Effective communication and cross-cultural competence, being able to communicate and interact with individuals from diverse linguistic and cultural backgrounds, are necessary for a successful operation of a modern organization. Around the world, the workplace is often the most culturally diverse setting an individual will experience. Whether inside an organization among the employees, or outside of it when interacting with customers, clients, or business partners, people differ in the way they think, speak, communicate, and interact. This diversity can be of tremendous advantage to organizations, yet to benefit from it, employees must know how to effectively interact and communicate with others who might be different from them.
The PARLEZ Consulting Services are geared toward organizations, both for- and non-profit, with culturally and linguistically diverse workforces. We design custom training workshops (1, 2, 4, or 8 hours) which focus on effective communication between native and non-native English speakers, across languages, accents, and cultural differences. We provide the knowledge and tools necessary to take the fullest advantage of diversity based on the latest scientific findings and recommendations of experts. In addition to the workshop, a combination of assessments, reports, and recommendations, can be utilized to further improve communicative effectiveness of the workforce.
PARLEZ Consulting Services: Training Workshops
Our workshops are designed using scientific findings to improve communicative effectiveness and cultural communicative competence inside and outside of an organization. The workshops are tailored to the specific organization’s situation and needs, but focus on addressing communicative and cultural issues arising during interactions between native and non-native speakers. They are designed to be administered independently as a part of diversity and/or communication training. However, they can also follow the assessment and reports/recommendations phase, as a part of future actions.
PARLEZ Consulting Services: Assessments
The Communicative Effectiveness and Competence Assessment (CECA) identifies areas of strengths and weaknesses in the organization’s three spheres of native–non-native communication: individual, internal, and external. It includes a survey and a focus group that identify specific issues related to communication across languages, accents, and cultures. Additional tools of assessments may be employed or designed to identify specific communication and cultural areas that are challenging to an organization.
PARLEZ Consulting Services: Reports and Recommendations
Reports based on the Communicative Effectiveness and Competence Assessment (CECA) can include personalized feedback to individuals, summary, and details on the internal and/or external communicative effectiveness and competence. Based on the reports and additional assessments, detailed and structured recommendations for future actions are provided.
Credentials
I obtained a BA in psychology (magna cum laude) and history from Cornell University, where I conducted undergraduate research on cross-cultural differences in decision-making. My graduate school research focused on stigma, prejudice, and intergroup relations in the United States and Europe. My master’s thesis (MS) project at Yale University assessed what types of learning settings minority and disadvantaged students found more preferable and effective. I received a PhD from Yale University in social psychology. My interdisciplinary dissertation research combined theories and findings from the fields of social psychology, communication, applied linguistics, and sociolinguistics to examine stigmatization among non-native English speakers in the United States.
I have extensive training and experience in survey design, qualitative and quantitative data collection, analysis, and interpretation. I have taught and led workshops and focus groups. I am skilled in conducting interviews with individuals from a variety of cultural and language backgrounds.
In 2007, I joined Organizational Design and Development Associates (ODDA), a management consulting company, where currently I am an Associate. I have also taken business and consulting courses.
Throughout my education, I have obtained leadership and administrative experiences, and I have been awarded several awards and grants. In my spare time, I enjoy the outdoors, hiking, and jogging, nature and landscape photography. I also like to read and to write nonfiction.
Contact
If you would like more information about the consulting services or have any questions, please contact me at agluszek@humanaccents.com.
