London © 2015 Designing Futures

Designing Communication

Blending effective professional communication practices

with exceptional client care

Different choices; different outcomes

Generic Competence


“the ability to respond to recurrent and novel rhetorical situations by constructing, interpreting, using and often exploiting generic conventions embedded in specific disciplinary cultures and practices to achieve professional ends.”

- V. K. Bhatia (2004)

'professional expertise'  combines disciplinary knowledge, professional practice and 'discursive competence'

Client Care and Professional Communication

implications for vocational and professional adult education and training

Research Seven Social Stages Short Exemplar Long Exemplar Presentation

Education, Learning and Development


The domains of professional services, and the aspirational client care of other industries, are a growing market, situated locally and globally.

The linguistic framing of a client in reference to pertinent features of a situation, a professional's specialist representation of that situation, and the relationship established between client and professional are decisive factors in problem resolution. Communicative features which may contribute to poor client care include uncertainty and lack of clarity regarding agency, action and risk as well as an inexplicit sense of rudeness. At a time of increasing pressure on education and training to groom learners in readiness for a highly competitive economy, and poststructuralist blending of the delineation between academic, professional and vocational specialisation, appropriate client care and prompt problem identification and resolution remain at the heart of quality formation in any career.