Katie Schwartz, CCC-SLP is the director of Business Speech Improvement, located in Durham, NC (USA). She is a pioneer in the field of corporate speech pathology and the author of 3 books. These include Talking on the Job (out of print), Sound Stories for Adults and Alternative Career Options for Speech-Language Pathologists. Schwartz offers virtual coaching in public speaking, American English pronunciation improvement, communication techniques for leadership and conversational skills.
It’s very expensive to recruit, hire and train a new employee. The exact Return on Investment (ROI) depends on the industry, the position, and your location. This year, as so many people have quit their jobs, employers are very concerned about employee engagement and employee retention.
One action some employers are taking is asking employees about how they are doing in their work, and what they need to be more effective. For example, they may be giving employees the heavily researched Gallup Q12 Survey. They are acting on the results to help employees be more involved and happier.
Imaginethat literally overnight, everyone in your profession all over the world was told that your work would have to be done very differently, totally online, starting the next day. No-one had preparation, many of the recipients of your work did not have devices, and many were traumatized by the change.In addition, many of the professionals, who were to be working from home, also were trying to deal with their family’s needs.
Welcome to the world of education today, where teachers, support personnel and administrators are creatively trying in new ways to meet the needs of so many.
Some of us have extra-sharp hearing, and others begin to lose their hearing at different times. For the first time in history, 20% of those in their late teens and early 20’s are reporting signs of a hearing loss – a problem that will cause major challenges for commerce and industry. (One cause for this is loud music played through earbuds for too long.) Presbycusis, hearing loss caused by age, is another challenge, and often starts in the late 50’s or early 60’s. By age 65, one third of Americans experience this problem. There are simple, practical strategies that can help. Here are three taken from the e-book, “What did you say?”
If you are a mono-lingual American, it can be helpful to know how native speakers of other languages often pronounce English, so you can understand them more easily. China is a huge country, and Mandarin is spoken differently in various parts of China. For some people, Mandarin is actually their second language, not their first. People in India speak somewhere between 780 and 1683 different languages, although reportedly only 21 are officially recognized.
Have you ever had difficulty understanding someone’s pronunciation, even if he or she knows how to speak English? It can be very frustrating for both the speaker and the listener.
