
Customer experience
Exceptional customer service is a critical component of the overall customer experience, setting a business apart from its competitors through positive experience. It’s essential for retaining customers and encouraging positive word-of-mouth referrals, impacting customer desire to continue doing business with a company.
Strong leadership and management
Effective leadership and management are pivotal in setting a clear vision, making informed decisions, and motivating employees to achieve business goals.
Employee satisfaction
Amidst the 'Great Resignation,' focusing on employee job satisfaction has become crucial for fostering a productive and innovative work environment. Happy employees are more productive, creative and loyal. Creating a positive work culture that values employee well-being can lead to increased job satisfaction and retention. Employers need to re-evaluate what makes their company worth working for and implement strategies to boost job satisfaction and retain top talent.
Employee retention strategies
Developing and implementing effective employee retention strategies is key to sustaining business growth and success. Customizing strategies to meet unique business needs, including competitive pay, wellness offerings, work-life balance, and strong company culture, can significantly impact retaining top talent.
Language learning training intertwines with all these aspects and can support your company's business plans to reach its goals.
How can I use workplace language training to make my business more successful?
Here are but a few ways:
Encourage a culture of learning and development
Firstly, implementing a culture of continuous learning and development within your company can significantly contribute to business growth.
Encouraging your team to engage in ongoing professional development, not only in language skills but also in areas relevant to your industry, keeps your business at the forefront of innovation.
Regular training sessions, workshops and courses can foster an environment of growth, where employees feel valued and motivated. Leaders use platforms like Versant by Pearson to gain an accurate picture of current skill levels and identify existing gaps, helping to address them before they become a potential risk.
Foster strong leadership and management skills within your organization
Leadership and management are the cornerstones of a successful business, and language learning can significantly bolster these areas. Effective communication is a critical leadership skill, enabling managers to convey their vision and directives more clearly and persuasively. By investing in language training, leaders can overcome communication barriers, foster a more inclusive environment, and engage with a global team more effectively.
This not only enhances internal operations but also improves negotiations and relationships with international clients, suppliers and partners. In addition, bilingual or multilingual leaders are perceived as more competent and are better equipped to understand and appreciate cultural nuances, which can lead to stronger, trust-based business relationships. Through language learning, business leaders and managers can expand their influence, drive global strategies more successfully, and steer their organizations towards greater international success.
Professional development opportunities to help employee retention
Employee retention is a common worry for most businesses; 93% of organizations are concerned about employee retention and providing learning opportunities is the number one way they are working to improve this.
Prioritizing language training offers substantial benefits, not only to talent acquisition and development leaders but also to customer service teams. It emphasizes their crucial role in enhancing customer experience through professional development and permits access to wider, more diverse talent pools in your recruitment initiatives.
Furthermore, it signifies your commitment to ongoing language development, an increasingly important factor for employees, particularly Gen Z and Millennials, and supports teams in being more productive, efficient and capable of providing premier service.
Your business should not consider language learning a siloed function but rather an embedded culture across the organization. This approach ensures skill levels are always adequate and improving, ready for new business opportunities. Additionally, a happy and skilled team plays a pivotal role in creating personalized experiences that foster emotional connections with customers, contributing significantly to overall success and customer loyalty.
“Employees are craving language training at work and employers ignore this request at their peril. They risk losing their talent to the 30% of organizations that have taken this employee feedback on board.” – Pearson's global research report, How English empowers your tomorrow.
Utilize technology and learning tools
Using online language learning platforms like Mondly by Pearson can rapidly accelerate language acquisition among your employees. Alongside self-paced solutions for Workplace English and General Language Learning, these platforms offer live sessions with expert fluent tutors, enhancing workplace language proficiency.
Incorporating language training to gain a competitive edge
Improving language skills through training is a powerful step towards achieving success for your business. By enhancing customer satisfaction, reducing churn, and driving higher revenues, a customer experience strategy can significantly contribute to business growth. It is crucial to understand and focus on the entire customer journey, from first contact to becoming a loyal customer, to effectively meet global market demands with improved language skills.
A strategic approach to raising language proficiency levels is indispensable to facilitating global success, increasing growth potential, and preparing your team to operate in new international markets. It’s time to reinforce language skills across your organization and access the competitive advantage you need to succeed in international markets.
Engage with Mondly by Pearson today - a flexible and engaging suite of workplace-relevant language learning solutions designed to develop employees’ language skills and assess progress with Versant by Pearson for flexible language testing and certification. Empower your business for international success.
