Jolinda Osborne

After a break to complete my new speech and pronunciation online video course, I’m resuming my blog with a guest blog I wrote for OpenSesame, an online marketplace for eLearning products. I’ll say more about the video product below. 

Clear, confident speech –

across a conference table or across an ocean

International and ESL employees who work in American and global organizations contribute valuable talents and diverse perspectives. When management makes American English pronunciation training available, these employees gain skills to succeed, contribute to their teams, and strengthen the organization.

American English is the lingua franca of business and a fundamental competency skill. Fortunately, clear spoken English is a skill that can be learned, not unlike other interpersonal skills such as teamwork, presentations, and time management.

Clear, confident American English is achievable

I know many employees who have significantly improved their performance once their speech is clear, correct and confident:

managers who run effective meetings and handle team conflicts;  engineers who speak up on conference calls to offer good ideas and challenge the status quo;  physicians who engage their patients and probe for subtle understanding; research scientists who present their inventions at international conferences

These and many other professionals now possess a level of spoken communication that is commensurate with their expertise and achievements. 

  

Employees are eager for communication training  

Occasionally managers tell me they hesitate to suggest speech/accent improvement for fear of embarrassing an employee. Just the opposite is true. Employees realize that poor speech and pronunciation put them at a disadvantage. They notice the “glazed eyes” of confused listeners, and feel their confidence drain away when others ask them to repeat themselves.

These employees are eager to improve, but some come from cultures where asking a manager for training seems impolite or disrespectful. Moreover, finding professional-level training is challenging, while juggling a pressured work schedule to attend an offsite class is nearly impossible. 

Without confidence in their ability to communicate, employees might defer to others when asked to present their ideas, avoid taking on a leadership role, remain quiet in meetings, and lose out on opportunities to serve the organization and advance their own careers.  

A resource for ESL and international employees

OpenSesame now hosts Sound American: American English for Success in Business, a comprehensive, business-oriented speech and pronunciation video course designed for corporate learning systems and optimized for tablet/mobile devices. 

Pro-active employees who are eager refine their American English can opt to study anytime, anywhere. Employees who are given the performance review directive, “improve your communication,” can now source a rigorous, comprehensive, and effective solution.

Please visit my website to read about the video features, www.jolindaosborne.com , or go to https://www.opensesame.com/c/sound-american-training-courseto preview and purchase the course.

I welcome your feedback.

Jolinda