Podcast 1 - Three Important Trends In Communication You Should Apply In Your Business
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[00:00:00] Hi there and welcome. For two decades, I've been a global speaker to big groups around the world. With my educational background in teaching and framework design has supported my strength to coach, to consult people with diverse backgrounds, languages, unique communication styles. Personalities, beliefs.
Taking all of this into consideration with each individual. By actively listening, I develop a framework that meets their individual needs, and I adapt my teaching style to better support their learning. Effective communication isn't about talking. It's about listening and understanding the unique needs and interests of your audience too.
Today we're gonna talk about three trends in communication. We'll have a look at the trends and how they relate to your business or your organization, or your learning. So right now, one trend that has emerged [00:01:00] in recent years is the increasing importance of digital communication channels.
So of course with the rise of social media and other digital platforms, customers are now expecting businesses to be available and responsive across multiple channels. This means that businesses need to have a strong digital presence, and they need to be able to communicate effectively, communicate effectively with customers through all channels like email, through chat, social media, face-to-face.
Your email should not look like your chat. And how do you address customers or clients? You have to make sure you address them properly across all of these different multiple channels. Another trend is the growing importance of personalized communication. Customers want to feel like they're being heard, they're being understood.
Think back to the last time you went to a restaurant [00:02:00] or you brought your kids to a bouncy castle or a fun water slide park or just anywhere. How was it that you were treated? How did that feel and how did they treat your kids? How did they, how was the whole experience? So businesses can tailor their communication to the specific needs and the preferences of individual customers.
I design my courses, my classes, my workshops to individuals because we all learn differently. And if you, if we don't do that, This group here will learn and they will will perform, but this group won't, and that's really not fair to this group here.
So my specialty is getting to that group that is having a little bit more trouble and finding out makes them learn best, what I can do to help them. And I create a structure in my workshop.
I create a framework, an individualized learning plan [00:03:00] for this group or for that person, and those goals. Of course, I can't come up with goals without input. We've had conversations and that conversation has led me to help create an individual learning plan for this group or for this person.
So, and then that data can be used to inform communication strategies for your organization. And on the other hand, poor communication between staff and clients, or even just between staff, can lead to. You guessed it. Negative consequences for businesses. Customers who feel like they're not being heard.
Staff members who feel like they're not being heard or understood are more likely to switch to change jobs, to talk about you to other people in the community in a negative light, maybe they'll switch to a competitor. They'll leave negative reviews online and they'll share their experiences on social media, and this can be really damaging to a business's [00:04:00] reputation, and it can hurt their bottom line.
Of course, a huge trend right now is the use of automation and AI As a business, as organizations, they want to streamline their operations and be systematic and improve efficiency and move with clarity. So many are turning to automation and AI powered tools to handle these routine tasks and to provide personalized services.
This includes chat bots and virtual assistants that can handle customer inquiries and provide personalized recommendations as well.
Elsa is an app that is helpful for language learners and research suggests that this is really helpful and it has really great quality lessons to improve your language, to improve grammar, to improve pronunciation and conversation, but research also suggests that it's not [00:05:00] a substitute yet for in-person language learning experiences.
And this is a big one, social interaction. So for example, a study was published by the Journal of Language Learning and Technology, and it found that while language learning apps can be and are effective tools for improving certain aspects of language learning, such as vocabulary and grammar, they really are less effective at improving actual communication as a whole.
So the app should be used for especially, If you or your staff are expert at speaking a language, any language, let's just say it's English. They are experts already. So apps like Elsa should be used in tandem with supplements such as stimulations in person acting out a situation with the, with the problem in mind. A learning experience that they can talk [00:06:00] about before, have the experience and then talk about it afterwards, and you, and have this discourse that is so important for an expert, multilingual language learner to have a social engagement.
And it helps them remember what to do during that problem let's say that they are simulating.
Another study was published in the journal system, it's called System in 2019, and it compared the effectiveness of a language learning app to that of a face-to-face language course. Now AI is changing, and of course it has a lot of positivities, but still the effectiveness at improving certain language skills such as reading and writing, it was less effective at improving speaking skills.
So it this suggests that apps could be useful as a supplement to a face-to-face language course or a face-to-face communications course, but not as an exclusive tool. One more [00:07:00] study guys. I love studies. This other study in the Journal of Educational Psychology found that language learners who participated in a language exchange program or a communication exchange program where they practiced speaking in person, showed greater improvement than those who used the language learning app or studied independently.
So it's not only about the app, it's also about learning independently. It's really a struggle and I've spoken to so many students who are learning independently, who are learning by themselves, and it's frustrating for them. It's not fun, it's not motivating. That social interaction piece is huge and immersion.
Immersing the staff member or immersing yourself into the experience are huge, are important factors in language and communication, learning and getting better and more confident. Really, it's [00:08:00] all about how confident are you. Is the app going to drive confidence,
especially as an expert language or an expert multilingual learner? Language learner. So overall, these studies do, they, they suggest that, that while language learning apps are super helpful tools, they, they should not be relied on and as a standalone solution. And really in my experience, I don't really need these studies to tell me this.
I have worked with hundreds of students who've already said, oh, it's so lonely. I'm just not motivated. I don't have time. I'm bored. I forget it the next day. It doesn't help me improve. So, it's just social interaction, lots of it, to help develop those communication skills.
And by the way, is there an app to help with negotiating on the fly, negotiating quickly, persuading someone to [00:09:00] do what you need them to do. Those are the contexts that learners need. And want conflict resolution, active listening. Listening is also a really huge piece of communicating well.
So how does an app teach you to actively listen? Not just, not just listen and summarize what somebody said, but actively listen. What does their facial expression tell you? What does their tone of voice tell you? Culturally, what is happening? So there's so much to communication still that apps do not yet, and they might soon enough, but not quite yet.
They don't really help to manage communication across multiple channels.
Thank you so much for listening and being part of this podcast. If you enjoyed it and you want more, if you have any questions, visit my social media channels. They are listed below the podcast [00:10:00] and show notes, and I can be founded irene McCann consulting.com. Have a great week, have a great weekend.
Communicate well with each other.
