Last year, we put together a list of 10 common American sport idioms that were well-received by our clients and readers. Since the blog post was so popular, we wanted to share even more more commonly used sport …
Germans generally speak good business English. A worldwide study published by Harvard Business review ranked Germany 14th for English workforce proficiency (or “high” and with a score of 60.2 out of 100).
This month’s Secret L&D manager is German, and works for a global telecommunications organization. We asked him, “What questions do you ask potential training providers when they first approach you?”
Whether you are presenting, telling a story or just talking, how you use hands (or don’t use them) is important. An analysis of TED talks found that the most popular TED talkers were using 465 hand gestures over 18 minutes – compared to the least popular using just 272.
Studies have shown that people are more likely to respond to emails written in a simple, straightforward manner than to emails with more complex language. In fact, emails written at a 3rd grade level have been shown to have the highest response rate!
This month’s Secret L&D manager is Australian, based in Germany and works for an American corporation which produces machine vision systems and software. He has worked in training and development for over 18 years …
I recently delivered a two-day Presenting with IMPACT course for a group of highly-talented professionals, all of whom came from different countries and had different job functions. Their levels of English varied slightly, as did their age, work experience and confidence.
Whether you have English training at your companies or private training out of work, you probably know that to really improve your business English you need to take responsibility and control of your learning.
Working within a central purchasing and logistics business unit, negotiation is a word that one cannot escape. Most of my participants have dealings with suppliers within Germany, though some negotiate with suppliers worldwide.
I love the flexibility and autonomy of working virtually. There are a lot of advantages and it fits my lifestyle. This way of working is becoming the norm for many professionals and with it come challenges.
Training, whether it be Business English, soft skill or leadership programs, is most successful when there is buy-in across the board. HR and L&D are important, but it is the buy-in from operational and line managers that makes a real difference.
Life is about continuously learning. We sometimes learn from our mistakes, and we can also learn from our successes. This was first brought to my attention early on in my career. After the successful completion of a tough project …
How good is your business English? B1? C2? These terms didn’t mean much to most of us ten years ago or so, but today the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) is an international standard for describing language ability.
Sports are an important part of many cultures, and that is especially true in the United States. Every year, billions of dollars are spent on tickets and merchandise and millions of fans attend events all over country.
You’ve got visitors coming over to your factory and you need to show them around. Maybe you’ve done that a thousand times, but never in English. Maybe you’ve never done it at all. When you’re planning the tour, think about what makes a tour really good.
Internal training is often done via presentations and companies often use an internal “expert” to deliver training to other members of staff. Slide after slide appears on the screen and by the end, there’s a handout with the most important points and perhaps a summary.
In a recent young managers program the “eureka” moment came when, following a young manager’s “Maybe I’m not cut out for this job” statement, I shared the “Conscious Competence model”.
When we help our clients set up a Blended Learning program, or when we train trainers on this topic, we advise them to plan and evaluate the outcome of the solution. The below questions will help you get started.
The most fundamental aspects of negotiation strategy are Creating and Claiming Value. In a negotiation, all parties involved must decide to be competitive, cooperative, or a combination of both. David Lax and James Sebenius called it the Negotiator’s dilemma: Lax and Sebenius argue that negotiation necessarily includes both cooperative and competitive elements, and that these elements […]
Unproductive meetings are a waste of everyone’s time. There’s a lot of research on exactly how effective meetings really are – and regardless of country or industry it all leads to the same miserable conclusion. In a nutshell: There’s room for improvement. This might be a well-known fact by now, but it’s worth repeating: 47% […]
