It is the weakest link in the communication chain of many international companies. Conference calls can be a nightmare if the conditions condusive to clear comprehension are not met. While technological advances have improved sound quality, poor communication skills remain the underlying problem and root cause of most confcall communication problems. In many cases, confcall participants are aware of typical communication issues: participants speaking over each other, people joining a confcall halfway through without introducing themselves, contributors speaking too fast etc. Equally, many are frustrated by the lack of sensitivity of native English speakers towards non-native English speaking participants. The former often speak too fast, employ obscure idioms, jargon and slang and frequently express themselves as if they were chatting with their friends down the pub. Meanwhile, the non-native English speakers understand little of what is being said or, even worse, think they have understood when, in fact, they haven't. Equally, non-native English speakers may confuse and frustrate others due to their poor command of English, usage of 'false-friends' etc.
Based on numerous observations of international conference calls, our new service ENGLISHforCONFCALLS helps improve the quality of your conference calls by identifying linguistique problems or 'red-zones' which cause confusion, misunderstanding and frustration during conference calls. Created in association with YourEnglishSuccess!, ENGLISHforCONFCALLS is an advisory service designed for international companies for whom English is, or has recently become, the language for cross-border communication between different entities.
ENGLISHforCONFCALLS consultants will observe your conference calls in order to identify potential and actual communication 'red-zones' such as poor English usage by non-native English speakers and obscure, unclear and poorly-expressed contributions from mother tongue English speakers.
ENGLISHforCONFCALLS consultants and conference call participants will then attend a debriefing meeting in order to draw up an action plan to resolve the 'red-zones'. This may involve language coaching for the non-native English speakers, but equally, it could recommend coaching mother tongue English speakers who employ unnecessary idioms or slang, who speak too fast and who generally lack awareness of the difficulties facing their non-native English speaking colleagues.
