The Global eLearning 2021 Thought Leader Series provides you discussions from industry experts and thought leaders from around the globe who are shaping the future of Learning & Development content for a global audience. The series is hosted by Gary Schulties and Matt Patterson of Global eLearning. On May 18, Ray Walsh, a global communications leader, discussed communication challenges and solutions for a global workforce and community.

Discussion

The first speaker in the 2021 Thought Leader Series is Ray Walsh. Ray is a consultant of internal communications and localization. His discussion offers insight into how critical it is for internal communication and localization to overlap to create solutions for a global workforce. Doing internal communications in several different languages can be challenging and expensive for companies to do. In addition, creating specialized content for each country or language causes repetition in processes. Ray Walsh explains how he researched content operations to develop a consistent and easy-to-use approach across different professions like marketing, learning & development, and human resources.

Internal Communications and Learning & Development

Global eLearning does translation and localization of documents and multimedia for companies with offices in many different countries. We work closely with our international clients to ensure their documents and multimedia are localized to the company’s voice. This process eliminates the burden of global companies trying to translate content for their staff and offers a chance to do business in multiple languages. Corporate offices do not always see the challenge imposed on local companies to translate training and documents for their staff. An office needs to be able to review quality content quickly. Sometimes products and services are not available in specific countries. Therefore, any training or document that includes a review of those unavailable products can confuse employees. The crossover of internal communications and learning & development helps ensure global companies can efficiently and adequately train their staff based on the relevance of the local market.

Language Review

Companies face several risks if they communicate with employees only in English. Often strategies are executed in different ways based on the country they are located in. Source content may need to be adjusted or amended before localizing it for the company. For example, in professional services, Germany is focused on the automotive industry, and Ireland is focused on the pharmaceutical industry. How they sell and who they sell to is quite different than in the United States. Global companies should ensure the content is appropriate for the local area. Having a language reviewer within a worldwide company ensures consistency. It is also important to understand global cultural differences.

Through the 2021 Global eLearning Thought Leader Series with Ray Walsh, we bring you thoughtful conversations surrounding the dramatically changing world of eLearning, Learning & Development, and the technologies that further enhance these initiatives. Ray Walsh is especially interested in researching how internal content plays globally to find solutions for a global workforce. To learn more about the concept of content operations, you can visit Ray Walsh’s website or Visit the YouTube Channel for the entire Thought Leader Series. For more details, contact Global eLearning.