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Can a Slice of Pizza Make a Difference? – building alignment in service industries

All owners and managers dread hearing “I’m just here for my paycheck”. It’s crucial for all establishments to have a culture that employees can relate to, and this means building a working environment where employees share your mission and vision. Large organizations may have a strong overall culture; but the specific cultures within each department […]

The alternatives to a weekly update meeting

Free Download It’s 11:00 on Monday morning and your team, spread across the world, is about to dial in to a virtual meeting. Why? To update each other on what’s been going on over the past week, and what might happen over the next few weeks. In theory this could be really interesting, useful and […]

How can you react to increasingly specific requests for training?

Download the eBook Here’s an extract from a recent initial needs analysis I carried out with a client who had booked English training for a global change management project. This is just one example of how we’ve seen that training requests for communication and soft skills are becoming more and more specific. If you work in […]

What comes first, the coffee or the meeting?

Dealing with different expectations in meetings Have you ever needed to discuss terms and conditions with international partners? You come in ready to get down to business as quickly as possible, only to discover that the others first want to have some small talk or a coffee before discussing business? You might think to yourself, […]

Working with Chinese colleagues and suppliers

Yes is one of the most simple words to understand in the English language. Or is it? Free Download Yes is generally perceived as a positive response, and when you’re asking for something in business it’s normally the answer you’re hoping for. My father thought this when he started an importing company in China. On […]

Common contract language decoded

Free Download I remember the first time I had to deal with a contract in German. I felt like I didn’t know what I was agreeing to and it made me really nervous. It seemed like the message was hidden behind complicated words which I didn’t truly understand. So when several of my participants who […]

Without boundaries – Why I believe the digital learning experience represents the future of L&D

I work for a leading global engineering company (one of the largest) extending its profitable global business over the past 150 years with offices across America, Asia, and Europe. It is recognized for its innovative, digital working environment, passion for its brand and customers and as a place where talented people are inspired and challenged […]

3 communication problems faced in meetings and 9 facilitation strategies that will solve them

Even if you’re well organized, with a clear agenda and purpose, basic communication problems can arise that can derail your meeting very quickly. If it’s your job to moderate a meeting, you need to be able to get clear decisions without wasting too much time. Below, we present a few common communication problems and basic […]

Communicating across cultures – What’s in a name?

Communicating across cultures begins with the understanding that one size does not fit all Free Download Differences in cultures, as we see so often, can lead to a host of great and small misunderstandings. Take something as simple as a name. It is entirely common in some German companies to use Mr. or Mrs, followed […]

3 questions to ask your existing training providers

I work in an organization where there’s really little rotation in our training suppliers. I’ve inherited most of them, and this means I have some specific issues. Actually I had something yesterday with a supplier.My first recommendation for questions to existing training providers would be a very open one. Just say: hbspt.cta.load(455190, ‘0377217d-6395-4d26-a5fc-d32a69e484a5’, {});   […]

Improve your business English by yourself

Free Download How can I improve my English when I’m not in the training room? I think that probably every one of my colleagues (including myself) has been asked that question more than once. The simple answer is: exposure. The more you expose yourself to the language you are learning (through films, conversations, books, apps, […]