Shivalatha Sivasundaram, a distinguished Corporate Trainer and Communications Strategist with nearly two decades of Corporate experience, brings a distinctive training approach to the forefront. Proficient in English, Tamil and Sinhala, she transcends language barriers, emphasizing organic social media growth and optimizing profiles. Shivalatha’s expertise lies in nurturing effective communication strategies, ensuring that her training remains pertinent in the ever-evolving business landscape.
As a communication strategist with 20 years of corporate experience, can you elaborate on your career journey and approach to corporate training and how your multifaceted background has influenced your training style?
Over two decades, my journey has woven through the realms of corporate banking, marketing, and strategic relationship management. This diverse journey, steeped in both international and local financial expertise, profoundly influences my training philosophy. Drawing from extensive experience within financial institutions to deeply understand diverse corporate dynamics, I infuse adaptability and creativity into sessions, fostering personal growth and elevating organizational productivity.
My tenure in banking roles provided first-hand exposure to varied client interactions, enriching my approach to client relations training. Insights across sectors and clients create a nuanced perspective on adapting training solutions for different organizational levels. This adaptability keeps my insights relevant across an enterprise, from front-line personnel to senior management.
How does your expertise in three languages uniquely enhance corporate training? Specifically, how do you leverage language diversity to drive effective communication for both personal development and organizational productivity?
My trilingual journey, beginning 30 years ago since my academic years, shaped my path as a trainer. Fluency in English, Sinhala, and Tamil is crucial in Sri Lanka’s corporate world from my perspective, and I bridge this gap, enabling seamless communication. Multilingual delivery fosters inclusive learning, enhancing collaboration and comprehension. I personalize sessions, switching languages if needed, fostering better understanding and inclusivity. Conducting sessions in native languages boosts confidence and involvement, closing language gaps that might hinder team dynamics.
For instance, addressing the gap where sales and customer service teams forego business opportunities due to limited Tamil language skills significantly enhances customer relationship management. My role is to close this language barrier, enabling smoother and more impactful connections with clients. Therefore, one of my hallmark training modules revolves around coaching professionals in spoken Tamil, even if they are absolute beginners.
Your scope of corporate training programmes covers various areas, from professional communication to digital marketing. In today’s rapidly evolving business landscape, how do you ensure that your training programmes remain relevant to the modern corporate world, and what is the key to staying ahead in your field?
Continuous evolution is vital to relevance in the ever-changing corporate context. I stay ahead by diligently integrating new trends and methods into my training sessions. Digital marketing programmes give learners the newest tools to manage the digital world. The combination of corporate banking, strategic relationship management, and diverse language skills makes my training offerings relevant to modern corporate needs.
Programme offerings like Professional Communication and Presentation Skills or Digital Marketing and Personal Branding facilitate skill enhancement that translates into organizational growth. By connecting training programmes with industry needs and leveraging my multilingual skills, I aim to encourage individuals to reach their full potential and boost organizational success.
My signature programme, “Classroom to Boardroom,” which targets young executives who are just entering the corporate world, develops crucial life skills and communication techniques, covering business communication, life skills, financial management, and relationship management, offering a holistic approach to personal and professional success.
Let’s consider tailor-made training programmes and innovative approaches to address specific problems. Can you give us an example of a successful training programme that had a significant impact?
One of the defining aspects of my training approach is customization. Tailor-made programmes serve as problem-solving tools, delving into vital oral and written communication essentials. Simultaneously, my comprehensive business etiquette programme covers crucial etiquette essentials for business settings, such as telephone etiquette, meeting etiquette, presentation and public speaking etiquette, and fine dining etiquette. Participants gain proficiency in diverse corporate scenarios, empowering individuals by offering them practical tools to excel in the competitive business landscape.
I specialize in providing customized training on organic social media growth, especially LinkedIn profile improvement to maximize KPIs with limited resources. As an example, I have significantly improved on-the-job productivity by training sales professionals in digital marketing, emphasizing organic sales over traditional cold calls. They shifted focus to leveraging platforms like LinkedIn, mastering the art of creating engaging profiles, generating leads, and fostering trust. The success stories validate the continued effectiveness of this approach up to the present day.