Ah, global workforce training. Essential for a successful corporation, it is also one of the key factors in employee morale, retention, and overall success. But it is time-consuming, expensive, and it never, ever ends. Being able to provide training programs in cross-cultural corporate communities is an absolute must. In recent years the demand for these training programs has exploded, driven by the desire to prevent miscommunications and to boost corporate competitiveness. In the global marketplace, such training is imperative as any slight linguistic error can lead to massive misunderstandings.
Sensitivity training is also a necessity when dealing with multiple cultures and backgrounds. Cultural miscues can impede effective communication in the workplace and can also undermine the relationship between the company and its clients. Any company must absolutely make improvements to internal and external cross-cultural communications that become part of the company’s culture and apply to everyone equally. Etiquette training is not enough, as it doesn’t address the deeper issues that can impact communications.
Here are a few tips to extend the appropriate training materials to your global workforce.
Evaluate Your Audience
First and foremost, you need to know who you are training. You should gather relevant information about the employees participating in the training and whether they are at all familiar with the subject. Find out their age, gender and cultural diversity. Determine the language they speak. Then, when developing your material, consider your audience’s learning styles. Are they visual, auditory or kinesthetic-tactile learners? Visual learners will need to see to understand, so utilize maps, graphs and pictures to help them comprehend the training. Auditory learners prefer to listen to lectures, while tactile learners need a hands-on experience. Know your audience and the knowledge they learn will be lasting. Develop materials that make it fast and efficient for your demographics to absorb, retain, and utilize the information presented.
Prepare the Learning Environment
For your co-workers and colleagues to be able to make the most of the training session you’ve designed, you need to prepare the environment. Make sure the room stays clear of distractions. Try to use a soundproof room so that outside sounds can’t penetrate and distract. Don’t hold the training session in an area where random people may walk through. Nothing is more distracting than people coming and going, and doors opening and closing. Make sure that all the learning materials are available, that the computers and equipment are running smoothly, and that there are adequate pens, pencils and paper for note taking. Make sure the chairs are comfortable and make sure that the presentation materials are visible from every area of the room. Could you sit there for a day and focus on the material presented — or would you be staring at the birds outside the window or thinking about how bad the chairs hurt your back? Always ensure that any materials are translated for the international members of your global team.
Utilize e-Learning
E-learning is conducted via electronic media, typically accessed via the Internet. It usually involves a course or program that can be accessed completely online. These interactive courses can be delivered in real time or can be prerecorded lectures. It is a tried and true method of training and is especially beneficial to a global workforce. Create your presentation or lecture by recording it and disseminating it to your entire cross-cultural network. To create an engaging e-learning training session, you should cover both visual and auditory learners. Make a video, but include readable text. It reinforces what you are saying. Keep the text professional-looking; don’t use all caps or mixed fonts, don’t get cutesy with the fonts, and pay attention to spelling. Use visual tools like maps, graphs and pictures to help engage the trainees. Make sure the color scheme of the video doesn’t clash to prevent distraction. Also, get your translators to evaluate using a particular color scheme across various audiences. What appears to “pop” in one culture might be considered gaudy or distracting in another. The best way to create a training video is to utilize an expert that specializes in e-learning. And for a global workforce, an e-learning expert that can also translate everything to all the languages you require is a must.
To create the most professional training materials and e-learning resources, you need to use a trusted professional. TrueLanguage can fulfill the standards of excellence that your company requires. Because you invest a great deal in the training of your workforce, TrueLanguage can work alongside you with the agility and technology to get the job done right. TrueLanguage can create not only an e-learning course to your specifications, but they can provide the textbooks, posters, audio/visual elements and more. You can trust TrueLanguage with every aspect of the project, from beginning to end. And then they’ll bring it home to your multilingual team members with an accurate and detailed translation from start to finish. Contact us by Requesting a FREE quote today or call us now at 1-888-926-9245 and get your training materials ready for your global workforce.
