E-learning has been around since 1960 and the “virtual meeting room” is not a new idea either. Many companies already have experience with learning via online platforms or mobile learning, and already have some type of tool to meet and collaborate virtually. The jump from meeting virtually to training virtually seems simple – and it is, if you carefully consider what it will take to make the virtual training successful. Here are a few things we have learned during 7 years of virtual delivery. The posts 5 questions you definitely need to ask when you are setting up a virtual training programand getting started with virtual delivery have more information on this topic.
Work with a trainer who can design, deliver and debrief with confidence in a virtual environment
Clients come to us with the experience they have with face-to-face training. They know what they can achieve in a one-day seminar and they are looking to transfer this experience to a virtual training environment. However, not everything is directly transferable. In a face-to-face session a trainer observes, reacts and adapts on the fly. They constantly monitor what’s working, and what isn’t, what people are getting and what not etc. In a way, the trainer “feels” how the training is going. With virtual delivery, trainers have less opportunity to do that. A common response for the trainer is to focus a lot more on the content rather than the training dynamics … which can turn the training into a lecture.
Virtual training demands trainers with new skills, qualifications and experience. You need an experienced trainer who can design, deliver and debrief with confidence in a virtual environment.
Create time for interactions
As touched upon above, in a face-to-face seminar it’s easy and natural for interactions to occur – either with the trainer or between participants. When you deliver training virtually this becomes much harder. Don’t assume that interaction will occur easily. It’s much more challenging for groups to actually get together and get a feel for each other in a virtual environment. An experienced and qualified trainer finds workarounds: Interactions are planned, activities are scripted carefully and more time is allocated for group and pair activities.
Keep the training groups small
The difficulty level of enabling and encouraging interaction means that smaller groups (not larger groups) are a must in a virtual environment. Our experience is if you want to go beyond knowledge transfer to building skills and changing behaviours, a group of 6 is ideal. The more participants you have beyond 6, the harder the interaction becomes, and the more likely it is that somebody tunes out and/or starts multi-tasking – and the more time the trainer needs to spend on monitoring and controlling the technical environment and not focusing on the individuals themselves.
For groups above 8 you should use a skilled and experienced “producer”. A producer supports the trainer in managing the virtual environment, monitoring interactions, setting up breakout rooms and maintaining speed, flow and interaction etc. An experienced technical producer can easily enable the trainer to work with 12+ participants.
Deliver several sessions of max. 2.5 hours instead of one long session
A full day face-to-face seminar won’t translate into a full-day virtual seminar. People can’t concentrate for that long in a virtual environment. Our experience is that 2 – 2 ½ hours is the maximum length for a single session. This means that you should be thinking about three 2-hour virtual sessions to equal one day of face-to-face training. You can cover a similar amount of training in the same time BUT if you are delivering the training virtually you have to redesign the approach and split it up and break it down.
Plan carefully, when working with multiple time zones
One benefit of virtual training is that anyone anywhere can join. We encourage you not to get carried away with that. It may save you money but you will lose the full effectiveness of the training. In our experience, it’s a huge challenge for the participants and the trainer when some are joining at six in the morning, some during the post-lunch lull, and some at six in the evening. Respecting people’s concentration spans and environments will pay off in the end.
For more information
If you are new to virtual delivery, looking to ramp up your virtual delivery or interested in making your virtual training more interactive and valuable then find an experienced partner or a consultant. We could be the one for you, who knows. If you’re thinking of starting with virtual training put out an RFP, be clear about what you want to achieve and ask for suppliers to tell you what you need in order to make it work.
https://www.targettraining.eu/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/shutterstock_453054049.jpg6001000Scott Leveyhttps://www.targettraining.eu/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/logoWP.pngScott Levey2018-07-26 13:45:132018-08-14 12:52:145 things you can do to make virtual training a success
Although many professionals, managers and training managers know of virtual delivery there is still some confusion as to what it is and how it works. Here are some common questions we get asked when supporting our clients in integrating virtual training into their learning strategies. For more information on this topic, see also5 questions you definitely need to ask when you are setting up a virtual training program.
What do we mean when we talk about virtual training or virtual delivery?
Virtual training (also known as virtual delivery or remote delivery) is training where one or more of the participants is not in the same room as the trainer. Training is delivered using one of the many “unified communication platforms”. This term includes web conferencing tools such as WebEx Training Center, Adobe Connect, Go Meeting or Skype for Business and video conferencing services such as BlueJeans or Polycom.
People often think of virtual training as an international solution. For example, we’ve delivered a virtual session with the trainer based in Frankfurt, Germany and having participants in Hawaii, Boston, Luxembourg and Singapore. However, if you have a trainer in one location on a site and you have participants on the same site/same country but in different rooms – that’s virtual training too.
How does virtual delivery differ from e-learning or webinars?
These terms are often defined by a training supplier’s marketing department, but typically most L&D professionals will agree that:
E-learning is led by the learner and there is no live trainer. The learning is self-paced through interacting with a computer-aided learning program. A simple example is Duolingo as an app for language learning. SkillSoft is an examples of e-learning aimed at developing your soft skills.
A webinar is speaker-led and has probably about 50 people maximum – although some webinars have hundreds in the audience. The webinar is delivered through video or a video conferencing platform online and the presenter is talking most of the time. At the end he or she has the ability to take questions and if they are using a producer they can engineer interactive moments e.g. asking for input via a poll during the webinar.
Virtual training is a trainer plus participants. Ideally the training is interactive, engaging and adaptive the needs of the participants.
What does virtual training give you that a webinar doesn’t?
Put simply, virtual training is about learning through interaction, engagement and personalization – it is active learning. This includes learning from the trainer, learning from personal experiences and from each other via e.g. discussions and experience sharing. Webinars are comparable with lectures or online presentations – learning is passive and based solely around the speaker and the content they are sharing.
How many participants can you train virtually at the same time?
Surprisingly, many people assume that virtual means more participants. This is often based around experiences in webinars with 50 people plus. In a face-to-face training seminar, we would never try and deliver training to 50 participants in the same room. Typically, we suggest 8-12 participants with 14 being a maximum. Years of experience have shown us that an ideal number for highly-interactive virtual training is about 6-8 people. With a small group like this you can make sure that people have a chance to interact with each other in a more intimate way, using options like breakout rooms found in the more functional platforms such as WebEx Training Center or Adobe Connect. These breakout rooms offer the same benefits as integrating small group activities in a training room. This interaction is really important because a lot of the value of training, whether it’s virtual or face-to-face, is the interaction that the participants have with each other. They don’t just learn from the trainer but through each other too!
What is a producer and why do we need one?
A producer ensures that the virtual training runs smoothly and supports the virtual trainer in delivering an interactive, personalized and above all smooth training experience. This allows the trainer to manage up to 50% larger training groups too e.g. 8-12 participants. Their role includes:
providing technical support to participants before, during and after the training
setting up break out rooms, polls etc
monitoring engagement and contributions in chats and break out rooms
https://www.targettraining.eu/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/shutterstock_701748778.jpg29594174Scott Leveyhttps://www.targettraining.eu/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/logoWP.pngScott Levey2018-07-16 10:03:462018-07-02 11:42:00Getting started with virtual delivery
Presentations are all about communicating your message efficiently to your audience. You want to be considered as an authority on the subject matter. You might think that using jargon – shorthand words that are used in companies that operate in particular industries – will impress your audience and get them engaged. It’s more likely though, that they are having the opposite effect, especially if your audience’s second language is English. Target Training previously discussed the use of silence in presentations, and the same applies in eliminating jargon. To know more, below are the reasons why…
1. You Will Be Difficult to Understand
When used in the context of a work environment, technical terms act as shorthand between team members that make them work faster. Forbes notes that it’s a quick way to communicate. But when presenting to other departments or people outside your company, they are just words that typically sound complicated and daunting. . Menlo Coaching emphasised that you need to say exactly what you mean by using words and phrases that your audience will easily comprehend. Try to keep them as concise as possible.
2. Your Presentation Will Have No Recall Value
Even if there are people in the audience who are familiar with the technical terms you use, they will see right through you. They might get the notion that you are using catch phrases to make the topic (and yourself) more impressive. They will walk away from your presentation learning nothing new. If you really need to use jargon, make sure to elaborate on what you are trying to explain or give an example.
3. Jargon Will Lower People’s Opinion Of You
If you are the project leader and you’re teaching your team, the use of jargon might demoralize them. At best, they will see you as someone not considerate enough to deliver a talk that they can clearly and easily understand.
4. Your Audience Will Get Bored
When your presentation becomes incomprehensible due to too much jargon, boredom will soon set in. Their minds will wander to matters that take more priority. It may also lead to audience members chatting, which can generate noise that distracts others. Get their attention by stringing along words in a new way that they haven’t heard before. You have to be creative – and perhaps entertaining – to gain the audience’s attention.
5. You Will Alienate Your Audience
If you are trying to rally the members in the audience to a specific goal, you will lose them from both an emotional and logical standpoint. Even if they understood the message, they won’t have the drive to achieve it and vice versa. Leadership trainer Alan Matthews recommends stating your message in definite terms and allowing your audience to formulate the necessary actions/response. This will make them feel personally involved in the presentation.
6. The Presentation Will Waste People’s Time
Using generic and non-contextual phrases that confound the audience will make it seem like you’re just droning. You need to prioritize re-evaluating your presentation. Filter out all the jargon and try to limit the number of words in each sentence to deliver their basic meaning. Members of the audience may ask you to expound on some parts, but that’s better than leaving them drowning in a flood of corporate speak.
If you still think your use of jargon is effective, at least send a survey to the audience to get a gauge on your presentation style. If there appears to be a mismatch between the messages you are conveying and their perceptions, then maybe it’s time to toss that jargon glossary out the window.
