Everyone knows about the digital skills gap, but very few of us talk about the communication skills gap. According to the World Economic Forum, by 2027 six in ten people will require training not just in technical skills like AI, but also in communication and leadership skills. Our new eBook explores this further.
Discover why and how leaders can embed communication skills training into their employees’ day-to-day using people-powered, technology-enabled, and science-backed methods.
Here’s a quick recap of the takeaways:
#1 – Effective Communication Increases Productivity
Research shows we’re engaging in more asynchronous work interactions than ever before. Yet, businesses are losing $1.2 trillion each year to poor communication. Barriers include:
Team Diversity: Language & cultural barriers
New Technologies: Complex asynchronous channels
Change Management: Pace of business change
Communication skills development helps employees maintain work relationships more effectively by supporting them in adapting to new technologies, distributed teams, and transient business challenges.
People-Powered, Technology-Enabled, Science-Backed Training: Combining virtual training with self-paced learning allows a balance of self-reflection and peer-to-peer feedback, absorbing new knowledge and gaining the ability to put it into practice (pg. 5).
#2 – Effective Communication Fosters Innovation
Organizations that draw on ethnic, gender, and cultural diversity can financially outperform their peers by up to 36%. However, diversity doesn’t bring inclusivity by default. Hence the flipside being that 70% of failed transformation projects are due to cultural differences.
Education is needed to develop our employees’ Cultural Intelligence (CQ). Without this, our teams will struggle to understand each other’s backgrounds and their ability to embrace different perspectives.
Here’s a snippet of a case study from our eBook to showcase:
Case study: Organization “X” has a diverse talentpool but when embracing inclusivity, it falls short. Company values such as “respect” create misunderstandings because cultural backgrounds influence interpretations causing communication breakdown.
People-Powered, Technology-Enabled, Science-Backed Training: Empowering employees to take control over their learning helps them apply what is taught using their self-awareness and understanding. Our Learnlight Empowerment Method™ aids this process (pg. 8).
Reason #3 – Effective Communication Increases Customer Experience
Personalized and speedy customer service increases customer satisfaction, whilst just a 5% increase in customer retention increases a company’s profitability by 75%. Yet, as customer care teams invest in digital solutions, senior leaders are forgetting the power of the human touch.
Communication skills courses helps teams mindfully re-introduce compassionate communication practices, solving customer service issues more effectively.
People-Powered, Technology-Enabled, Science-Backed Training: At Learnlight we believe a wholesome communication skills training solution provides the right foundations in three pillars: language, intercultural and interpersonal skills (find out why: pg.10).
Reason #4 – Effective Communication Creates Great Leaders
Communication skills courses aren’t just for the rank and file. Becoming a confident, culturally-aware communicator, can increase an employees’ productivity by nearly 20%. By fostering teamwork and collaboration, and creating psychologically safe work environments we can empower our peers, promoting open thinking and authentic inclusion in the workplace.
Such changes can impact team performance by up to 17%, decision-making quality by up to 20% and team collaboration by up to 29%, reinforcing our attraction and retention efforts.
People-Powered, Technology-Enabled, Science-Backed Training: Communication skills training can be particularly relevant for leaders moving abroad for assignments. We know it’s key to make their training bespoke so we offer global mobility training (pg. 12).
Use this link to get your eBook copy today.
