Services Overview

If your organization has attracted top talent from around the globe, you may be looking to support them with impactful communication skills training. Gandy is ready to help, with six well-targeted business English courses to hone workplace speaking and writing skills. These courses are designed to refine the business communication skills of employees with a good command of English as a second language.

Is clear pronunciation a challenge for some of your team members? Gandy has a course for that. Do your technical professionals need stronger interpersonal and intercultural skills for teamwork and customer contact? Would you like email messages to be more succinct? Do you wish for more clarity in project updates? Would you like meetings to run more efficiently? Have you identified high performers who face communication barriers in their career advancement? Gandy’s business English courses answer all these needs.

Far beyond generic workplace communication training, Gandy’s business English courses address the unique requirements of your newcomer talent. Imagine a presentation skills course where participants also receive expert guidance in clear pronunciation and cultural styles. Consider the value of a business writing course that also troubleshoots English grammar and business vocabulary. Each Gandy course interweaves business communication skills with English language development and intercultural awareness—a synergistic combination that results in true transformation for participants.

Although Gandy’s program was originally designed for professionals who speak English as a second language, our clients urged us to offer our powerful courses across their organization, including their Canadian-born employees. Four Gandy courses have crossed over, meaning your whole team or organization can enjoy Gandy’s training. If you are looking to strengthen skills in business writing, presentations, meetings, or leadership communication, Gandy has a course to suit your needs.

What makes Gandy’s courses different? Clients describe them as “practical and tactical”, equipping participants with the speaking and writing skills required in their role at work. We infuse the learning with communication tactics and phrases employees can use to navigate their real-life workplace communication scenarios. For example, participants in Gandy’s Language for Leadership course learn 12 tactics for the Art of Persuasion and then practise using persuasive phrases in various workplace scenarios. Whether your priority is business writing, presentation skills, meeting skills, or leadership communication, Gandy has a course to suit your whole organization.

Employees functioning in culturally diverse work teams particularly appreciate the added benefit of Gandy’s intercultural expertise. Discussions in Gandy’s multicultural classrooms are rich and deep, providing a safe space to demystify culturally based differences around styles of teamwork, customer service, and leadership. Layering intercultural awareness over participants’ workplace scenarios, communication tactics, and business language skills brings powerful learning to your culturally diverse workplace.

One excellent way to engage in Gandy’s communication training is in a small group along with others from your organization. Colleagues study together over an extended timeframe, typically ten weekly two-hour sessions. Each week, participants learn new skills; apply them immediately on the job; and reflect on the outcomes in the next session. These weekly learn-apply-reflect loops take the learning deeper.

At Gandy, we like to keep group sizes small, typically 5 to 10 participants. This gives each participant plenty of opportunities to practise new communication skills and to receive feedback from their peers and the instructor. This small group format also simulates a workplace meeting, providing an ideal setting for honing work-related interpersonal communication, including rapport building, turn taking, and active listening.

Gandy’s group training within your organization strengthens your employees’ work relationships and connections. The mutual support established in our collaborative learning environment carries over into the workplace, enhancing teamwork, engagement, and retention.

Because your Gandy classes include only members of your own organization, learners interact in a confidential setting where they can explore their real-life work scenarios. As participants discuss, role play, and problem-solve role-related communication dilemmas with their classmates, they find the sector-specific focus very beneficial. The result is learning that is highly applicable and impactful.

Executives, leaders, and busy employees appreciate the flexibility and focus of one-to-one coaching. Sessions are scheduled to suit the individual, most often in a series of weekly 60-minute video meetings or in 90-minute in-person sessions at the person’s work location.

Together, the communication coach and coachee map out the objectives and topics to be addressed within a specific timeframe, typically ten weeks or longer. The individual chooses whether to focus on one specific skill area—such as effective writing, pronunciation, presentation skills, meeting skills, or leadership communication—or to pursue a multi-faceted approach. Drawing from Gandy’s curricula and additional resources and expertise, the coach provides a customized communication development experience that evolves as the coaching unfolds.

Senior leaders and executives who speak English as a second language particularly value ongoing support from a Gandy Associates communication coach. Meeting weekly or bi-weekly provides a confidential, supportive environment for exploring the nuances and challenges of intercultural communication and leadership in a culturally diverse setting.

Gandy’s long track record of strong learning outcomes for both online and in-person training means it’s your choice to decide which delivery method works best for your organization at any given time.

Online training saves time and eliminates travel burdens for participants who are based in different geographical locations. During pandemic conditions, the online option means your Gandy training can continue uninterrupted. Gandy’s online learning uses your preferred video-meeting platform—such as Zoom, MS Teams, or Webex—adhering to the security and privacy protocols you specify. Dispelling any concerns about ‘Zoom fatigue’, Gandy’s online learning is lively, energizing, and engaging. Participants are surprised at how fast the time has flown.

In-person training brings the participants and instructor together in a boardroom or meeting room at your worksite. Colleagues appreciate the camaraderie of their weekly in-person sessions where they can engage in learning as they interact around the table. Similar to Gandy’s online training, participants enjoy learning in groups of 5 to 10, with vibrant discussions, communication practice, and feedback from their peers and instructor.