The Project

Vizlib Poland wants to establish English as the core communication language for their global teams. This includes English for Slack communication, emails, virtual and in-person meetings, global presentations and business trips.

Addressing areas of weakness and increasing the ability to communicate their specialist knowledge with global colleagues was a must. The introduction of new business vocabulary and expressions, improved pronunciation, grammar correction, and oral feedback was required.

The Approach

While some members of staff already had a high level of English competency, others fell below benchmarks resulting in a wide range of levels amongst staff.

We began with weekly 90-minute classes divided into groups of four or fewer based on skill level. There was an equal focus on verbal and auditory skills with a UK native speaker who also provided cross-cultural skills.

Our training focused on spoken communication for improved online meetings and better cooperation in global teams.

Milestones

The Pandemic

The global pandemic resulted in change to lesson delivery to match the dynamic circumstances.

• Our cooperation developed from in-company to online meetings
• 60 and 45-minute lessons replaced 90-minute lessons
• We reduced the amount of group lessons and increased the number of one-to-one lessons
• We introduced more teachers to meet demand with a greater need for flexibility
• New training packages tailored around individual needs commenced, establishing more personal learning plans
• We implemented an onboarding protocol for new employees
• New digital learning tools (EdTech) helped meet dynamic digital requirements

Ongoing Support

Currently, our cooperation follows a hybrid model with a mixture of online and in-company lessons. What started as a small subsidiary has evolved impressively into a 700 square metre facility with an ever-increasing workforce.

The learning strategy employs the blended learning model. Traditional face-to-face meetings are combined with online lessons delivered through a mix of synchronous and asynchronous communication tools.

Ongoing support combines cross-cultural communication knowledge for new members of staff and continued language support for established global teams.