About the author
Jean Browne works as a researcher and fact-checker for a career coaching firm in England. She occasionally engages in public speaking when giving seminars. In her spare time, she does freelance work as an events host and bingo caller, among others.
https://www.targettraining.eu/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/microphone-704255__340.jpg340510Guest Authorhttps://www.targettraining.eu/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/logoWP.pngGuest Author2018-07-03 10:54:222018-06-07 11:09:586 Reasons Why You Should Eliminate Jargon From Your Presentations
More and more of our clients are embracing delivering training virtually. Many are striving towards a global training solution where everyone has access to the same high quality of training no matter where they are based. Others are need to cut travel costs. Some are moving towards bite-sized learning and providing training in smaller chunks. This growth in interest has meant that at Target Training, we’re finding ourselves frequently taking on a consulting role with those clients who have little or no experience in virtual training. Below are some of the key questions we’ve been encouraging our clients to ask themselves.
Q1. How much experience do your participants have working with virtual platforms?
It’s important to match the virtual platform you use for delivering training with your staff’s experience and comfort zones. How familiar are the participants joining the virtual training with virtual communication in general? What can they already do? And which systems do they regularly use for e.g. virtual meetings? Some participants using video conference tools every day for their regular check-ins with their virtual colleagues. In this kind of environment, you would want to take advantage of their skills and deliver training using a rich virtual platform with diverse and useful functionalities. Webex Training Center and Adobe Connect are great examples.
However if your staff are completely new to this kind of work and new to these platforms then don’t worry. Don’t spend a lot of money on a top-end virtual training platform when people can’t use the tools. There are a lot of simple yet effective platforms that could work for your people, and their simplicity means that they will probably have an easier time working with it and therefore use it more often. Consider Skype for Business, Polycom or BlueJeans.
Target tip – Choose a virtual training platform which matches your staff’s experience and comfort zone.
Q2. What is the lowest common denominator when it comes to your technical infrastructure?
Many of our clients are looking for pan-global training solutions for their staff around the world – everybody should be able to benefit from the same training. However, if in certain parts of the world the bandwidth available is very slow, cameras are disabled, sound cards aren’t standard etc this will inevitably cause problems and negatively impact the training. Either that person is going to have real difficulty fully participating in the training and/or it will also cause delays for everyone else.
You have 2 choices – either work with the lowest common denominators when it comes to your technical infrastructure and then adapt the training to this level OR choose to split the training group based on technical capabilities.
Target tip – Respect and adapt to the lowest common denominators when it comes to your technical infrastructure.
Q3. How much experience do your staff have in being trained virtually?
Connected to the first two questions, if you are going to set up virtual training approach for people who have had little or no experience of receiving virtual training before then you need to plan in time to teach them how to make the most of the virtual training environment. Your training provider should be able to do this for you. Part of this time will be spent training the participants on how to use the technology AND you also need to help your participants learn more about how virtual training can look and feel different. Comparing it to a classic face-to-face seminar won’t help.
Target tip – Invest a little time training people to learn and develop in a virtual training environment. This could be part of the very first session or a separate event.
Q4. How many people are you planning to invite to each virtual training session?
When it comes to classic face-to-face seminars most people are aware that if you want to keep the training interactive and relevant to each individual you need to limit the group size. Groups of 10- 14 are standard practice.
When it comes to virtual training many clients assume much larger groups are possible. Most of the time this is due to confusing e-learning and webinars with virtual training. The maximum number of people we would suggest inviting to a virtual training session is impacted by two factors.
The number of people is limited in some cases by the bandwidth that you and the participants have. (see Q2)
Secondly, it depends on how easily you can manage the group and keep it interactive and relevant to the individual participants. We strongly recommend smaller groups – six is the magic number. Larger groups of up to 16 can work when you choose to use a “producer” to support the trainer. The producer helps the trainer to manage the functionalities and tools within the platform, and to keep an eye on interaction and questions. They’ll also step in when the technology causes problems.
Target tip – Keep training groups smaller than you normally would for face-to-face training. Invest in a producer when you want larger groups as it will be better value than running sessions twice.
Q5. What are we doing before or after the virtual training session to boost the learning and drive transfer to our workplace?
Think about how you can make this a more enriched learning environment, and how you can help your staff apply what they learn to their workplace. An example of pre- and/or post-training could be using your in-house learning management system. Maybe a “flipped classroom” work where a lot of the learning is inputted before the virtual training itself (meaning the virtual training session focuses on application)? How about individual accountability calls with the trainer after the training? Or on-the-job coaching delivered virtually as in our Presenting in a virtual environment training?
Target tip – Position the virtual training as part of a learning journey. Support managers and employees in understanding the role they play in maximizing the return on the training investment. This eBook can help you.
If you are interested in learning more about virtual training please reach out to us. We would love to help you.
https://www.targettraining.eu/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/virtualICT.jpg9001756James Culverhttps://www.targettraining.eu/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/logoWP.pngJames Culver2018-06-21 11:10:052018-06-19 09:39:475 questions you definitely need to ask when you are setting up a virtual training program
Want to learn anything more effectively, enjoyably and easily? Then use each letter of the words in the triangle to memorise the following 9 ways to do just that:
1. I Can – Believe it or Believe it not!
As Henry Ford once said “Whether you believe you can do something or whether you believe you can’t you’re right!“ Decide to believe in yourself – your potential is infinite and your best has yet to come!
2. Creativity – yours is infinite – let it soar!
We are born creative! Even though we may not have used our creativity for a long time it’s still there waiting to be unleashed! Like the tin man in the Wizard of Oz, it may need a drop of oil! Today do something totally new or something old in a totally new way. Your creative ability is infinite. Observe any children at play and you will see infinite creativity in full swing! Let them inspire you!
3. Attention/Mindfulness – learn to relax and focus
Learn to put your attention where it’s needed most and on what’s truly important in the present moment. As our society continues to get faster and faster, the tendency is to cultivate a mind which is always “racing” and prone to distraction. We must learn to relax our minds. Learn meditation, relaxation, yoga, mindfulness, tai chi or similar forms of exercise which cultivate stilling your mind and improving your attention.
4. Newness – your brain thrives on newness!
When you first arrived on this planet everything was new and in those first few years you learnt to walk, talk, recognise, eat and much much more! In times of great change we learn greatly! So remember if we resist change, we are also resisting learning! So travel to a totally different culture, learn something you thought you couldn’t learn and continuously try new ways of doing old things. If it doesn’t work, so what, learn from it and try something different instead!
5. Learning Growth – Continuously aim to improve how you learn
Before learning anything set yourself a goal – the who, what, when, where, why, how of what you’re learning. Ask yourself – how will I know I’ve learnt it – how will you test yourself? Get an overview of what needs to be learnt. Use the left and right side of your brain – the logical and the creative. For example use colour, words, images, structure, movement, rhythm, excitement, humour. Above all make it an enjoyable experience! After achieving your learning goal ask yourself – what worked and what could be done better next time?
6. Exercise – Physical exercise – Body/Mind
Recent research in Japan showed that people who exercise three times a week for half an hour have mental abilities 30% greater than those who don’t. It really stands to reason – do you think you learn more effectively if you physically exercise regularly? Test it and see – take time to exercise. The exercise can be gentle like walking, swimming, cycling or whatever type of exercise you like.
7. Age – regularly exercise your mind
No matter how much of your brains potential you have used so far, there is always more to use – you have at least 100 billion brain cells. The reason that we believe “mental abilities get worse with age” is because most people believe it! There was a time when we all thought the world was flat as well! We were all wrong! Begin to believe that your … mental abilities can soar with age… exercise them and as they say “use it or lose it”.
8. Reinforce – keep noticing what’s working: The law of reinforcement
Whatever behaviour is reinforced will tend to be repeated – so keep on noticing what’s working and celebrate it! Keep on reinforcing what it is you would like more of in your life. Think about everything that is working, then ask yourself – how can I improve the rest?
9. Never give up learning to learn
Learning is growth. Growth is learning. Never stop learning. Never quit exploring. Your canvas awaits your creative masterpiece. Never give up learning! Never give up learning to learn!
Now if you’ve read this far, congrats and remember as Einstein said “the true power of knowledge is in its application”. Decide to take at least one action after reading this article and learn more … effectively, enjoyably and easily! Let us know how it goes!
About the author
Sean is a leading expert on how to use more of your minds infinite potential. Sean trains and coaches organisations and individuals worldwide to tap into some of this untapped infinite mental potential. With over 25 years of experience in the training industry, Sean has delivered training to many businesses and organisations worldwide. You can learn more about him at: www.MindTraining.biz
https://www.targettraining.eu/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/shutterstock_465742940.jpg6301702Guest Authorhttps://www.targettraining.eu/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/logoWP.pngGuest Author2018-06-07 10:51:522018-09-25 15:27:32Nine ways to Learn More … Effectively, Enjoyably and Easily!
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 – as an L&D manager, an in-house trainer and as an external training provider.
What do you look for in a training offer?
First and foremost I want to see if the provider actually listened to me. I want to see some evidence that they understood what I was saying and had a clear grasp of my expectations. What I mean by that is the offer has to reflect my true needs and the information that I gave to them at the beginning. Next, I want to see some added value as well. Yes, I want to be sure that they listened to me but I also want them to bring something extra to the table. I guess I’m expecting them to show me that they are sharing some of their expertise and experience by offering me a new idea or a solution to a problem that I hadn’t thought about.
To be honest I don’t really want, or even need, a super-detailed offer document. In fact, the more I think about it the less likely I am to be impressed by a 50 page in-depth report with all the i’s dotted and t’s crossed. Let’s face it, we’re all very busy, so what I want to see is a document where they break it down into chunks so that I can get a clear look at what is going to happen and how they’re going to make it happen. Oh and not forgetting, the expected outcome at the end of the training. You know, what people can do better after they have been on the training course than they could before. That is after all why we’re sending them on a training course.
Obviously I want a clear understanding of how much the training solution is going to cost me. Yes, I know that it is not always possible to identify every possible cost but what I don’t want are any nasty surprises later in the process. You know, you suddenly find you’ve got a business class ticket you’re paying for. That’s going to be an issue.
If it’s the first offer from a new provider, what extras do you need?
Things are a bit different when it’s somebody you haven’t used before. If it’s the first time, I really want to see an example of what the training material looks like. That look and feel is very important to me. I want to be sure that the material looks professional and isn’t, for example, full of cartoons or hand-drawn pictures. On day 1, when our people walk into the training session and pick up the material for the first time, I want them to be impressed. First impressions matter.
