Do you know the 3 biggest barriers that block good English communication between engineers?
If you’re an engineer who wants to bypass these English barriers and push on to more effective work hours, Happy Employees and a Happy Culture, then read this immediately.
Barrier #1: You Don’t Know What Questions to Ask When Hiring an English Instructor.
How do you know if you’ve hired a good one?
This is a barrier because if you have the wrong people in the wrong seats on the bus, then you’re not going to get ultimate progress/productivity, and it’s going to be a very rocky road to realize that you’re not going anywhere.
The problem here is making sure to hire someone who has true experience teaching English communication at the corporate level. So many companies hire people who speak English, but who have never taught English before. Beware!
You get around this by making sure to download how to get the best instructor: The 7 Deadly Mistakes When Hiring a Language Instructor. Follow those questions, and you’ll definitely hire the right person for the job.
If you’ve already signed a contract with a company, then make sure to ask for curriculum and a classroom setting that is suggested on 7 Deadly Mistakes.
10 Secrets to Managing your Multilingual Global Workforce
Barrier #2: You Don’t have Enough Time in the Day to Take Advantage of the Classes
This is a barrier because even after you’ve found an experienced, knowledgeable instructor, you still find it hard to get away from the computer and attend the at-work lesson.
It must be remembered that these lessons will help you do your work in English. It is essential that you step away from the computer and attend your English lesson or the language issues will only continue. Make English communication lessons a priority at your workplace, and don’t make employees feel bad for stepping away from the computer in order to attend them. Or, make it mandatory that they step away from the computer and attend. Only when everyone is speaking well and communicating effectively will the company be able to progress and move forward as a team. More productivity means more money and more contracts!
If you’ve already experienced how difficult it is to attend English lessons mid-day, then try to have them in the morning at 8am when no one is in the office. Or, you can have them by Skype on Sunday mornings. The classes should be fun, and easily conducted via Skype. Find a way to attend each class.
Barrier #3: Getting your Employees to Speak the Language Outside the Classroom
This is a barrier because in order to take full advantage of language lessons, it is best to speak the language not only in the class, but outside of the class as well. Speak English as much as you can at lunch and during work breaks. This will double your progress! I suggest having a Spanish Lunch 1 day a week: English speakers eat lunch with Spanish speakers and only speak Spanish. Then, on another day, the same group can get together and speak only English. Use each other to help each other.
Speaking your second language outside of the classroom can be almost impossible without some real effort. When you’re eating lunch or relaxing at home, the last thing you want to do is try to think of how to say something in your second language. I agree that speaking with your family in your second language isn’t going to happen, but some effort can be made to watch TV, meet up with English-speaking friends, and connect at lunch with English-speaking employees.
Employees tell me, “But it’s lunchtime. I just want to relax!” And I agree. But if you begin to have lunchtime language lessons through conversation, it will not seem like a chore for very long. Make it a part of your schedule, stick to it, and have fun with it. The quicker you get comfortable with English communication (or any other language that you’re learning!), the less time it will be painful. So you can pull the Band-Aid off slowly, or rip it off and get the job done, jumping into the English swimming pool head first!
And enjoy getting to know people from another culture.
Email getfluent@fluencycorp.com for a free assessment of your company’s needs or your needs.
