The Growing Business of Communication
by Sharmila Gautama
During the years 2008-2009, just when we started our training and consulting company, there was a huge cut back in training budgets.Most companies had stalled recruitment and training. It seemed like a bad decision to start a training company at this time, but we did. And our first and biggest project was a learning intervention for a Dutch publishing company in India. An email writing program for all its employees to refine their writing skills so that they could communicate better with their authors, publishers and editors.
That's when we realised that good communication or rather good business communication will always be a need in any organization and at any level.
Communication enters all facets of good management skills. It's probably a skill that takes time to build and requires considerable effort to get right. We have seen a lot of communication programs for mid and senior level management in organizations. When I say communication, I also include English language skills training. It's at the mid and senior level that people begin taking an interest in enhancing their communication, if it is a concern.
Communication training for new recruits and first level employees is more about sprucing up overall communication skills, unlike for senior professionals, where customisation is key. To help senior management professionals with language and non-verbal communication, we now do quite a few one-on-one coaching programs.
Another area of increasing need in communication is with non-IT and non-ITeS companies. These brick and mortar companies are focusing more on developing both English language and the overall business communication skills of their employees. This need is not only for those who interact with clients, but also for employees who interact with people across the organization.
Most of our English language programs are signed off by operations teams and we see senior management taking a lot of interest in the development of their employees. They would like to know the impact of training and in some companies the off-shore bosses watch the intervention closely and share expectations and feedback. When we first started training, there wasn't so much involvement from the management. It was the HR team that was central to training effectiveness.
With teams spread across locations, HR teams want training companies to provide support with handling management of the interventions too. So, the end-to-end process is also another addition that we have started taking up, easing HR of follow-ups, feedback, calendars and attendance.
Gamification is another catch word today. Learning is more effective and engaging when the process becomes interesting. We have put in place a business writing program with gamification for a leading banking services company, where participants who meet learning objectives receive real and not virtual prizes. Online training to help participants with self-paced learning programs with gamification is another approach that participants want. There has to be something novel in each training.
The focus right now is on good communication, in fact, many times the management says good grammar training that is customised to the participants' business context is the first priority. Speaking and writing well has become a need that organizations are insisting on along with hard skills that got one the job.
Sharmila Gautama is the founder of EnglishCoach Services. To know more about the company, check out https://englishcoachservices.com/, or write to her at sharmila@englishcoach.co.in.