Equally I want to know what they’re going to get at the end of the training. Are they going to get a whole slide pack, pdf documents of notes, and photographs of flipcharts? You know the sort of things I mean. Whatever it is I want to know that in advance. So samples are always a good idea.
Do you need any information about the providers in the offer?
Generally not, I like to do my homework before anybody gets to the offer stage with me. I want to feel reasonably confident that the provider is up to the job, whatever the job is. So before I even ask for an offer I will have done a fair bit of digging and that will include references from previous customers and things like that. That type of thing needs to be handled before an offer not during or after the process.
How many offers do you look at for one session?
Generally I want 2 or 3. Any more than that and I’m wasting my time digging around and doing a very bad job of filtering out the good offers in the first place. There are times when I know exactly what I’m looking for and then one provider will probably be fine. Sure, for me, as an internal training provider, it’s important to have multiple providers. But if there are courses where we only uses one particular provider I don’t have a problem with that.
What is your biggest frustration with offers?
I think the thing that frustrates me more than anything else is when you feel like you’re just getting the same thing that they send to everyone. It drives me mad! Why did I spend 2 hours explaining my situation to you and you send me a generic offer. That makes me feel like I’ve wasted my time. I never expect to buy, and probably never (or very rarely), buy an off-the-shelf product.
And there is one more thing. The one where you get an offer that has no mention whatsoever of the intended outcome and what we’re actually trying to achieve. I would say those are the 2 most frustrating things.
Who is the Secret L&D manager?
The Secret L&D manager is actually many L&D managers. They are real people who would prefer not to mention their name or company – but do want to write anonymously so they can openly and directly share their ideas and experience with peers. Also from the Secret L&D manager:
https://www.targettraining.eu/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/Fotolia_140130591_M.jpg11251688Guest Authorhttps://www.targettraining.eu/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/logoWP.pngGuest Author2018-05-23 10:45:002018-05-28 10:04:33The secret L&D Manager: What do L&D Managers look for in a training offer?
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 idioms you may hear around the office …
to take a rain check
From baseball, meaning ‘I can’t now, but let’s do it another time’. “Thanks for the invite to happy hour, but can I take a rain check? I need to get home for dinner with my family.”
a Hail Mary pass
From American football, meaning ‘a last minute, desperate attempt at something’. “We offered the client a 15% reduction in price as a Hail Mary to win their business.”
to touch base (with someone)
From baseball, meaning ‘get in contact with someone’. “Can you touch base with Chester next week to see how he is doing with the forecast numbers?”
a front runner
From horse racing, meaning ‘the person who is leading but hasn’t won yet’. “I think we are the front runner for the winning the account, but XYZ’s offer was also very strong.”
the ball is in (someone’s) court
From tennis, meaning ‘it is someone’s turn to take action or make the next move’. “I received an offer for a new job. The ball is now in my court to ask for more money or decline it.”
the home stretch
From horse racing, meaning ‘to be near the end” or ´to be in the last stage or phase’. “This has certainly been a challenging project, but we are now in the home stretch so let’s stay focussed and keep on schedule.”
to get the ball rolling
From ball games, meaning ‘to start something’. “OK, now we’re all here for today’s meeting let’s get the ball rolling. Heinz, can you start with an update on ….”
to keep your eye on the ball
From ball games, meaning ‘to stay alert’. “We have worked with this client before and we know that they can be chaotic. We need to keep our eyes on the ball, especially when it comes to safety on site.”
par for the course
From golf, meaning ‘something that is normal or to be expected’. ‘Jim was late for the meeting again today. That is par for the course with him.’
to strike out
From baseball, meaning ‘to fail at something’. ‘I have tried to get a meeting with the Head of Purchasing 5 times but have struck out each time.’
https://www.targettraining.eu/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/race-track-3049862_1280.jpg8341280Guest Authorhttps://www.targettraining.eu/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/logoWP.pngGuest Author2018-04-23 10:22:072018-05-07 12:29:1710 more sporting idioms you will hear in business meetings
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). In another study, 100% of German employers interviewed said that English skills are significant for their organization. Evidence like this shows why Germans are rightfully proud of their English skills – and the vast majority of Germans we work with want to be even better. If your first language is German, and you want to improve your English at work, you might find it frustrating that your English-speaking colleagues don’t correct you. After all, you can’t get better if you don’t know what you’re doing wrong! In this post, we’re going to take a look at a handful of German speaker errors that are really common in Business English. The good news? They’re really easily fixed..
1. “We discussed about last month’s figures at the meeting.”
In English we don’t discuss about something. To fix it, leave out the about after the verb discuss. So the correct English sentence is “We discussed last month’s figures at the meeting.” Keep in mind that you can use about after the noun “discussions” as in “There were discussions about last month’s figures at the meeting”.
2. “Good morning together.”
This is a direct translation of a lovely (and efficient) German way of greeting everyone at the same time. Logically, together, makes 100% sense but it doesn’t work in English. How can you fix it? As with about in the last example, cut it out completely. The correct English phrase is simply “Good morning”. You can also use alternatives like “Good morning everyone” or “Morning all” (informal)
3. “We see us tomorrow.”
This is also a direct translation from German. We don’t have an identical phrase in English, so it sounds understandable, but strange in English. In this case, you need to use another expression. So the correct English sentence is “We’ll see each other tomorrow”. You can also use “See you tomorrow.” or “Look forward to seeing you tomorrow.”
4. “I visit normally on Thursdays my clients in Bamberg.”
The word order is German. The sentence is 100% understandable, but it simply sounds wrong in English (likewise when English speakers speak German it can be understandable but grammatically wrong). Adverbs of frequency (words like: normally, sometimes, always, never) almost always go between the person (I) and the verb (visit). So, the correct English sentence is “ I normally visit my clients in Bamberg on Thursdays.”
5. “I work since five years by my company.”
There are only 8 words here, but there are actually 4 mistakes in this sentence.
The tense (work) is wrong.
We can’t combine since and a period of time.
By is not the right preposition.
The word order is German.
Here’s how to fix it:
If something started in the past, is happening now, and is likely to continue in the future, then we usually use present perfect simple or continuous e.g. I have worked / I have been working…
We can use since with a point in time, and for with a period of time. e.g. since 2012/ for 5 years.
There are very few concrete rules for prepositions. You just need to develop a feel for them and learn them in a context. In English we say “ We work for a company”.
Word order. This is the same as in the last example – time generally goes to the end of the sentence in English.
So, the correct English sentence is “I have been working for my company for five years.”
https://www.targettraining.eu/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/workplace-1245776_1920.jpg12801920Jonny Westhttps://www.targettraining.eu/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/logoWP.pngJonny West2018-04-11 11:57:282019-03-05 22:07:13Quick fixes for 5 typical mistakes German speakers make in English
This month’s Secret L&D manager is German, and works for a global telecommunications organization. He’s been working in training and development for over 20 years for a variety of organizations including automotive, financial services and higher education. He’s lived in multiple countries and is interested in balancing classic approaches with virtual learning and MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses). We asked him, “What questions do you ask potential training providers when they first approach you?”
This eBook is also available in German – follow the link below.
I get contacted by training providers on a regular basis, and to be honest how much time I give them depends a lot on what else is going on. However I’m always interested in new ideas which I think can add value to our associates here and do try to make time to ask questions and learn. I tend to get straight into things and want to take control of the conversation. I’ll ask questions like …
Tell me the two or three topics that you as a training provider are specialized in?
I’m not interested in working with training providers who say they can do everything. So what are the 2 or 3 things that you are good at? I want details. I want to see experience and innovative ideas. I want them to be able to talk me through activities and the “why” behind the activity.
If I feel they know about training and are not trying to promise the earth, my second question needs to be about their trainers. Knowing more about who their trainers are is hugely important to me and I need to know they’ll fit my training population. I ask something like ….
Who are your trainers? How do you find them? How do you select them? What is their background?
I was a trainer myself, and still do some internal training. I know the impact and potential of the training is realized (or limited by) by the person in the room – by the trainer. I want specifics and real examples from a potential training provider. I’m not interested in general broad-brush descriptions. I want to know who they would use to deliver a specific solution and to know why that person, what’s their experience, style etc.
I’d then ask …
Why do you think you’re different from all the other trainers and training providers that offer similar things?
Seriously, explain to me why what’s special or different about what you’re proposing? Otherwise, why should I change? If they stop and think about the answer, that’s fine. If they babble, then I’m not interested. For me a training provider needs to know themselves why they are different or special.
My last question would be something like …
Before we spend any more time on this can you explain your pricing model?
I want to know what they charge for a one-day, off-the-shelf training program. The kind of thing that’s really a commodity product. I want to know pricing for a customization and preparation, and I want to know if travel and expenses are included or not.
I want to find an example. I’ll pick something simple, so I know if their rates are competitive and if this actually makes sense to me and our situation. If you deliver a standard 2-day presentation skills training for me, what will the cost be for 10 people? And if it’s much more expensive than what I already have, or if I have no real reason to believe that they will be genuinely considerably better than my current solution, then that’s time saved for both sides. I also want a clear answer here.
I think these are my top four questions. These are pretty much what I need as a basis. If I’m interested, then I’d like to meet them in person and see where we go from there.
Who is the Secret L&D manager?
The Secret L&D manager is actually many L&D managers. They are real people who would prefer not to mention their name or company – but do want to write anonymously so they can openly and directly share their ideas and experience with peers. Also from the Secret L&D manager:
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. Other research shows that gestures – more than actions themselves – impact our understanding of meaning. Put simply, you need to unleash the power of gestures when you present.
Your hands give you away (4 things not to do)
We have all seen somebody standing in front of a large group of people, trying to remain calm and hide their nervousness, and their hands giving them away. We can see they’re nervous and uncomfortable. When presenting, don’t:
Keep them in your pockets. This will usually come across to your audience as too casual and is often perceived by people at as you trying to hide your hands because of nervousness. Like it or not, it is best to keep your hands out in the open for the world to see.
Keep them in behind you. Hiding them behind your back can this makes you look distant and reserved or even uninterested in the people you are talking to.
