Courses
Meetings over telephone or the Internet require unique skills which differ quite remarkably from those used in normal meetings. This course focuses on skills needed that are unique to teleconferences After all, teleconferences present challenges independent from face-to-face meetings even when they are held in one’s native language. In a non-native language they are, reasonably, even more challenging. Things like being sure who is talking or even hearing voices clearly through an electronic intermediary are more challenging when meetings are held with attendees in different countries.
Skills that Japanese people typically have trouble with—speaking assertively, jumping into discussions, confirming what they or other people are saying and being understood clearly—only become more of an issue during meetings over the telephone or Internet. English in particular has several sounds that are difficult for Japanese people to pick up on or differentiate. This can easily cause unforeseen problems and lead to misunderstandings. Regardless of these risks, telephone and Internet meetings offer the tremendous benefits and are only becoming more and more common and frequent in large organizations around the world. This course focuses on preventing these problems and misunderstandings from occurring. Participants will gain skills unique to teleconferencing that will make what other attendees in other offices easier to understand and will allow them to participate as actively and assertively as they need to.
Prior to the course we will conduct telephone interviews with each of the participants to analyze their English ability and to ascertain their needs and objectives from the training. in order to customize the training to better meet each participant’s needs. Participants will then learn how to express themselves so that they are not misunderstood and how to handle assertively any problems particular to teleconferencing. Training will be participatory, and case studies directly related to participants’ jobs will be used as topics. Participants will role play and receive feedback. This will involve role playing teleconferences in locations that are actually geographically remote, so participants can certainly expect to improve their skills.
Participants will also receive a “training report” once the training is complete. These training reports include such information as the participant’s results and advice for future improvement, and the course handbook can even be of use even after training is over.