Christophe Ferrandou, of goFLUENT.

goFLUENT has won a Brandon Hall Bronze Award in the ‘Best Use of Blended Learning’ category. Christophe Ferrandou, CEO of the goFLUENT group believes that prestigious awards like these are rarely given to European training providers – and even more so to those in the field of English language training. Receiving this award demonstrates goFLUENT’s position as a global leader within the market, he said, and added: “Companies are looking for providers that are capable of helping them at a global level, to reduce the number of suppliers and improve their ability to measure return on investment.”

goFLUENT won the Brandon Hall award for its work in improving the English communication skills among the worldwide workforce employed by a global organisation which is based in the USA and operates in 21 countries around the world. In collaboration with that organisation’s HR professionals, goFLUENT developed a training solution in learning English that comprises:

• An e-learning platform – with customised content, in the form of videos, articles and quizzes
• Courses delivered via 30 minute telephone sessions – with a live, native English-speaking trainer to help train the learner’s ear to make English conversation more natural
• Online written coaching – with feedback from a live, native English-speaking trainer

Christophe Ferrandou said: “The resulting high levels of learner commitment, motivation and participation – revealed through various measurements – speak volumes about the quality and effectiveness of goFLUENT’s personalised training. The e-learning platform, customised content, written coaching and telephone lessons combine to provide a consistent and efficient learning experience. Across Europe, the organisation’s staff’s overall standards of English have improved by 20%. In some countries, employees’ level improvement average, after 34 hours of lessons, is as high as 44% – which is the difference between all six levels of English proficiency, from absolute beginner to complete fluency in the language.”

In addition, goFLUENT provides the organisation’s HR directors with tools to track their employees’ progress, ensuring an easy and effective way to monitor the return on investment. Moreover, these HR professionals can also make use of goFLUENT’s products to perform level diagnostics during the recruitment process and when considering an employee for promotion.

Comment: What’s significant about this is not so much that goFLUENT has won an award but that, increasingly, the ability to speak English is the criterion for being able to do business successfully around the world and being promoted within your company.

goFLUENT works with a number of global companies to teach English to their non-native English speakers. Not only does it help these people improve their sales and overall business performance, but you can’t be promoted in these companies unless you speak English (the company’s language of choice).

So – rather like the glass ceiling in gender/ diversity terms – the ability to speak English is another barrier to promotion, in global companies at least. goFLUENT, along with its competitors, is making progress in shattering this particular linguistic rather than gender-dependent glass ceiling.