Supporting non-native English speakers at work

- Global teams are becoming the norm in companies of all types. And that means that you're working with or managing a wide range of individuals who communicate in vastly different ways. Understanding their needs and how to support them in the workplace can go a long way to creating dynamic and diverse teams that innovate successfully. I'm Peter Novak, a professor and the leader of the Strictly Speaking Group, a team of dedicated coaches that provide speech, writing, and communications training to some of the world's leading companies. This course will help you understand some of the cultural and linguistic differences between native and non-native speakers, how to prevent potential bias in yourself and in others on your team, and to develop habits of communication that make it easier for everyone to communicate together. Often we expect non-native speakers to conform to specific writing and speaking standards set by our work culture, to learn and adapt to the dominant style of the majority, and to acculturate to the overall style of the country that our business is in. But communication is a two-way street. It requires both speakers and listeners. This means that as native speakers, we need to think about how we're using our language to open lines of communication more clearly. I hope this short course will help you to expand how you communicate with and support your non-native English speaking colleagues at work.