CASE STUDIES – THE RANGE OF CONTEXTS VOICE TO WORD CONSULTING ADDRESSES

Happy mid-summer! Here's our mid-summer newsletter - a bit of inspiration and some case studies.

QUOTES TO MOTIVATE

Many of us get paralyzed when we see a huge job ahead of us, when we aren’t sure what the whole process will involve or where things will end up, and when we don’t break it up into the small initial steps we can take to move forward. So, I love these two wisdom-of-the-ages quotes – one from Scottish essayist, historian and philosopher, Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881) and another more current from American minister and civil rights leader, Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929-1968).

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"Go as far as you can see; when you get there, you'll be able to see further." - Thomas Carlyle

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"You don't have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step." - Martin Luther King, Jr.

CASE STUDIES – THE RANGE OF CONTEXTS WE ADDRESS

I believe that many readers and people I am connected to on LinkedIn believe that the primary training we do is pronunciation - clear speech. It is true that we do a lot of that, but clarity flows over into appropriate, grammatically correct and effective speech also. In this issue of our newsletter, I am sharing four diverse examples of training we have done that so you can see some of the communication concerns we address.

A Russian client with excellent English skills came to me for accent modification training. His work involved extensive conversations online and by telephone with clients and collaborators internationally, largely American. In my opinion, he spoke very clearly. Nevertheless, he was irritated when people reacted to him as an outsider.

Although people come to me with a range of motivations, I am clear up front that they will always have an accent, although perhaps not identifiable. On the other hand, some clients love exploring the slight variations and small adjustments they can make to change their accent. This client was one of these and he really enjoyed the exploration we did together. Happily, he did soften his accent and reported back that people were responding to him in, what he expressed as, a “more natural manner.”

I while back I had a client, an engineer with a large company. He told me that, one day while being given instructions at work, he thought he had understood clearly and didn’t verify or clarify. (To verify means to confirm the details - “So you want me to make sure the installation gets done tomorrow, right?” To clarify means to make something clear - “Did you say it needs to be done tomorrow?”) He proceeded to do what he had understood which was a major mistake and cost the company thousands of dollars.

Why didn’t he verify or clarify? First, he didn’t want to draw attention to his issues with listening comprehension. Second, he was talking with his superior and was uncomfortable with the status difference. Third, no one had ever discussed with him the importance of doing this, emphasized that this is a part of normal communication and taught him how to do it.

An international engineering firm had a special request. Anxious to secure a contract with a client who had turned down the first director proposed, they were concerned the new person being put forward might not be accepted. The issue – this skilled and experienced Lebanese immigrant, with years working in Canada as a construction manager, was perceived as unrefined. In my assessment, I found he spoke as most people would on a construction site – using slang, speaking loudly, not being careful with vocabulary, etc. He also believed his potential new boss, a woman, needed special treatment.

Within a few sessions, we realized that he was able to shift his self-perception from site manager to director and easily adjust his form of expression. Additionally, he came to realize that treating this woman other than as an equal would be perceived as sexist and unacceptable. A few weeks later, I heard he got the position.

A travel agency contacted me regarding three customer service agents working primarily on the phone. Given the added distortion on the telephone - now aggravated by mask usage - it is particularly important to speak clearly, project well and pace yourself.

As usual in pre-COVID days, I did the assessments in person and started one-on-one training. One, a Russian woman, was quite clear so I assumed she was likely not using the mouthpiece properly, using poor posture, not moving her lips enough, etc. We tried a telephone session and, sure enough, it was very difficult to understand her.

I had a hunch it might be her headset distorting her speech. She tried another one and came across loud and clear. When I suggested to her manager they purchase better headsets, my contract was immediately cancelled! Maybe they didn’t want to accept that a simple oversight had caused so much expense.

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If you need help with any aspect of English communication, including understanding cultural expectations, we can help you. Please contact us for more information.?

FROM OUR READERS

"I always love your newsletters. You manage to take what could be a very dry subject and make it fun and interesting. Thank you." - Judi Hughes, Your Planning Partners Ltd.

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Voice to Word Consulting ?offers customized training in communication skills for internationally trained professionals who are non-native speakers of English.

We combine the skills which need refining - tweaking grammar, improving clarity, understanding the cultural meaning of behaviours, etc. Clients work with both audio and print recordings, our own and real-life materials, plus recorded sessions which they can review at home or in the car. It is important to find ways to fit daily practice into our clients’ busy lives, so we explore what works for them, being creative in order to make ongoing focus and improvement a reality.