Pillar · For Organisations
Why language training doesn't fix executive communication
This is for you if…
- Your international staff have strong English but don't carry the room.
- You've funded business English courses and seen little change in how senior people respond to them.
- Feedback on high performers mentions 'presence' or 'impact', but nobody can say what to fix.
Organisations often treat communication difficulties in international staff as a language problem. Someone sounds hesitant, so they are booked onto a business English course. Their grammar improves. Their vocabulary grows. And in the next executive meeting, they still lose the room. The reason is simple: by the time someone is senior, their English is rarely what's holding them back.
Language proficiency and executive communication are different skills
Language proficiency is about accuracy and range: can you say what you mean correctly? Executive communication is about effect: does the room hear your expertise, trust your judgement and act on it? A C1 speaker can be highly proficient and still bury the recommendation, hedge every claim and lose authority under interruption. Equally, a speaker with the occasional grammatical slip can be compelling.
What actually goes wrong under pressure
- Structure collapses. The point arrives last, after the background, the method and the caveats.
- Hedging multiplies. 'Maybe', 'I think', 'it could be' accumulate until the recommendation sounds optional.
- Register slips. Too deferential with senior stakeholders, too blunt in writing, too informal with clients.
- Spontaneity drops. Prepared remarks are strong; the follow-up question exposes the gap.
- Precision fades. Approximate vocabulary makes deep expertise sound general.
Why more English doesn't fix it
General language training adds range. But under pressure, people don't reach for their full range; they fall back on what feels safest, which is usually longer, softer and less direct. The fix is a small set of structures and executive phrases rehearsed until they hold under pressure, applied to the meetings the person actually has.
What works instead
- Diagnosis of the real cause for each person: structure, register, delivery, spontaneity or persuasion.
- Structures for recurring high-stakes situations: updates, recommendations, disagreement, questions you can't fully answer.
- Language upgrades chosen for the person's role and sector, not a generic vocabulary list.
- Realistic rehearsal with feedback, between sessions as well as in them.
- A before-and-after view of what changed.
What this means for L&D
If your international high performers have strong English, stop buying more English. Buy diagnosis, structure and rehearsal, and ask for evidence of change. Language support still has a place for people who genuinely need it; it is simply a different intervention from executive communication.
How I work with organisations
I work with international teams on exactly this distinction: language that matches their expertise, so the room hears what they actually know. See programmes for organisations or read how to measure communication training.
Frequently asked questions
- Isn't this just business English?
- No. Business English builds language for work. Executive communication works on structure, register, delivery and influence in senior situations, and assumes the language is already strong.
- Who is it for?
- International professionals at around C1 level and above who are senior, or about to be, and need to be heard at that level.
- Does it replace language training?
- For people whose English is already strong, yes. For people still building proficiency, language training comes first.
You don't need more English. You need language and delivery that match your expertise.
Your next step
Ready to improve how you're perceived at work?
Take this further in private 1:1 coaching with Darcy — or explore the programmes built around the work you actually do.
More notes like this.
Occasional, considered notes from Darcy on executive communication. First name and email only.