BC

Case Study 1
A French executive frequently had to give presentations to senior executives in his company. Problem: His English was excellent, but because of his heavy French accent, he was often misunderstood. He used gestures that made him look wildly excited and distracted listeners from what he was saying. Furthermore, his presentations had many busy tables, and his messages were confusing and unclear resulting in twelve to eighteen bullet points per slide instead of the six to eight that people can absorb. He relied on his PowerPoint to do the presentation for him instead of speaking freely and persuasively. Solution: We video taped several of his presentations. When he saw and heard himself on film, he realized he had to contain his movements while he was presenting, and, he also realized that he had quite a heavy accent. By analyzing the materials and vocabulary which he used in presentations and in informal speeches, he was able to practice the correct intonation of his most frequently used phrases. He also worked on keeping his hands to his sides and keeping movements to a minimum. And, he remembered to smile. We identified the main messages he wanted to focus on and organized his presentations so that he had plenty of time to practice before his talk was due. Results: He was very satisfied with what he and learned and how much he had changed his speech in quite a short time. It gave him more self confidence and he was able to concentrate more on what he said than worry about how he sounded. He learned to outline his speeches and presentations before writing them in PowerPoint and now, he not only sounded clearer and more organized, but it also took him a lot less time to prepare. He learned to use PPT as a tool and not as a substitue. Currently we are working on his giving speeches without the help of his computer, he talks with just a few overheads that show the tables to which he refers and he speaks freely the rest of the time.

Case Study 2
A German junior executive was unaware that he was making his team angry by seeming to be better than they were. They also saw him as self aggrandizing and aggressive.

Problem: He was up for a promotion, but no one wanted to work with him. We had to identify what words and what attitudes were annoying people and why. Solution: He studied books (Carnegie, Covey) which talked about the ways people express themselves here in the US and what kind of vocabulary works. For instance, instead of saying you are wrong he found it more effective to say what I think I heard you say is. I dont know if I agree with you on that, can you explain more? (see the article Dos and Donts in Corporate Meetings). We did role playing, going through hypothetical situations, and he practiced using the newly acquired vocabulary which he chose in order to not antagonize anybody yet still reflect his ideas, and get the results he wanted. Results: He was promoted, and the training carried over to his personal and social life, where he was able to apply his new way of speaking very successfully. He felt much better about himself and he was happier with the way he fit into his surroundings.

Case Study 3
A Korean engineer had problems being understood and expressing himself about his job in English. Problem: It took his team too much of an effort to work with him when they had software problems. His fellow employees tried to skip meeting with him because they felt they lost too much time every time they had to meet with him. Therefore, he was out of the picture very often and missed key pieces of information. Solution: Intense language/ESL lessons several times a week, with a strong emphasis on foreign accent reduction. Results: He had much more confidence speaking and the others could understand him better. However, it is something he will have to continue to work on. When he had to stop the training after 2 months, he was by no means where he could have been with more training and practice. However, we were contacted to work with him again.

Case Study 4
A higher executive from New York, who was being groomed to be the next CEO, had a strong New York accent. Problem: He was perceived as uneducated here in California, even though he was very smart and had an MS degree. Solution: First, we video taped him so he could see how he sounded. This was the first time he became aware that he sounded drastically different than the people around him. To make matters worse, he worked with an Asian company whoes executives came to hear the state of the company speech twice a year, and they always had to pay special attention when he spoke. Next, we identified the major problematic words and sounds that he had to change in order to sound better. We did his language training by his writing presentations for the company (which he had to produce anyway) and then taped him on a tape recorderd and also video taped him giving them. Results: The results were mixed. When he put his mind to it, he sounded educated and well spoken, there was barely a trace of his New York accent audible. But, since he wasnt convinced that the change was necessary and he put in the extra work into his job because of the economic downturn of his company. He didnt practice enough for effective language changes to take place and for his presentation skills to improve significantly. However, he did sound much better than when we first started and can continue to improve when he finds the time.

Case Study 5
An Indian marketing executive from a start-up company recently came to us because he gave many webinars and his audience wasnt responding well. Problem: He spoke too fast and didnt leave pauses between his words, so that his English was very hard to understand. Solution:

He became much more conscious of his speech patterns once we videotaped him and analyzed how he sounded. We made a list of the words he uses in his sales pitches and presentations and laid them out phonetically for him to practice during work hours, especially on the phone. He kept a sign next to the phone that said slow down and made sure that he followed through with every call he made. Results: We are still working together (June 2003), therefore it is too early to talk about permanent results however, he sounds better and more understandable when he makes a real effort to talk slowly and to say all the consonants at the beginnings and ends of the words. We are scheduled to work together for another month, and well reassess his progress then.