Place them on your hips. A stance with both hands on the hips will, more than likely, seem aggressive or authoritarian and definitely will not win you any friends in your audience.
Hold them together. You’ll look as if you are defending yourself and come across as unconfident and vulnerable. Crossing them can achieve the same result too.
4 Things to do with your hands when presenting
When you are presenting, the focus should be on you. Therefore, use everything in your arsenal to ensure your audience is interested and informed. By using your body to help emphasize your words, your presentation becomes more dynamic, and your audience is more likely to remember your message. Use your hands and arms; don’t leave them at your sides. Be aware of your body and how it can help you.
Open up
If you maintain a closed stance, the audience may suspect you are hiding something and won’t trust you. Remember not to cross your arms or to keep them too close together. You are not a T-Rex, so don’t keep your elbows glued to your ribs. Claim the space and show your hands.
Use broad gestures
These should fit with what you are saying and not be used randomly. You know what you are going to say, so now decide how you are going to say it. Your body is an extension of your voice, so it is important to use confident gestures while you are practicing your presentation. With practice, the gestures will become more natural and a part of your dynamic speaking style. Use your hands to emphasize, to contrast or even to convey emotions in your story.
Show an open palm
By keeping your hands open and showing the audience your open palms, you are showing you have nothing to hide. The audience are more likely to feel they can trust you, and that you are sincere in your message.
The Palm Sideways
This is like holding your hand as though you were going to shake another person’s hand. This gesture is used to impress upon the audience the point you are making. You are opening up your message and showing them what is inside. You can also use this to point … without using your finger.
Videos
And keep in mind that you don’t necessarily need to be flamboyant and bounce around. You just need to be authentically you! This Target Training video from James Culver on storytelling is a great example of how smaller and gentle movements can be natural and still reinforce the message.
What to do with your hands when you’re presenting
Two excellent and short video displaying tips and tricks.
4 essential tips
From the 2014 Toastmasters International world champion of public speaking Dananjaya Hettiarachchi. You may feel that Hettiarachchi is a little theatrical for a business scenario, but the 4 tips are directly transferable!
Body language
This video is longer (just under 14 minutes) but comprehensive. It covers all areas of body language when presenting and is definitely worth watching.
If you’d like more tips on presenting in general…
We have 37 blog posts related to presenting on our blog. Two further eBooks on presentations are available to download in the sidebar: “Presentation Models” and “Presenting with IMPACT.” Or, one of our seminars on this topic might be just what you need:
https://www.targettraining.eu/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/shutterstock_702862582.jpg36005000George Barsehttps://www.targettraining.eu/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/logoWP.pngGeorge Barse2018-03-19 10:51:232018-03-19 10:57:58What should I do with my hands during a presentation?
As everyone already knows, email is ubiquitous – in both our private and professional lives. Emails are easy to write and send – and we are inundated with them daily. As an in-house business English trainer at a major production site, I see daily the frustrations this can cause – not just for those receiving 90+ mails day (or 1 every 5 minutes!), but also for those sending the mails – knowing they may need to wait a while before hearing a reply. Recently, a manager I train in the automotive industry asked “How can I increase the chances that people respond to my emails?”
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! So put away those thesauruses and get rid of those dependent clauses! Simple, concise writing is a main driver in increasing your response rate. As with any writing, placing your reader’s needs first is a must. There is no one magic formula for guaranteeing that people will respond to your email, but it’s important that you write emails that people will read. The tips outlined below will definitely tip the odds in your favour!
TIP 1 – Keep your subject line obvious and short
Short, simple and obvious subject lines of only 3-4 words get the most responses. The most important thing, though, is to make sure the meaning is clear. Clarity beats ambiguity every time! Military personnel often use keywords e.g. ACTION, REQUEST, DECISION, INFO. This helps the reader immediately understand the purpose of the email. Then, just a couple more words to clarify the subject.
Example:
Prod Spec (vague)
End User Prod spec file plz send (relevant words but could be easier to understand the meaning!)
As part of my job, I work with engineers providing on-the-job English training. Last week Klaus (not his real name) asked me to help him understand a mail from a supplier. Klaus was struggling to understand …“Hitherto now, I have been unable to place the whereabouts of your aforementioned order, to which I would like to offer the following proposal, able to be fulfilled forthwith”.
Working together with Klaus we simplified it into “We’re sorry but we can’t find the order you mentioned in your email. However, we can suggest the following immediate solution …”. As Klaus rightly said – why didn’t they just say that?
TIP 3 – Write human
In addition to simplicity, write with emotion! It doesn’t matter if that emotion is positive or negative, writing with any emotion is better than writing a neutral email with absolutely no emotion. The bottom line is: use a believable amount of emotion without getting too hostile or overly-sentimental.
Example of increasing positive emotion:
I want to meet next week to discuss my proposal. (neutral)
I would love to meet next week to discuss my proposal. (better but maybe a little over the top)
I’m definitely interested in meeting next week to discuss my proposal with you! (best!)
Example of increasing negative emotion:
Our experience with your product did not meet our expectations. (neutral)
From my experience today, I find the quality of your product to be sub-par. (better but “sub par” isn’t simple English)
Your product sucks. (too much human)
Based on my experiences today, the quality of your product is far below our expectations (best!)
TIP 4 – Write short sentences and paragraphs
When writing your email, make sure it’s an appropriate length. Imagine if you received a novel in your inbox. Would you even bother to read the first sentence? Probably not! The optimal length of an email is roughly 50-125 words, and the response rate slowly drops off as the emails get longer. When you really need to write longer emails use sub-headings to break the text up.
TIP 5 – Keep the dialogue moving with clear questions
One final way to increase the chances your email will receive a response is to include a task, so ask a few questions! Otherwise, the recipient will most likely assume the purpose of your email is nothing more than to inform. Statistically, 1-3 questions are optimal. Any longer and it becomes a questionnaire, which quickly sends the email to the “do later” box. As I wrote earlier, you won’t get a response to every email you write, but you can change how you write your emails so that you are more likely to get a response when it counts most! And remember to use the phone or video calls if something is important, urgent or contains an emotional message.
Keep on developing your email writing skills with these blog posts
https://www.targettraining.eu/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/blogging-336376_1920.jpg12801920George Barsehttps://www.targettraining.eu/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/logoWP.pngGeorge Barse2018-03-14 11:20:192018-02-05 14:23:32Getting people to read (and respond to) your emails
Many of our communication skills seminars involve practical listening activities, and occasionally we get requests solely for listening skills. But it’s arguably wrong to see listening as one of many “communication skills” – listening is so much more fundamental than that. Listening builds trust, strengthens relationships, and resolves conflicts. It’s fundamental in everything we do. In a HBR article “the discipline of listening”, Ram Charan shared what many of us already know: Not every manager is a great listener. Charan’s own “knowledge of corporate leaders’ 360-degree feedback indicates that one out of four leaders has a listening deficit, “the effects of which can paralyze cross-unit collaboration, sink careers, and if it’s the CEO with the deficit, derail the company.” Good managers need to know how to listen – and great managers know how to listen well. And because we know you’re busy we’ve taken the time to find 3 TEDx talks for you listen to.
The power of listening with William Ury
William Ury is the co-author of “Getting to Yes”, the bestselling negotiation book in the world. This is a great video exploring what genuine listening really is, why it’s so important and how to take our first steps to improving our listening. He explains why he feels that listening is “the golden key to opening doors to human relationships” and why the skill of listening needs to be actively practiced every day. Ury uses stories of conversations with presidents and business leaders to show the simple power of listening: how it helps us understand the other person, how it helps us connect and build rapport and trust, and how it makes it more likely that you’ll be listened to too.
The Power of Deliberate Listening with Ronnie Polaneczky
Grabbing our attention with the shocking story of an angry reader, journalist Ronnie Polaneczky expands on why we need to consciously and actively practice our “listening muscle”. By practicing deliberate listening and putting aside our own judgements we can discover things we don’t know that we don’t know. She moves beyond the obvious “techniques” (e.g. look them in the eye, nod your head and repeat back what you’ve heard) and challenges us to think about letting go of positions (e.g. “I want to be right”) and embracing learning – letting go of our need to judge. She closes with the personal impact listening has – it doesn’t just change the person being listened to – it changes the listener.
A Case for Active Listening with Jason Chare
You may find this talk far removed from a business environment, but active listening skills are essential for those managers wanting to build a coaching approach. Jason Chare, a professional counselor, shares his experiences with an audience of teachers. The second half (around the ninth minute) begins to look at specific strategies and attitudes – especially the importance of unconditional positive regard and listening with empathy. Check out this article on “Three ways leaders can listen with more empathy” too!
And if you’d like to know more about how you can further develop your or your team’s listening skills then please don’t hesitate to contact us. We’d love to listen to you.
https://www.targettraining.eu/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/shutterstock_333179708.jpg45006000Scott Leveyhttps://www.targettraining.eu/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/logoWP.pngScott Levey2018-03-01 10:09:192019-10-04 14:12:04Watch, listen and learn: 3 great TEDx talks on listening
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 – as an L&D manager, an in-house trainer and as an external training provider.
What are your challenges as an L&D manager?
One of the things that’s burning at the moment is helping the managers I work with see the role they play in developing people. This is not a question of lack of willingness on their side – just a lack of awareness of the role they can and should play. For example, most of the time if they know that Dieter needs to improve his presentation skills, they send him on one of the 2-day presentation courses we run. When Dieter gets back, they expect that they can tick a box and say, “Well, Dieter can present now.” This is a start, but it isn’t good enough. It is not enough for them to assume that the training department or the training provider is going to solve everything alone. I need to help them see their role in developing their staff’s skills.
How do you see the manager’s role in developing their staff?
If we look at the 70-20-10 model, just 10% of the change will come from the training itself. 20% is when Dieter is learning from his colleagues, sharing ideas and giving each other tips and feedback. BUT, the other 70% will come from just getting up there and doing it (best of course, if supplemented with feedback and guidance where required). If the manager wants somebody to get better at a skill, they need to make sure there is plenty of opportunity for that person to actually use that skill, give them support and guidance and let them use what they are learning. This is clearly in the manager’s hands. I want our managers to be realistic in their expectations and see the role that they play in the developmental process. We work together.
