The Global Second Language® Approach               

“The development of these organizational processes has its origins in the experience developed through the company that I founded 18 years ago. It was devoted to workforce mobility management and the integration of managers and other professionals in non-home country environments. Working with people involved in all aspects of their company growth transitions from international to multi-national to global, we witnessed something incredible: the shift from the Information Age and Digital Revolution to today’s Knowledge Economy. Succeeding in the knowledge-based economy involves optimizing the collaborative synergy across globally dispersed centers of knowledge that lead to innovation.

“What has to happen in the knowledge-based economy? In today’s workplace, it is important to consider the essence of cultural expectations that workers have of their leaders globally: the ability to communicate effectively across multiple cultures at the same time. Communication as a leadership skill has become especially important, as the convergence of native and non-native English speakers is changing perceptions about language influence and cultural inferences. A leader must develop awareness of how he or she can utilize English as a communication tool and a means to achieve collaboration, rather than an expression of cultural heritage, history, and local contexts.

“Instead of focusing on cultural differences and regionalism, which can impede actionable communication in the workplace, global leaders must use strategies to facilitate the transfer of information, which is often hampered by the use of cultural shortcuts and cultural presumptions. Using a culturally neutral approach to communication in meetings, projects, and organizational directives leverages diversity and inclusion, thus enhancing collaborative synergy and innovation. Today’s borderless, hi-tech, multicultural workplace has to function as a Global Collaborative Business Environment.”

—Lorelei Carobolante, President & CEO, G2nd Systems®.

Cultivating a Global Mindset and Developing Effective Communication

Centralized and Regional Project Management

GSL® educational courses and project management services are unique in the workplace training industry and provide measurable performance improvements.

Measuring each course participant’s learning progress is important. For non-native English speakers, we utilize a combination of globally-recognized tests to measure individual English proficiency levels. This enables us to measure course participant’s ability to use their English proficiency as a tool to improve specific aspects of their communication in the global workplace context. For both native and non-native English speakers, we utilize our GSL communication assessments to help identify opportunities for improvement in specific workplace communication areas while supporting development of cultural intelligence.
 
Our project management capabilities support organizations in implementing global communication standards and includes use of our educational technology solutions...

In addition to direct interaction, today’s business environments depend on effective virtual communication, such as telephone conference calls, virtual meeting technology, videoconferencing, telepresence, and instant messaging technology. Thus, all of our learning programs and solutions utilize a blended approach that leverages the latest virtualization technology. G2nd Systems secure technology platforms utilize the most advanced software for virtual collaboration and delivery of our proprietary content and can be ported onto client-specific technologies.

We help organizations grow, innovate, and succeed by enhancing collaboration in today’s global business environments. To help clarify the basis of our methodology and learning objectives, it is useful to review the following two formulas, which describe personal behaviors that directly influence organizational outcomes. [For a more in depth review of the subject, please contact us to receive the “GSL® Collaborative Approach” whitepaper]

Maintaining a rigorous approach to the process of learning

G2nd Systems methodologies utilize the Three Levels of Learning: Single, Double, and Triple Loop for all of our courses and coaching programs.

• Incremental (Single-Loop) Learning promotes the learning of new skills and capabilities through incremental improvement, which involves doing something better without necessarily examining or challenging underlying beliefs and assumptions.

• Reframing (Double-Loop) Learning strives to fundamentally reshape the individual’s frame of reference. It entails a change in the underlying patterns of thinking and behavior so the individual is capable of doing different things.

• Transformational (Triple-Loop) Learning involves people shifting their context (the way they view themselves). When an individual’s thoughts and feelings (and manifested behaviors) are challenged, shifts can occur at a fundamental (contextual) level. These shifts in context (the way the individual views himself or herself) are likely to prompt a variety of feelings (depending upon the nature of the realization). Regardless of whether this change happens suddenly or gradually, it will usually be significant and lasting. Transformational Learning empowers people to transform who they are. The goal, according to Hargrove, is to help them reinvent themselves so they can see “…how their frames of reference, thinking, and behavior produce unintended consequences. This work involves encouraging people to surface and question the way they have framed their points of view about themselves, others, or their circumstances with the idea of creating a fundamental shift.” ¹

GSL® Formula for Communication Effectiveness

 

Capturing the effect that people interaction has on organizations in the global workplace is the objective of the GSL Formula for Communication Effectiveness. It connects Improved Results (“IR”) at both Organizational and Personal levels (“O,P”) to enabling positive Performance Behavioral Change (“PBC”), and demonstrates how intercultural English directly influences results.

GSL® Formula for Collaboration and Synergy

Capturing the effect of GSL English on organizational dynamics is the objective of the GSL Formula for Collaboration and Synergy. It explains the relationship between Innovation and Growth (“I,G”) at both, organizational and individual levels, with the development of Global Collaborative Business Environments (“GCBE”). We define GCBE as the culmination of efforts that globally focused organizations strive to achieve by developing collaborative synergies through all interactions across multiple cultures at the same time.

¹Robert Hargrove, The Three Levels of Learning: Single, Double, and Triple Loop, Masterful Coaching (2002).

For a more extensive review of the fundamental research and methodologies developed by G2nd Systems®, please contact us about the whitepaper “The GSL® Collaborative Approach”.