In today’s rapidly evolving business environment, effective communication skills are more vital than ever, especially in a country as diverse as India. With its rich tapestry of languages, cultures, and traditions, the country presents both challenges and opportunities for embracing diversity in the workplace. While diversity fosters innovation and creativity, it also presents communication challenges that hinder collaboration and productivity. Focusing on all aspects of communicative mastery – language, interpersonal, and intercultural – is critical to address this.
Research shows that a lack of effective communication costs businesses a whopping $12,506 per employee, annually. While forward-thinking leaders in the Indian subcontinent prioritize training, it is crucial to approach upskilling using methods that guarantee impact. Learnlight, a leading global EdTech company specialized in communication skills, has identified some important, and yet often overlooked areas of communication that organizations should invest in.
Language Skills: Bridging the linguistic divide
With over 22 officially recognized languages, and hundreds of dialects spoken across India, English – the official language of business – is critical to remain competitive in the workplace.
The most recent analysis of India’s expanding language training market forecasts a staggering growth trajectory, projecting gains to soar to USD 7.55 billion between 2023-2028. Fueled by various growth catalysts, the market is experiencing a remarkable Compound Annual Growth Rate of 14.37%, signalling a dynamic evolution in response to changing demands.
Selecting the right language training provider empowers employees with the tools and resources to overcome linguistic barriers. In contrast, personalized and job-relevant training can help them go the extra mile in applying the knowledge gained on the job. Learnlight achieves this with its Learnlight’s Empowerment Method™. This science-backed approach focuses on active learning, fostering the intentional application of the skills taught, to achieve business outcomes.
Intercultural Skills: Promoting Inclusivity
Navigating India’s professional landscape demands a nuanced understanding of its rich tapestry of customs, traditions, and communication styles. Harnessing this cultural diversity is key, especially within the context of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives.
Indeed, without inclusion, diversity efforts fall short. It’s not enough to acknowledge diversity, actively promoting inclusion is essential to ensure that every employee feels a sense of belonging, remains engaged, and can perform at their best. Understanding what inclusion means and the practices it entails is often a huge, overlooked challenge in this respect.
According to Learnlight’s Intercultural Survey, conducted among Indian professionals, 61% of respondents believe putting differences aside translates into inclusive workplace practices. While there is some truth in this, embracing our differences is crucial. Learnlight’s Intercultural Assessment helps benchmark an employee’s cultural traits against those of the cultures they most frequently work with. This helps them reflect on their behaviors to develop collaboration practices that adapt to others’ needs and lead to a more inclusive workplace.
Learnlight’s broader intercultural training solutions also offer employees practical educational training, resources and tips to help put learnings into action. Click here to discover more.
Interpersonal Skills: Building stronger leadership
Effective communication goes beyond language and cultural understanding. It requires strong interpersonal skills – the ability to build effective relationships with people around us.
According to Learnlight’s survey, understanding and empathy are key drivers for successful collaboration in multicultural settings, with a promising 54% of Indian respondents prioritizing understanding their peers’ perspectives in disagreements.
Learnlight’s interpersonal training program equips employees with essential skills like active listening, public speaking, and empathy; skills that are often taken for granted but are harder to master than we think. Discover the benefits of upskilling employees in this domain, driving innovation, elevating customer experience, and nurturing leadership qualities across the board.
Invest in comprehensive communication skills training
By investing in language, intercultural, and interpersonal training, businesses can unlock opportunities for growth, innovation, and success in India’s evolving marketplace.
With over 16 years of experience, a community of over 3,000 trainers, and more than 700,000 learners, Learnlight is a trusted partner in helping businesses upskill their global talent.
Combining its award-winning blended technology to offer live training sessions and self-paced learning, Learnlight helps teams develop workplace skills anytime, anywhere.
Click to learn more about Learnlight’s language, intercultural, and interpersonal training solutions, and provide employees with the essential tools to thrive in a global workplace.