How do you see your role in this?
I have a number of roles. I work to identify current and future training needs. I then organize practical training with training providers who are going to deliver what we need and challenge the participants to really improve. I also need to help our managers understand their role in developing our staff and encourage them to see training as a collaborative effort between them, the employee, us in L&D, and the training providers. And of course, the person getting the training needs to take some responsibility and ownership for their own development – and I can offer advice and support here too, both before and after the “formal” training. Our experts need to be present in the training and they need to actively look to use what they have learned and practiced after the training too. And again, this is where their manager plays an important role.
Who is the secret L&D manager?
The “secret L&D manager” is actually a group of L&D managers. They are real people who would prefer not to mention their name or company – but do want to write anonymously so they can openly and directly share their ideas and experience with peers.
You can meet more of our secret L&D managers here …
And if you’d like to share your thoughts and experiences without sharing your name or company then please get in touch.
https://www.targettraining.eu/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/shutterstock_665953069.jpg35475372Guest Authorhttps://www.targettraining.eu/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/logoWP.pngGuest Author2018-02-14 09:52:482018-02-05 14:01:28Making sure managers understand the importance of their role in developing our staff
Socializing and networking doesn’t come naturally to everyone. Whether it be a language issue or a question of skills and behaviors,many professionals struggle when networking and socializing with new people. How do you start a conversation when you walk into a meeting room and there are a lot of people you don’t know? Introducing yourself is the obvious first step: “Hi, my name’s Renate and I’m a member of the purchasing team.” … Easy… but what comes next? If you are shy this can be awkward in your own language – AND doing it in a foreign language can be really challenging! OurInCorporate Trainers often find that seemingly small challenges such as this can cause an unnecessary amount of pressure. A few trainers have come up with 50 phrases to help you break the ice and start a conversation. Many of the phrases can be used in any context – but some are only used in certain situations. You don’t need to remember them all just pick the ones you feel comfortable with and can say naturally.
Collecting someone from reception
Did you have any problems finding us?
Did you find the parking area ok?
How are things going?
I like your laptop bag. Where did you get it?
Do you know…?
What are you hoping to get out of today?
How was your weekend?
Did you hear that…?
What have you been up to lately?
Are many of your colleagues coming today?
Waiting for the presentation/meeting to start
Is it OK if I sit here?
I don’t think we’ve met before. My name is…
Where are you from?
I think you were at the XXX meeting last month, weren’t you?
Do you know what the Wi-Fi code is?
When did you arrive?
What brings you here today?
How was your journey?
Nice weather / terrible weather, isn’t it?
I could really use a coffee. Do you know where the machine is?
During the coffee break
Do you mind if I join you?
How’s the coffee?
Can I pour you a coffee?
What do you think of it so far?
I was a bit late this morning; did I miss anything in the first 10 minutes?
Which department are you in?
Don’t you work with…?
I can’t believe how many people are here today.
Do you find it hot in here?
I found it interesting that XX said …?
During lunch
Is this seat taken?
So, what do you think of this morning?
Have you eaten here before?
How’s your steak / fish etc.?
Have you had a good day so far?
Do you know many people here?
Do you know what the program is for this afternoon?
How did you get into this business?
What do you do?
Did you travel in today or come last night?
After a presentation/meeting
What did you think of today?
What’s been the highlight of the day for you?
What have you learned today?
I liked what xxx said about yyy.
How’s today been for you?
What do you think about…?
What are you working on at the moment?
How long have you been working here?
Are you taking a taxi to the hotel/ train station / airport ?
Do you have any plans for the weekend?
Even more resources
You’ve now got 50 practical phrases and of course there are many, many more. Here are 5 more tips for you.
Pay attention to how others start a conversation. Then see if this works for you.
https://www.targettraining.eu/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/shutterstock_518683495.jpg38405760ian taylorhttps://www.targettraining.eu/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/logoWP.pngian taylor2018-02-01 13:42:222018-02-06 15:26:5050 ways to start a conversation in English at work
When we run seminars on influencing skillswe typically start off by exploring a couple of fundamental questions – one of them being how do people feel about the idea of influencing others and being influenced? Over the years we’ve had a surprising range of responses including “If I’m the manager why must I influence -people should just do what I say” to “influencing is manipulating” to “I’m open to new ideas and approaches – but our colleagues in the order management department aren’t!”. As a trainer these are always great places to start – opinions are on the table and we can openly discuss them. When we dig deeper these opinions often link into personal experiences of how people have influenced (or not). So how do people influence each other?
Broadly speaking there are two approaches to influencing people – to push and to pull. When we “push” we are directive. We know what we want to see happen, where we want to go, what needs to be different etc. And when we “pull” we are looking for a joint agreement, for collaboration, discussion, commitment. There are different pushing styles and pulling styles, plus strategies, tactics and skills to learn BUT neither approach is inherently wrong. Influencing and manipulating draw on the same skills but with different intents. They both have pros and cons– and neither approach work without considering other key factors too.
Factors to consider when seeking to influence somebody
When we try to influence somebody it helps to take a step back and reflect on what we know. What is the environment, the situation, the relationship and most importantly – what do you know about who you are trying to influence? How successful you’ll be always depends upon what you know about the other person. Examples of practical questions to ask yourself when trying to influence somebody include:
how do they see things?
what is their context?
how they communicate?
how do they like to be communicated with?
how do they take in information and make decisions?
what are their experiences – with me, with change, with the theme I’m talking about
what turns then on? What turns them off??
what do they want to happen, not want to happen and why?
what are their hopes and fears?
Who else has an influence upon them? and does this influence help or hinder?
What is in it for them? their colleagues? Their organization?
First seek to understand the other person – a transcultural truth
The more you understand the person you are seeking to influence the more effectively you can influence them. As dale Carnegie said in How to win friends and influence people “I love strawberries. But whenever I go fishing I bait my hook with worms. This is because fish like worms – not strawberries.”
In English we have expression like put yourself in their shoes, put yourself in their place, see the world through their eyes and walk a mile in their shoes. And of course the idea of putting yourself in somebody else’s shoes is transcultural! Germans say eine Meile in seinen Schuhen gehen, Italians mettersi nei miei panni, French se mettre à la place de quelqu’un … All cultures- whether it be Europe, the Americas, Africa or Asia and the Pacific have similar expressions.
Put simply, if you want to influence somebody then seek to understand where they are and who they are. Start by understanding their situation, use your emotional and social intelligence and then adapt.
And if, like me, you’ve got the song “Walk a mile in my shoes” going around in your head now .. here it is.
https://www.targettraining.eu/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/influence.jpg7551416Scott Leveyhttps://www.targettraining.eu/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/logoWP.pngScott Levey2018-01-17 13:08:072018-06-06 12:29:15The power of putting yourself in their shoes when influencing people
The move to delivering presentations virtually isn’t natural for most of us. Put simply, it feels weird. So here’s the good news. Most of the core principles behind what makes an effective presentation still apply. You need to know: what your message is, reflect on who your audience is, merge your message with their interests, have a clear structure, etc. In many ways delivering a presentation virtually requires the same knowledge and skills … but there are differences too. If you are a beginner to making presentations online there are 2 areas to think about –preparation and delivery. Our clients often tell us the delivery stage is the area that worries them most BUT we can’t emphasize enough that making changes to the way you plan your virtual presentation is where you set the scene for success. This blog post looks at the planning stage.
When you start planning your virtual presentations the 3 big questions to ask yourself are
How am I going to keep their attention?
What can I do in advance to feel more comfortable?
What if something goes wrong with the technology?
How am I going to keep their attention during my presentation?
Your audience’s attention span (how long they’ll concentrate on you and your message ) is shorter online than off line. This is partly because they won’t have you to focus on in person, partly because they will have other distractions tempting them away (emails, watching colleagues etc) … and partly because they can pay less attention and you won’t notice. So, to keep their attention you need to
Make your virtual presentation as short as possible. No advice we can give you will help your audience stay focused for 2 hours. Aim for 40 minutes maximum and break it into 2 parts if it’s longer.
Stay away from text heavy slides. We can read at least twice as fast as we can listen to you speak [http://www.humanfactors.com/newsletters/human_interaction_speeds.asp] This means if all your information is written on the slide your audience will have read it before you are even half-way through talking about it. Your audience will then tune out and start doing something else while you tell them what they just read.
This means you need to rethink the way you design your slides. Your slides will often be the primary visual link you have to your listener. This means your slides need to be very visual – one powerful pictures is better than many, unusual images will recapture their attention and diagrams need to be clear. Compare the 2 examples below.
What can I do in advance to feel more comfortable?
If this is your first time presenting virtually then
Know your content! This is obviously equally true when you make a presentation “in the flesh” but our experience is that presenters are more likely to turn “knowing content” into lots of notes and then read from them when they present virtually. I remember one purchaser who wrote a complete script including notes when to pause! Reading rather than speaking is going to really impact your energy levels, make you sound less natural and ultimately encourage your audience to start multi-tasking. You need to know what you want to say so you can focus on how you say it. (more in part 2)
Practice and practice again – If this is your first time then you can’t spend enough time practicing with someone else or set up a second computer so you can see what they’ll see. This will help you feel in control, more confident any your audience will thank you for it. Keep in mind that this is a learning curve and the sooner you start the better. DO NOT just work it out as you go along!
Think about the environment you’ll be presenting from and try to limit distractions and interruptions. If you can, present from a meeting room which is quiet. Presenting from your desk in a large open office is going to be tough no matter how much experience you have.
Finally, you need to invest time in knowing your web or video conferencing platform really well! This is where a practice runs adds value. Almost all conferencing tools have getting started tours, how tos and tips and user guides. Some even offer free online courses. Use them and become comfortable with your technology.
What if something goes wrong with the technology?
This is less likely than you think but something going wrong with the technology is often top of most first-time presenter’s fears. Here are 3 things you can do …
Practice using the system. The more practice you have the more you’ll trust it. I know I’m repeating myself and I’ll do it again … practice using the system.
