Headquartered in France, Safran is a global leader in aerospace, defense, and advanced manufacturing dating back to the late 1800s. The company, which prides itself on innovation and sustainability, designs and produces aircraft engines, propulsion systems, and mission-critical equipment used by commercial airlines and defense organizations around the world.
With operations across multiple continents, Safran’s workforce is deeply and purposefully international. Many talented professionals bring technical expertise and global perspectives to the company, but leadership roles in the United States often require clear, confident communication in English, particularly when managing teams or presenting ideas to senior leadership.
When Safran identified two rising professionals who needed additional support refining their English communication skills, the company turned to Fluency Corp for a solution tailored to their real needs in the boardroom.
Safran’s HR team was evaluating language training options for two employees whose roles required advanced skills in English. While these individuals were originally from countries in South America, they were already fluent in English at a high B2 level/C1 advanced English speaker.
However, their language skills needed an extra level of polishing in specific areas in order to advance professionally. The leadership team wanted to promote these individuals to management positions but in order to ensure their success, they wanted the employees to demonstrate the confident language skills necessary to interpret and deliver feedback for managing employees.
The transition from employee to manager often requires a shift from understanding instructions to giving them. Could they confidently run meetings, provide direction, and ensure teams clearly understand expectations?
Without specific instruction surrounding the many subtle nuances of the English language and a way to practice building confidence while presenting and directing employees in English, these employees risked being limited in their professional advancement.
Taking an English class at a community college is great for someone who needs basic introduction, but it won’t suffice when it comes to specific skills needed to do a job and do it well.
Companies who study with Fluency Corp keep coming back because they know their employees will go further and gain more skills with just an hour or two of specific language training than they would in an entire semester of a general English class.
For Safran, we did what we always do: built a program for the two employees designed around their presentations, their boardroom situations, and their specific conversations with both management above and employees below.
The process begins with an extensive intake designed to ensure the training aligns with both organizational goals and individual needs.
- HR consultation to understand company expectations and performance goals
- Employee intake sessions to identify personal challenges and communication priorities, along with learning preferences and the exact schedule that worked best for their workweek
- Instructor planning to design a customized curriculum tailored to the employee’s role
Why does this work? It’s like swimming. If someone wants to improve their swimming, reading about swimming techniques or watching a teacher swim won’t help nearly as much as spending time in the water.
The same is true for language training. If employees need to run meetings, lead teams, or present complex ideas, they should practice those exact tasks during training sessions. It’s much more effective than taking Business English courses that might never touch on the specifics of your employee’s job and responsibilities!
Because the employees held very different roles, Fluency Corp designed a program that allowed for both collaboration and individualized instruction. Training took place on-site at Safran’s offices, making it easy for participants to connect lessons directly to their daily responsibilities.
- 15 weeks of training
- 15 hours of group sessions together
- 15 hours of individual one-on-one coaching for each participant
- 1 hour of group practice
- 1 hour of individualized coaching
This structure allowed both participants to benefit from shared learning while also receiving targeted instruction specific to their roles. For example:
- Delivering presentations with confidence
- Explaining process improvement initiatives clearly on the shop floor
- Structuring messages so operational teams could easily understand them
- Communicating more clearly with direct reports
- Reducing team miscommunication
- Delivering leadership messages with precision and authority
- Upcoming presentations
- Internal emails
- Meeting agendas
- Workplace scenarios they expected to face
The instructor could review these materials directly, simulate real conversations, and help the employees practice exactly how they would communicate at work. Then get real time feedback and corrections to make sure they are ready for the upcoming meetings and presentations.
Participants were also encouraged to practice outside of work with tailored resources for their learning preferences, and completed weekly reflection logs for deeper insights and self-awareness in language training.
At the end of the program, participants gave Fluency Corp excellent ratings across all categories from language expertise to content and professionalism. Results included improved grammar, resolved language doubts, and an ability to better express themselves.
In Safran’s follow-up evaluation, participants also reported being able to apply their new skills directly in their work environment.
This outcome highlights one of the key advantages of Fluency Corp’s approach: because the training focuses on real workplace communication, improvements translate immediately into job performance.
For Safran, Fluency Corp helped two already-talented professionals refine the communication skills needed to thrive and go further in their leadership roles within a global organization.
By focusing on real workplace interactions rather than generic language lessons, Fluency Corp helped bridge the gap between speaking English fluently and leading confidently in English.
Fluency Corp creates customized language training programs built around your employees’ real roles, goals and workplace conversations. Whether your team needs support with presentations, meetings, management communication or cross-cultural collaboration, we can design a program that helps them apply new skills immediately.