Love them or hate them, emails are part of working life. We have probably all dreaded the moment we return from our holiday because we knew we were facing a mountain of emails. Or maybe we have a colleague who has a gift for writing emails that seems like coded messages – except that you […]
Originally published on 10.02.2014 1. Congratulate them (when appropriate) Congratulations on… Well done…. I hear congratulations are in order. 2. Tell them you’ve enjoyed working with them / that you’re going to miss them It’s been great / nice / a pleasure working with you. We’re going to miss you around here. The place won’t […]
What do you say when you wish a colleague a happy birthday? In the modern business world, we have contact with a lot of people on a day-to-day basis. We all have one thing in common: birthdays! Wishing a colleague a happy birthday is a great opportunity to strengthen your relationship with them. Regardless of […]
Do you ever feel your meetings have gone off track? You’re in a meeting to talk about one thing, but someone is talking about something completely different, someone else is discussing an unimportant point, and others are debating something completely irrelevant – the whole meeting has gone off track! When this happens, it’s hard to […]
Originally published on 25.03.2013 I know enough people at my company. I have enough friends. I’m not comfortable speaking and reaching out to people I don’t know. I’m not a salesperson. The list of excuses on why not to engage in professional networking can go on and on. As undesirable as it can seem, networking […]
Originally published on: 05.06.2014 One of my program participants recently mentioned the workplace value of the skills of moderation and facilitation. This conversation piqued my interest, so I searched the Net for the best books about facilitation and chose one that is considered a classic text on the topic of facilitation: The Skilled Facilitator: A […]
Giving and asking for recommendations Have you ever wanted to recommend a person, their services or even a good restaurant to someone else but didn’t know how to do it? Have you ever wanted someone to recommend you to others? Maybe you have a special skill that you’d like others to know about. You might […]
Not your typical phone call Teleconferences are a great way to connect to people around the world. They’re less expensive than face-to-face meetings, often take less time, and solve problems more efficiently than emails do. Conducting a teleconference should be easy. All you have to do is connect everyone on the phone and make decisions […]
Ensure your virtual meetings are productive Virtual meetings can be tricky at times. Are they more like a telephone call or a face-to-face meeting? Well, they are a combination of both and should be treated differently. Here are some quick and easy “Dos” and “Donts” for virtual meetings. hbspt.cta.load(455190, ‘0455f399-a600-43a9-848f-986da3f8ea8e’, {}); Virtual Meeting “Dos” Ensure […]
Professional email communication is essential in business situations. However, people sometimes let their emotions get the best of them and send an email they later regret. Multiple punctuation marks, all-capital letters along with a rude and unprofessional tone are often used to show how upset the sender is. We have all received them at one […]
What are the challenges in your virtual team? Each virtual team has their own unique challenges, but there are always a few that seem to be consistently present. In this short video, Scott Levey, Director of Operations, focuses on two of the most commons challenges we see when training virtual teams. Having awareness of these, […]
Do you ever give feedback virtually? Do you give your suppliers, your clients and your co-workers effective feedback – both positive and constructive (negative)? Giving good, timely, constructive and actionable feedback is something that most of us have to put a lot of effort into. Do we praise the right things? When we give constructive […]
How are your Virtual Team meetings? More and more meetings are being held virtually. Virtual team meetings are a trend that is bound to continue as it is far cheaper than getting everyone together. But it isn’t the same, is it? Unless you use webcams, you can’t pick up on any nonverbal communication going on. […]
How is your Out of Office Message? Writing your out of office message is often the last thing you do before going on holiday or going on a business trip. Even though you might be in a rush to leave, make sure you think about the following tips to ensure that you have an accurate, informative and professional […]
How do you disagree with colleagues in meetings? You’re in an international meeting with people from all over the world and it’s time for you to agree or disagree with the solutions being offered. Unfortunately, you can only agree on one solution – so you have to disagree with someone. However, disagreeing with a colleague […]
What is your CEFR level? In Europe everyone talks about their language skills in terms of being somewhere between A1 and C2. But what does this really mean? How do you really know what level you are? Does the next person have the same understanding of what that level really means? Do you even know […]
Are you using too many presentation fillers when presenting? Have you ever given a presentation and started using words like ‘umm’, ‘erm’, ‘well’, ‘I’m not sure’, ‘maybe’, ‘how can I put this’, etc. because you didn’t know what to say or how to answer someone’s question? Have you thought about the effect this has on […]
How do you write your clarification emails? How many times have you gotten an email and asked yourself: What is this person trying to say? What do they want exactly? This has happened to all of us at some point in our jobs. Even though this situation may be unavoidable, there are ways to respond […]
What are you writing when saying goodbye in emails? We need to say goodbye a lot. It sounds like a really easy thing to do, doesn’t it? But there are different situations in which we need to write emails for saying goodbye. Do you say the same thing to the colleague who is going on […]
Do you need some ideas on expressing congratulations to colleagues? Expressing congratulations when something positive happens in the personal and professional lives of your colleagues and clients is a useful business skill. When you extend your sincere congratulations, you send the message that you care about what happens in the lives of others, even if […]