Make sure your computer is updated, that you have a second power source (don’t rely on just your battery) and that you’ve closed any programs you won’t need
Organize for a more experienced colleague to be on hand (sometimes called a “producer”). When you are making presentations to larger audiences this “extra pair of hands in cyberspace” is essential. You focus on the presentation and they focus on the technology.
To summarize
Success starts with planning your content, adapting your visuals, knowing your content so you can speak naturally, controlling your environment and being ready for the dreaded technical problem.There’s a lot more to presenting in a virtual environment and some of those things will be discussed in a future post. In the meantime, here’s an eBook that will help you deal with all of your presentations stress – virtual or not.
https://www.targettraining.eu/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/shutterstock_519472432-e1511432516473.jpg16554020Scott Leveyhttps://www.targettraining.eu/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/logoWP.pngScott Levey2017-12-07 11:08:272018-02-05 14:25:42Your first virtual presentation – practical planning tips for beginners
There are times in negotiations when we can be too focused on our own position. If we want to get the best outcome then we need to find out why the other side asks what it asks, offers what it offers, and wants what it wants. One of the most effective ways of doing this is by adopting an “investigative mindset” – and then actively listening to what is (or is not) said. Harvard Business School Professors Deepak Malhotra and Max Bazerman set out 5 key principles that underpin this method.This post provides a simple overview of the 5 principles, offers useful phrases for those looking to further improve their business English, and closes with some great suggestions for further reading.
Find out what your counterparts want – and why they want it
Asking questions to uncover needs and priorities is essential in any negotiation. The sooner you can find out what your counterparts wants AND WHY they want it, the sooner you can build solutions. Malhotra and Bazerman give the example of an US pharmaceutical company negotiating exclusive rights for an ingredient from a small European supplier. Despite the pharma company’s best offers, the supplier refused to agree to exclusivity. It was clear the smaller company had no chance of securing such a large order from any other customer – so what was going on?
With the negotiation in deadlock the American negotiator decided to ask a simple question “Why wouldn’t they grant exclusivity?” The reason was equally simple – the supplier was selling a small amount of the ingredient to a family member who needed it to manufacture a product sold locally. A new offer was made and quickly accepted – the European firm would provide exclusivity except for a small annual amount for the supplier’s cousin.
Discover your counterparts’ constraints – and then help them relieve them
Whenever we go into a negotiation we always have limits. In fact having your BATNA clear up front is a must if you don’t want to leave the negotiation with regrets. These limits are influenced and/or restricted by external forces – pricing, strategy, risk, relationships etc. And just as you have limits, so does your counterpart. When your counterpart’s limits seem to be unreasonable or rigid, ask investigative questions to better understand what is behind the scenes. What is going on? Why is somebody responding like that? How can you help them remove their constraints or concerns?
Understand what is behind a demand – and then look to interpret them as opportunities
When our negotiating partner makes “excessive demands” we feel attacked and can become defensive. We then focus on either avoiding, mitigating, or even combatting this demand. The response of an investigative negotiator is to understand what is behind the demand and what they can actually learn from it. How can they reframe the demand from a threat to an opportunity? Malhotra and Bazerman article illustrates this nicely with the story of a construction company closing a major deal. Just before the deal was closed the property developer introduced a game-changing penalty clause for late completion. In this case, reframing looked like “why was this penalty clause so important?” which led to “ timely completion was hugely important” which then led to “was the developer interested in completion ahead of schedule?“ . The negotiation concluded with the construction company agreeing to pay higher penalties than proposed and with a sizable bonus for early completion.
Look to create common ground
Despite the pervasive mantras of “partnership” and “win-win”, too often when we are in a negotiation it we end up with “”sides”. My side and your side, you are my competitor etc …This means that we miss out on opportunities to create value. Investigative negotiators focus on genuinely exploring areas of mutual interest to find real common ground. This can be especially important when negotiating across cultures.
When things don’t work out keep on investigating
Even after rejection, there is nothing to be lost, and actually much to be gained, by asking “What would it have taken for us to reach agreement?” or “Can you explain to me why we lost this business? … as I’d like to learn for next time”. It is much easier to get unguarded information when there is no deal to be done. If you don’t know what went wrong, how can you improve your approach in similar future negotiations? And of course there is always a chance of actually reopening negotiations based on the new insight.
Useful language and further reading for negotiators
As Deepak Malhotra wrote “In the end, negotiation is an information game. Those who know how to obtain information perform better than those who stick with what they know.”
Using investigative questions
What is important to you?
Why is this important?
What is it you need?
Which part of my suggestion can you accept? Not accept? And why?
Why can/can’t you ?
Building and practising active listening skills
Active listening (as the name suggests) is when you actively and fully concentrate on what is being said, rather than just passively hearing the words. Communication theory breaks what is being said into two elements – the content and the context. Content is the what – the data, the facts, the information etc. Context refers to everything else that is going on when somebody speaks with you – the relationship, the background, the situation, the emotions etc. Active listening involves paying close attention to the content being shared AND the contextual components between the listener (the receiver) and the speaker (the sender). Skilled active listeners can hear the what PLUS interest, emotion, concern, energy and other contextual factors from the speaker’s perspective. And they can hear what isn’t being said.
https://www.targettraining.eu/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/listen.jpg364875ian taylorhttps://www.targettraining.eu/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/logoWP.pngian taylor2017-11-27 10:24:232018-02-05 14:10:45The importance of asking investigative questions in negotiations – and how to do this in English
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. The one thing this highly diverse group did have in common was their tendency to talk too much during their presentations. Why is that a problem you ask? Aren’t we supposed to talk when presenting…isn’t that the point? Of course it is, but there is a time when silence, or a nicely timed pause, works in your favor as the presenter. We spent a lot of time working on the usage of pauses andsilencein their presentations with great results. So, I’d like to share with you 6 practical ways that silence can improve your presentations:
It slows you down
Many people struggle with speaking too quickly when they are presenting. This can be due to nerves, having a lot to cover in a short period of time, etc. Building planned pauses into your presentation allows you to slow things down, collect yourself and focus on enunciating your message to the audience.
It helps your audience absorb and retain your message
Using a strategic pause after stating your walk away message can allow it to better ‘sink in.’ I’d suggest doing this more than one time throughout your presentation at it will reinforce what you want the audience to do/think/feel after listening to your presentation.
It helps non-native speakers ‘catch up’
Many of our clients present in their second language, English, to an audience who are receiving the message in their second or third language. Regardless of how talented someone may be in a second or third language, they still need more time to process things compared to their native language. Using pauses can give the audience ‘space to breath’ and make sure they fully comprehend what you are saying.
“Silence is one of the great arts of conversation.”
Marcus Tullius Cicero
It shows willingness to listen and take questions
When a speaker is ‘speed-talking’ through their points, an audience can feel that things are rushed and there is no time for questions. Fielding and asking questions in a presentation can work in the speaker’s favor if handled correctly. It involves the audience and gives the presenter a chance to reinforce their walk away message in a context that matters to the audience.
It emphasizes important points
Silence is an effective tool to emphasize important points, build positive suspense and highlight things that need to be clarified. Mark Twain once said, “The right word may be effective, but no word was ever as effective as a rightly timed pause.”
It shows confidence, control and poise
Most of us get nervous and experience stress when speaking in public. The important thing is not show it when presenting if possible. Using pauses and silence throughout your presentation will give you the breaks you need to collect yourself and refocus if need be.
Try it for yourself…
Using pauses and silence when speaking doesn’t come natural for a lot of people. It takes practice and being open to feedback from colleagues or friends. One quick and easy activity to practice using pauses is as follows:
Write down 2 sentences on what you will do after work today. For example: I will finish work at 6pm and head to the supermarket. After shopping, I will go home and cook dinner for my family.
Read the 2 sentences out loud as you normally would.
Now, read the 2 sentences again out loud, but this time with a 3 second pause in between them. (count to 3 in your head between the sentences)
It sounds like a simple exercise, but many people have a hard time waiting the full three seconds to start the second sentence. Try this with a colleague at work over lunch. Ask each other how it sounds and how you feel. Try it a few more times and then try using it at least once the next time you speak in front of people.
We have all heard the phrase ‘Silence is golden’. Whether you agree with this or not, try to use a little bit of it in your next presentation. I think you will be pleased with the results, and your audience will be too.
https://www.targettraining.eu/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/shutterstock_231586381.jpg20003898Guest Authorhttps://www.targettraining.eu/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/logoWP.pngGuest Author2017-11-23 10:23:362018-02-05 14:13:176 reasons why silence is golden in presentations
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. Just sitting passively in a training session once a week isn’t enough. The good news is that according to popular research into language learning, we are all born autonomous learners. It is in our nature to be proactive, explore, and respond to our environment. We naturally take charge of our learning by setting ourselves goals and we are driven by our own motivations and needs. This could be getting a promotion at work, being able to participate effectively in a meeting, working confidently on an international project or giving a successful presentation. To help you learn autonomously, knowing effective ways you can improve your business English independently is essential. Here are some tried and tested strategies to improve your Business English by yourself!
Set yourself learning goals
Setting yourself goals is motivating in anything you do and a great way to understand your own learning process. These goals can be daily, weekly or monthly and ones, which are achievable and realistic. Try to focus on SMART goals (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-bound). Your goals can be as simple as “I will record and learn 10 new business phrases I can use in project meetings”. Once you have set yourself a goal you can assess yourself using simple online tools such as Quizlet. You can also download the app on your phone in order to review and assess progress on the go!
Immersion
Put yourself in real life situations where you have to use business English. Take every opportunity to speak to your international business colleagues. Instead of writing an email, go ahead and pick up the phone! Try to participate in meetings, events, conferences and projects where you have the opportunity to practice. Communicate and socialize with English speakers you know at work or out of work, this could be going for a coffee, lunch or dinner.
Watch and listen
Try to take a little time every day to watch or listen to business related resources online. This could be news, podcasts, or videos. The more you watch and listen to business English, the more you will train this skill and the easier it will get when you have a real situation at work. The web is full of resources but to get you started TED Talks always has interesting speakers, The BBC’s Business Daily site has plenty of videos and audio reports and check out the Harvard Business Reviews’ Ideacast (also available on itunes) and videos.
