We live and work in a world that’s rapidly changing, and with each new tech advancement or market share gain comes more consumer needs to meet. In these constantly evolving circumstances, companies and their leaders are under pressure to cultivate teams that are able to keep up with that demand. Globally-minded businesses need to rely on the support of their valued employees and the skill sets they possess in order to maintain a competitive edge. The logical answer: cultivate the new and existing skills that make your team exceptional at what they do.
Here are the top 5 hard skills that we think companies can benefit from the most in 2019.
1. Corporate Communications Skills
Organizations with employees and clients around the globe are often faced with challenges when it comes to streamlining brand messaging and maintaining a cohesive image. This creates demand for employees who can easily get a good grasp on your mandate and accurately communicate it to others. For international companies, ‘getting your message across’ in different markets can be a bit tricky, but solid corporate communication skills can help. Both internal and external interactions need to be managed with professionalism and consistency, which requires a refined set of verbal, writing and listening skills. This will improve how your organization is percieved and how well your team works together across departments – and across borders.
Recommended training opportunities: Create an internal brand messaging guide, offer crisis communication training, corporate writing and presentation workshops.
2. Inclusive People Management Skills
Companies that keep in step with social progress grow faster, retain more employees and see higher ROI. In fact, it’s been proven that companies that champion diversity perform better. People from different cultures and backgrounds conduct business in different ways, which is why employees who are able to recognize and address cultural assumptions, prejudices and workplace biases are essential to modern workplaces. This way, your leadership are in a postion to set your company’s standard for inclusivity and in turn, share the skills and knowledge necessary to understand other cultures they come in contact with.
Recommended training opportunities: Unconcious Bias e-training, inform your team about productive conflict resolution, impliment a diversity training program.
3. Language and Translation Expertise
In international companies, improving language abilities can benefit internal communications, company culture and overall growth. Basic language knowledge will certainly improve your company’s ability to engage with international markets and emerge into new territories, but an in-depth understanding of local nuances, language and culture are crucial to success in new markets. Employees with the ability to communicate effectively in other languages and create content for different target markets will boost your reputation and improve the way you conduct foreign business.
Recommended training opportunities: Language learning soultions designed to suit business needs, Cross-Cultural Intelligence training, use of translation software.
4. Social Media Marketing Know-How
Social media has changed the ways we communicate and consequentially, the ways we do business. Many of these platforms offer the most efficent (and most popular) means of communication and advertisment that go beyond good old-fashioned face-to-face conversations. As new platforms continue to emerge and the originals evolve into marketing giants, companies need employees with a good understanding of how to promote services, boost recognition and monitor online engagement across markets and languages.
Recommended training opportunities: B2B Foundations: Social Media Marketing on LinkedIn, Facebook’s Digital Marketing Training Program or hold an in-house training session to boost multi-lingual social media awareness.
5. Exceptional client service skills
Your client-facing employees outwardly represent your organzation, and the service they provide is defined by the quality of every interaction they have, making it vital to the reputation of your business. Plus, online reviews have outweighted and far surpassed that of word-of-mouth recommendations, which means opinions of your company go public instantaneously. That’s why ensuring that your team members have the right skills for managing client’s needs is of the utmost importance. The days of scripted customer service responses and templated emails are behind us; people expect more sincerity and a distinct brand personality from companies. Employees who can offer service that goes above and beyond to have a positive impact on your bottom line are the future.
Recommended training opportunities: Offer empathy training to improve customer interactions, streamline your customer service workflow, and introduce language learning program to perform better in new markets.
Want to get started? Take your first steps by downloading our practical language learning guide for your company.
