We tackle conversation challenges, in real life
speech IRL is a communication and diversity consulting firm. Staffed entirely by clinically-certified speech-language pathologists, we bring evidence-based methods from clinical science, behavioral psychology, and counseling to the board room. We help clients tackle challenging conversations and company dynamics that rarely have easy solutions. We don't claim to have the answers. Rather, we use our broad-based expertise to equip clients with communication tools, frameworks, and language so that they can navigate business and personnel issues with confidence, consistency, and resilience.
Focus
Portfolio
We've worked with firms with 30 employees and firms with over 3,000 employees. Our favorite clients are those who are passionate about equitable, empathetic approaches to business leadership, but need help filling in a skills gap.
Reviews
the project
Communication & Culture Workshops for Software Co.
"It couldn't have been a better collaboration. Speech IRL shaped these workshops in a very creative way."
the reviewer
the review
The client submitted this review online.
Please describe your company and your position there.
I’m the director of talent at Table XI, a trusted UX and design software company.
For what projects/services did your company hire speech IRL?
We hired speech IRL to run three workshops on communication, specifically communication styles and feedback.
What were your goals for this project?
We wanted to become more informed about our individual communication styles. Our goals included learning to be more inclusive with our professional communication, learning to give and receive feedback well, and ultimately to leverage our diverse styles to improve the quality of our work and our connection to each other.
How did you select this vendor?
We’d worked with speech IRL before, both for workshops as well as individual coaching.
Describe the project in detail.
speech IRL worked with us to co-create a series of three workshops that were held two weeks apart. With participation from everyone in our company, the workshops had both a presentation and an interactive component. speech IRL split participants into small groups to practice the communication techniques being described. They accommodated our remote staff by having them form their own remote breakout session. speech IRL provided us information on how to practice in between sessions, with follow-through from our career mentors.
What was the team composition?
Their team was comprised of a project lead and one other person.
Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?
We had great feedback from each of the workshops. speech IRL used the feedback to help shape and adjust the workshops as we went along. Our work in these workshops launched a whole new series of workshops with clients and with our community, as well as increased our engagement in a discussion about inclusive communication at the company. Our company culture has shifted. We’ve adopted new criteria around self-evaluations and candidate evaluations, and increased peer feedback.
How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?
It couldn't have been a better collaboration. Speech IRL shaped these workshops in a very creative way. It was exciting to create something both custom and widely applicable.
What did you find most impressive about this company?
speech IRL is unique in being able to bridge deep expertise in individual speech therapy with organizational behavior and culture.
Are there any areas for improvement?
In hindsight, the before / after survey was not as useful as it could have been. That said, the individual and cultural improvements were both material and sustainable. We were being agile in our approach, so we had less of a handle on what to measure.
Inclusive communication and peer feedback has increased markedly since the engagement began. speech IRL's expertise and understanding of organizational behavior helped them shape and adjust the workshops through the process. They also offered useful tactical advice that was subsequently implemented.