Recording new vocabulary
Keep a small notebook or use your notes on your phone to record useful/ relevant business English phrases and words. If you want to get more creative, I suggest using a voice recorder to record this information. Instead of just writing the English word and the equivalent in your language, try to also write an example sentence, something relevant/ personal to you and something you are likely to remember e.g. Word: negotiate “We had to negotiate with the supplier to get the best price”. Try to review the new vocabulary daily in order to internalize it and challenge yourself to use a new word during your next meeting, in an email or on a presentation slide.
Writing practice
Start by downloading Grammarly. This is a free tool with which you can check all daily emails, presentations and documents in order to avoid grammar mistakes and punctuation errors. You can also keep a diary of your day or about your learning experience, which will give you some extra writing practice and is a great strategy for self-reflection. I train a senior project manager who takes 10 minutes at the end of each day to write notes on reflections, insights and ideas. He does this to practice writing notes in English to help with his many meetings, but also to ensure he has reflection time and can focus on what is important to his project.
Reading business related material
Reading improves all areas of a language, including vocabulary, grammar, spelling and writing. The more you read the more input the brain gets about how the language works. Context helps you figure out meaning and repetition of vocabulary helps you remember the words. If you don’t want to read long articles or blogs you can always download Twitter and subscribe to news or anything of interest to get your 15 minutes of reading practice a day. Our blog is a great place to start so bookmark it and there are plenty of online magazines and newspapers which are free.
The single most important thing though is to .. do something regularly.
https://www.targettraining.eu/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/shutterstock_372402223.jpg26633994Hooria Mahmoodhttps://www.targettraining.eu/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/logoWP.pngHooria Mahmood2017-10-30 13:48:182018-02-05 14:30:516 ways to improve your Business English by yourself
Nearly half a century ago Laurence J. Peter published his seminal work on selection and promotion, “The Peter Principle”. In this satirical look at why things go wrong in businesses, he argued that the selection of a candidate for a position is based on the candidate’s performance in their current role, rather than on abilities relevant to the intended role. Thus, employees only stop being promoted once they can no longer perform effectively, and “managers rise to the level of their incompetence.” His theory is so convincing that you feel it must be one of those natural laws that is just simply true, and indeed the Peter Principle is based on the behavioural observation that there is a strong temptation for people to use what has worked before, even when this might not be appropriate for the new situation.
Over the last couple of decades I have had the impression that the Peter principle is either out of fashion or no longer as relevant. Management training is now so widespread that all managers are now allegedly agile, change agents, ace communicators and inspirational. Yet intuitively I have always felt the Peter Principle in its elegant simplicity must still hold true, so you can imagine my relief when I came across an article in the Times by Alexandra Frean entitled, “Rise of the accidental manager lies behind UK’s low productivity”. She uses the term ‘accidental managers’ and explains “they have excelled in their role and are rewarded with promotion to a management position that is entirely different from the job they have been doing, only to flounder when they get there.” Does this sound familiar? The focus of her article is that accidental managers are more prevalent in the UK and account for the UK’s poor productivity. According to Ann Francke, head of the Chartered Management Institute (CMI), four out of five bosses in Britain are accidental managers; so 2.4 million managers are probably not delivering to full capability. And international comparisons indicate UK managers perform 30% below the benchmarked countries of Germany and Scandinavia. Francke does not agree that good managers are born not made and makes an impassioned plea for more and better training.
Which neatly brings us on to the question: What does effective management training look like? Here are four thoughts to consider:
Invest early
Building skills, knowledge and behaviors in young managers can provide spectacular results for years to come! Simply teaching and training simple skills for managing the task, the team and the individuals, does yield real returns. More investment at the beginning is a must especially training solutions for when they first move into management .
Show the managers that their managers care about the training
Research consistently shows that when a training participant’s manager shows interest and involvement this is the single most important factor in transferring the training to the workplace. Involvement starts with explaining the purpose of the training and linking it to values, strategy and concrete business needs. It finishes with senior managers who are committed to delivering results through developing performance. And keep this human!
Fewer models
There are hundreds of management, communication, team, interpersonal dynamics, and strategy models. Good management training understands that models can be useful BUT they need to be simple to grasp, easy to remember and actionable. And be aware of trying to bend a model out of shape just to fulfil a trainer’s desire to show how everything fits. Managers can deal with complexity too!
Skill drills beat bullet points
It’s not what you know it’s what you do as a manager that counts. Discussing the role of feedback, exploring SCARF, sharing horror stories can be useful BUT the most important things is to get managers practicing, practicing and practicing. Skill drills change behaviors and build confidence. Yes, role-plays aren’t real but they give you an opportunity to experiment and practice! And my experience is that investing in business actors always add value too. This is why Target’s own leadership and management programs focus on doing (again and again).
https://www.targettraining.eu/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/shutterstock_392321632-e1507192642562.jpg13332000Tony Normanhttps://www.targettraining.eu/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/logoWP.pngTony Norman2017-10-05 13:35:112018-02-07 09:53:55Does the Peter Principle still hold true? (And what you can do to develop your managers.)
5 things you can do to make virtual training a success
/in Methods & Tools, Soft Skills /by Scott LeveyE-learning has been around since 1960 and the “virtual meeting room” is not a new idea either. Many companies already have experience with learning via online platforms or mobile learning, and already have some type of tool to meet and collaborate virtually. The jump from meeting virtually to training virtually seems simple – and it is, if you carefully consider what it will take to make the virtual training successful. Here are a few things we have learned during 7 years of virtual delivery. The posts 5 questions you definitely need to ask when you are setting up a virtual training program and getting started with virtual delivery have more information on this topic.
Work with a trainer who can design, deliver and debrief with confidence in a virtual environment
Clients come to us with the experience they have with face-to-face training. They know what they can achieve in a one-day seminar and they are looking to transfer this experience to a virtual training environment. However, not everything is directly transferable. In a face-to-face session a trainer observes, reacts and adapts on the fly. They constantly monitor what’s working, and what isn’t, what people are getting and what not etc. In a way, the trainer “feels” how the training is going. With virtual delivery, trainers have less opportunity to do that. A common response for the trainer is to focus a lot more on the content rather than the training dynamics … which can turn the training into a lecture.
Virtual training demands trainers with new skills, qualifications and experience. You need an experienced trainer who can design, deliver and debrief with confidence in a virtual environment.
Create time for interactions
As touched upon above, in a face-to-face seminar it’s easy and natural for interactions to occur – either with the trainer or between participants. When you deliver training virtually this becomes much harder. Don’t assume that interaction will occur easily. It’s much more challenging for groups to actually get together and get a feel for each other in a virtual environment. An experienced and qualified trainer finds workarounds: Interactions are planned, activities are scripted carefully and more time is allocated for group and pair activities.
Keep the training groups small
The difficulty level of enabling and encouraging interaction means that smaller groups (not larger groups) are a must in a virtual environment. Our experience is if you want to go beyond knowledge transfer to building skills and changing behaviours, a group of 6 is ideal. The more participants you have beyond 6, the harder the interaction becomes, and the more likely it is that somebody tunes out and/or starts multi-tasking – and the more time the trainer needs to spend on monitoring and controlling the technical environment and not focusing on the individuals themselves.
For groups above 8 you should use a skilled and experienced “producer”. A producer supports the trainer in managing the virtual environment, monitoring interactions, setting up breakout rooms and maintaining speed, flow and interaction etc. An experienced technical producer can easily enable the trainer to work with 12+ participants.
Deliver several sessions of max. 2.5 hours instead of one long session
A full day face-to-face seminar won’t translate into a full-day virtual seminar. People can’t concentrate for that long in a virtual environment. Our experience is that 2 – 2 ½ hours is the maximum length for a single session. This means that you should be thinking about three 2-hour virtual sessions to equal one day of face-to-face training. You can cover a similar amount of training in the same time BUT if you are delivering the training virtually you have to redesign the approach and split it up and break it down.
Plan carefully, when working with multiple time zones
One benefit of virtual training is that anyone anywhere can join. We encourage you not to get carried away with that. It may save you money but you will lose the full effectiveness of the training. In our experience, it’s a huge challenge for the participants and the trainer when some are joining at six in the morning, some during the post-lunch lull, and some at six in the evening. Respecting people’s concentration spans and environments will pay off in the end.
For more information
If you are new to virtual delivery, looking to ramp up your virtual delivery or interested in making your virtual training more interactive and valuable then find an experienced partner or a consultant. We could be the one for you, who knows. If you’re thinking of starting with virtual training put out an RFP, be clear about what you want to achieve and ask for suppliers to tell you what you need in order to make it work.
Getting started with virtual delivery
/in Methods & Tools, Soft Skills /by Scott LeveyAlthough many professionals, managers and training managers know of virtual delivery there is still some confusion as to what it is and how it works. Here are some common questions we get asked when supporting our clients in integrating virtual training into their learning strategies. For more information on this topic, see also 5 questions you definitely need to ask when you are setting up a virtual training program.
What do we mean when we talk about virtual training or virtual delivery?
Virtual training (also known as virtual delivery or remote delivery) is training where one or more of the participants is not in the same room as the trainer. Training is delivered using one of the many “unified communication platforms”. This term includes web conferencing tools such as WebEx Training Center, Adobe Connect, Go Meeting or Skype for Business and video conferencing services such as BlueJeans or Polycom.
People often think of virtual training as an international solution. For example, we’ve delivered a virtual session with the trainer based in Frankfurt, Germany and having participants in Hawaii, Boston, Luxembourg and Singapore. However, if you have a trainer in one location on a site and you have participants on the same site/same country but in different rooms – that’s virtual training too.
How does virtual delivery differ from e-learning or webinars?
These terms are often defined by a training supplier’s marketing department, but typically most L&D professionals will agree that:
What does virtual training give you that a webinar doesn’t?
Put simply, virtual training is about learning through interaction, engagement and personalization – it is active learning. This includes learning from the trainer, learning from personal experiences and from each other via e.g. discussions and experience sharing. Webinars are comparable with lectures or online presentations – learning is passive and based solely around the speaker and the content they are sharing.
How many participants can you train virtually at the same time?
