Your confidence in speaking English will impact the way your team speaks English and the type of opportunities they pursue. A manager who lacks confidence in their English language skills can have a negative impact on the team’s level of and willingness to speak English. If team members sense the manager’s insecurity, they may hesitate to speak English well to avoid making the manager feel uncomfortable.
Even worse, a manager’s uncertainty about their English proficiency may lead them to avoid professional situations that require a good command of the language. This sends signals to the team: English is not encouraged here, and professional opportunities in German (or other languages) are encouraged while professional opportunities to communicate in English are consciously or unconsciously avoided. This results in the untold loss of opportunity that proficiency in English facilitates.
To break this cycle and thrive as a manager, it is crucial to take advantage of business English courses. Tailored business English courses for managers and teams offer the opportunity to enhance language skills across an organisation and boost everyone’s confidence in international business environments.
By elevating your business English to a higher level, you can seize professional opportunities on a global scale and position yourself as a competent and confident manager heading successful teams.