C is for Creating Common Ground

Many organisations assume that improving English will improve communication.

Sometimes it does. More often, however, the real challenge lies elsewhere.

When English becomes the shared language, success depends on much more than vocabulary, grammar or pronunciation. It depends on creating common ground across languages and cultures.

Creating common ground means ensuring that ideas, intentions and relationships are understood as they were intended. It means making space for different perspectives, asking better questions, checking assumptions and communicating in ways that allow everyone to participate with confidence.

Language remains an essential part of that process, but it is only one part. Context, culture, perception and our willingness to understand one another are equally important.

Perhaps that is why organisations are rarely looking for "more English". They are looking for stronger communication, better collaboration, greater trust and more effective international working relationships.

That is the work that interests me most: helping organisations turn English into a language of connection rather than a source of friction.

What creates the greatest communication friction in your organisation when English is the shared language?