How to run an English language proficiency audit in your team

When you invest in English language training for your team, you want to make sure that your team is learning at the level that is right for them. Doing so means they develop their English language proficiency faster and more effectively.

But how do you know what level your team is at to begin with?

A language skills audit reviews how your teams are learning English, their strengths and weaknesses and how those results align with your business goals.

Follow these steps to conduct an English language skills audit in your organisation.

Step 1: Define business objectives around English language proficiency

To get started, clearly outline what your business goals are in relation to your teams improving their English language proficiency.

Consider what your company’s direction is. Are you expanding into English-speaking markets? Do you want to optimise communication across international teams? Are you looking to partner with vendors overseas?

Your objectives will influence the type of audit that you conduct. For example, if internal communication is your priority, your audit could concentrate on writing emails and presenting in English. If it’s growth-focused, cultural awareness in English and industry-specific vocabulary will guide the audit.

Make sure to write and share the objectives you choose, and give them to stakeholders as soon as possible.

Step 2: Identify the people/teams to audit

Look at roles where English language proficiency directly impacts company performance and revenue generation. Customer-facing positions like sales teams, customer support and account managers are a good starting point for an audit because they require clear communication in English to secure deals and maintain client relationships.

Other departments to include could be marketing teams creating content in English and project managers working with global partners. Diverse technical teams may also be a necessary choice to prevent miscommunication that leads to costly delays.

Remember to use data to support your decision. Client feedback, project errors and reports of internal communication breakdown should inform which people and teams you pick for the audit.

Step 3: Select your method(s) of assessment

There are many ways to run an audit, and you need to ensure the one you choose gives the most accurate view of your teams’ English language proficiency.

Language tests can measure grammar, vocabulary, listening and speaking skills in a standardised manner. These tests are useful to establish individuals’ baseline English level and to compare proficiency across teams.

Self-assessment tests can highlight people’s confidence and perceived weaknesses in English. These tests can provide deeper insights into what employees need more than formal language tests.

Elsewhere, leadership assessments provide a snapshot of teams’ daily interactions, client sentiment and collaboration dynamics in English.

Choose the method of English skills assessment that makes sense for your business. Generally speaking, a mix of approaches is wise to get a more comprehensive look into teams’ skills and confidence gaps, to find the right English training to fill them.

Step 4: Communicate with staff

Before you launch the audit, it’s essential to let all staff know what you’re doing and how it will affect them.

Explain your business objectives, stressing how English language proficiency supports the business’ growth, and also individuals’ professional and personal development. Frame the audit as an investment in these journeys, not a test for disciplinary action.

Be specific about next steps. Tell the teams that are being audited what assessment methods you’re using, how long the audit will be and what will happen with the results. Mention any language assessment tools that will be available during the process.

Create open spaces for people to share thoughts and concerns. Respond with honesty and positivity.

Step 5: Analyse your results

After the audit has been completed and you have the results, it’s time to pull out the key takeaways.

Look beyond individual scores and detect important trends that most significantly affect your business objectives (from step 1). Group the results according to speaking, reading, listening and writing skills, and workplace-specific competencies (e.g. writing reports and adapting tone for different audiences). Compare these results to the job requirements for the roles that were audited to show critical gaps.

Pay attention to departmental patterns. Perhaps the sales team performed well in verbal communication but written English language proficiency was low. Maybe the technical team was strong in reading comprehension but struggled with presenting in English. By grouping results together, you can find opportunities for team-targeted training.

As you analyse the results, factor in the experience levels, educational background and native languages of the people in the audit. These characteristics may influence learning preferences that can shape the English training you offer.

Step 6: Set English training priorities

Next up, transform the results from your English analysis into a strategic training roadmap.

The first priority are areas that compromise your revenue or customer satisfaction. For example, if your sales team has difficulties with client presentations, presentation training in English brings immediate business value.

Match the training intensity to the importance of the role. Customer-facing positions will likely need more intensive training to boost English language proficiency quickly and achieve business goals faster.

When you know the areas and individuals to prioritise, use the audit results to customise training around their needs. Some people may thrive in group settings while others advance with one-on-one support.

Step 7: Create an action plan

The final step for your audit is to create an implementation plan with clear targets, milestones and accountability measures.

You might need one-on-one coaching for highly specialised roles. Maybe online courses give busy professionals flexibility to improve their English comprehension skills. Or group workshops increase teams’ confidence and meeting participation in English.

Mentoring programmes are also valuable, where employees with high English language proficiency help others with their problem areas.

Set realistic timelines for the training, noting achievements that should be met along the way. Schedule quarterly reviews to check in, adjust training if necessary and keep up momentum and motivation. And, don’t forget to have visible channels to celebrate wins.

Final thoughts

Like any business decision, you shouldn’t jump blindly into training for English language proficiency. With an audit, you’ll get deeper insights to structure and deploy your training. Moreover, you can ensure that the process is cost-effective and that the training is more successful.

After your English language proficiency audit, choose British Council for customised online language training.

Book a demo or contact us for customised training options for your team.