When people from around the world work together with ease, communication has no barriers. In an international economy, multilingualism brings great potential for more effective collaboration, a health company culture, and more resilience in times of crisis. In the new ebook from Babbel for Business, you’ll find out how you can use this potential.
Think about a completely ordinary work week. How much time do you spend communicating? How much time do you spend in meetings and writing emails? How much time on Slack or on the phone? For many managers and team members, communication is a central part of their everyday work. And for many, they do little else. Work is communication.
But communication isn’t always successful. Everyone knows situations where misunderstandings have led to serious conflicts. Feedback misses the mark, or despite the best of intentions, the message simply doesn’t land. Just because we communicate often doesn’t make that it’s done well. Sure, work is communication — but good communication is hard work!
That’s especially the case for teams and companies where people with different language skills and cultural backgrounds work together. Even for teams where everyone speaks the same language, good communication is a challenge. But where there are different languages and cultures in the mix, there are many particularities to watch out for. That applies to working in a team, but also to working with customers and partners from around the world.
In a globalized economy, culturally diverse teams and multilingual communication are increasingly common. As management, you can’t avoid addressing language and culture, not only because good communication is crucial for day-to-day collaboration and long-term success, but also because it would be careless not to use the considerable potential of multilingualism.
Multilingual communication is a central challenge in a globalized economy
Good communication is complicated. And good multilingual communication is certainly even more complicated. The challenges that come with it should be familiar to many:
- Misunderstandings are much more likely when others aren’t familiar with the subtleties of language that are obvious to native speakers.
- Cultural differences require sensitive communication, which doesn’t always work out for everyone in a stressful working day.
- Stereotypes and clichés slip into communication and hinder appreciative and trusting collaboration.
In the long term, these and other factors can make a team less effective and less satisfied than it could be. While good communication leads to success, poor communication drains energy, makes it difficult to unleash potential, diminishes individual team members’ strengths, and can even lead to losses.
But if good communication is so crucial for successful collaboration, should it be left to chance? As management, you can actively work on topics around communication with your team, quickly establish useful routines, and consciously think about how you want to communicate with each other.
Yes, that takes time and energy, but in the end, it pays off doubly because working on language and communication actively and consciously doesn’t just lead to more efficient processes, but also has a meaningful effect and strengthens your team culture in the long term. Effective and meaningful communication in everyday work leads not only to increased productivity and better results, but also to more satisfied team members and a healthy company culture. Not least, it increases your appeal as an employer in an increasingly international job market.
Learn about the potential of multilingual communication with our free eBook
Our new ebook highlights the opportunities and potential that multilingual communication brings to companies. You’ll learn concretely how you can advance the topic of multilingualism in your team:
- Concise insights into multilingual communication can help you view your own and your team’s communication practices in a new way.
- Proven tips and ideas on team development let you start consciously shaping your team’s communication right away.
- In our interview with the experienced language learning expert Genevieve Sabin from Babbel for Business, you’ll learn what’s really important in developing language skills and cultural competence.
- Find out what distinguishes a culture of multilingualism and why this characteristic of a healthy team and company culture is particularly valuable, especially in times of crisis.
In the context of global competition, it can make a crucial difference if a company proactively addresses multilingualism or not. Numerous advantages come with a living culture of multilingualism that’s actively promoted and consciously shaped.
Our language learning expert Genevieve Sabin has no doubt: “Multilingualism doesn’t come by accident! A team should consciously make it a central focus.” With the ideas and insights from our ebook, you’ll take the first steps in building your awareness and advancing your company toward multilingualism in the long term.