Surprisingly, many people assume that virtual means more participants. This is often based around experiences in webinars with 50 people plus. In a face-to-face training seminar, we would never try and deliver training to 50 participants in the same room. Typically, we suggest 8-12 participants with 14 being a maximum. Years of experience have shown us that an ideal number for highly-interactive virtual training is about 6-8 people. With a small group like this you can make sure that people have a chance to interact with each other in a more intimate way, using options like breakout rooms found in the more functional platforms such as WebEx Training Center or Adobe Connect. These breakout rooms offer the same benefits as integrating small group activities in a training room. This interaction is really important because a lot of the value of training, whether it’s virtual or face-to-face, is the interaction that the participants have with each other. They don’t just learn from the trainer but through each other too!
What is a producer and why do we need one?
A producer ensures that the virtual training runs smoothly and supports the virtual trainer in delivering an interactive, personalized and above all smooth training experience. This allows the trainer to manage up to 50% larger training groups too e.g. 8-12 participants. Their role includes:
For more information
At Target Training we offer all of our solutions in a virtual format too. This includes in-house Business English with our Virtual InCorporate Trainer , Presenting in a virtual environment and Working in and Leading virtual teams. If you would like to know more about our virtual solutions, save time and money and extend your training reach then please contact us. Finally, see here to read more about delivering training virtually.
6 Reasons Why You Should Eliminate Jargon From Your Presentations
/in Soft Skills /by Guest AuthorPresentations are all about communicating your message efficiently to your audience. You want to be considered as an authority on the subject matter. You might think that using jargon – shorthand words that are used in companies that operate in particular industries – will impress your audience and get them engaged. It’s more likely though, that they are having the opposite effect, especially if your audience’s second language is English. Target Training previously discussed the use of silence in presentations, and the same applies in eliminating jargon. To know more, below are the reasons why…
1. You Will Be Difficult to Understand
When used in the context of a work environment, technical terms act as shorthand between team members that make them work faster. Forbes notes that it’s a quick way to communicate. But when presenting to other departments or people outside your company, they are just words that typically sound complicated and daunting. . Menlo Coaching emphasised that you need to say exactly what you mean by using words and phrases that your audience will easily comprehend. Try to keep them as concise as possible.
2. Your Presentation Will Have No Recall Value
Even if there are people in the audience who are familiar with the technical terms you use, they will see right through you. They might get the notion that you are using catch phrases to make the topic (and yourself) more impressive. They will walk away from your presentation learning nothing new. If you really need to use jargon, make sure to elaborate on what you are trying to explain or give an example.
3. Jargon Will Lower People’s Opinion Of You
If you are the project leader and you’re teaching your team, the use of jargon might demoralize them. At best, they will see you as someone not considerate enough to deliver a talk that they can clearly and easily understand.
4. Your Audience Will Get Bored
When your presentation becomes incomprehensible due to too much jargon, boredom will soon set in. Their minds will wander to matters that take more priority. It may also lead to audience members chatting, which can generate noise that distracts others. Get their attention by stringing along words in a new way that they haven’t heard before. You have to be creative – and perhaps entertaining – to gain the audience’s attention.
5. You Will Alienate Your Audience
If you are trying to rally the members in the audience to a specific goal, you will lose them from both an emotional and logical standpoint. Even if they understood the message, they won’t have the drive to achieve it and vice versa. Leadership trainer Alan Matthews recommends stating your message in definite terms and allowing your audience to formulate the necessary actions/response. This will make them feel personally involved in the presentation.
6. The Presentation Will Waste People’s Time
Using generic and non-contextual phrases that confound the audience will make it seem like you’re just droning. You need to prioritize re-evaluating your presentation. Filter out all the jargon and try to limit the number of words in each sentence to deliver their basic meaning. Members of the audience may ask you to expound on some parts, but that’s better than leaving them drowning in a flood of corporate speak.
If you still think your use of jargon is effective, at least send a survey to the audience to get a gauge on your presentation style. If there appears to be a mismatch between the messages you are conveying and their perceptions, then maybe it’s time to toss that jargon glossary out the window.
About the author
Jean Browne works as a researcher and fact-checker for a career coaching firm in England. She occasionally engages in public speaking when giving seminars. In her spare time, she does freelance work as an events host and bingo caller, among others.
5 questions you definitely need to ask when you are setting up a virtual training program
/in Methods & Tools /by James CulverMore and more of our clients are embracing delivering training virtually. Many are striving towards a global training solution where everyone has access to the same high quality of training no matter where they are based. Others are need to cut travel costs. Some are moving towards bite-sized learning and providing training in smaller chunks. This growth in interest has meant that at Target Training, we’re finding ourselves frequently taking on a consulting role with those clients who have little or no experience in virtual training. Below are some of the key questions we’ve been encouraging our clients to ask themselves.
Q1. How much experience do your participants have working with virtual platforms?
It’s important to match the virtual platform you use for delivering training with your staff’s experience and comfort zones. How familiar are the participants joining the virtual training with virtual communication in general? What can they already do? And which systems do they regularly use for e.g. virtual meetings? Some participants using video conference tools every day for their regular check-ins with their virtual colleagues. In this kind of environment, you would want to take advantage of their skills and deliver training using a rich virtual platform with diverse and useful functionalities. Webex Training Center and Adobe Connect are great examples.
However if your staff are completely new to this kind of work and new to these platforms then don’t worry. Don’t spend a lot of money on a top-end virtual training platform when people can’t use the tools. There are a lot of simple yet effective platforms that could work for your people, and their simplicity means that they will probably have an easier time working with it and therefore use it more often. Consider Skype for Business, Polycom or BlueJeans.
Target tip – Choose a virtual training platform which matches your staff’s experience and comfort zone.
Q2. What is the lowest common denominator when it comes to your technical infrastructure?
Many of our clients are looking for pan-global training solutions for their staff around the world – everybody should be able to benefit from the same training. However, if in certain parts of the world the bandwidth available is very slow, cameras are disabled, sound cards aren’t standard etc this will inevitably cause problems and negatively impact the training. Either that person is going to have real difficulty fully participating in the training and/or it will also cause delays for everyone else.
You have 2 choices – either work with the lowest common denominators when it comes to your technical infrastructure and then adapt the training to this level OR choose to split the training group based on technical capabilities.
Target tip – Respect and adapt to the lowest common denominators when it comes to your technical infrastructure.
Q3. How much experience do your staff have in being trained virtually?
Connected to the first two questions, if you are going to set up virtual training approach for people who have had little or no experience of receiving virtual training before then you need to plan in time to teach them how to make the most of the virtual training environment. Your training provider should be able to do this for you. Part of this time will be spent training the participants on how to use the technology AND you also need to help your participants learn more about how virtual training can look and feel different. Comparing it to a classic face-to-face seminar won’t help.
If you are looking at virtual training for your virtual teams then you can kill 2 birds with one stone here – they will develop their virtual communication skills and strengthen their team at the same time!
Target tip – Invest a little time training people to learn and develop in a virtual training environment. This could be part of the very first session or a separate event.
Q4. How many people are you planning to invite to each virtual training session?
When it comes to classic face-to-face seminars most people are aware that if you want to keep the training interactive and relevant to each individual you need to limit the group size. Groups of 10- 14 are standard practice.
When it comes to virtual training many clients assume much larger groups are possible. Most of the time this is due to confusing e-learning and webinars with virtual training. The maximum number of people we would suggest inviting to a virtual training session is impacted by two factors.
Target tip – Keep training groups smaller than you normally would for face-to-face training. Invest in a producer when you want larger groups as it will be better value than running sessions twice.
Q5. What are we doing before or after the virtual training session to boost the learning and drive transfer to our workplace?
Think about how you can make this a more enriched learning environment, and how you can help your staff apply what they learn to their workplace. An example of pre- and/or post-training could be using your in-house learning management system. Maybe a “flipped classroom” work where a lot of the learning is inputted before the virtual training itself (meaning the virtual training session focuses on application)? How about individual accountability calls with the trainer after the training? Or on-the-job coaching delivered virtually as in our Presenting in a virtual environment training?
Target tip – Position the virtual training as part of a learning journey. Support managers and employees in understanding the role they play in maximizing the return on the training investment. This eBook can help you.

If you are interested in learning more about virtual training please reach out to us. We would love to help you.
Nine ways to Learn More … Effectively, Enjoyably and Easily!
/in Methods & Tools /by Guest Author1. I Can – Believe it or Believe it not!
As Henry Ford once said “Whether you believe you can do something or whether you believe you can’t you’re right!“ Decide to believe in yourself – your potential is infinite and your best has yet to come!
2. Creativity – yours is infinite – let it soar!
We are born creative! Even though we may not have used our creativity for a long time it’s still there waiting to be unleashed! Like the tin man in the Wizard of Oz, it may need a drop of oil! Today do something totally new or something old in a totally new way. Your creative ability is infinite. Observe any children at play and you will see infinite creativity in full swing! Let them inspire you!
3. Attention/Mindfulness – learn to relax and focus
Learn to put your attention where it’s needed most and on what’s truly important in the present moment. As our society continues to get faster and faster, the tendency is to cultivate a mind which is always “racing” and prone to distraction. We must learn to relax our minds. Learn meditation, relaxation, yoga, mindfulness, tai chi or similar forms of exercise which cultivate stilling your mind and improving your attention.
4. Newness – your brain thrives on newness!
When you first arrived on this planet everything was new and in those first few years you learnt to walk, talk, recognise, eat and much much more! In times of great change we learn greatly! So remember if we resist change, we are also resisting learning! So travel to a totally different culture, learn something you thought you couldn’t learn and continuously try new ways of doing old things. If it doesn’t work, so what, learn from it and try something different instead!
5. Learning Growth – Continuously aim to improve how you learn
Before learning anything set yourself a goal – the who, what, when, where, why, how of what you’re learning. Ask yourself – how will I know I’ve learnt it – how will you test yourself? Get an overview of what needs to be learnt. Use the left and right side of your brain – the logical and the creative. For example use colour, words, images, structure, movement, rhythm, excitement, humour. Above all make it an enjoyable experience! After achieving your learning goal ask yourself – what worked and what could be done better next time?
6. Exercise – Physical exercise – Body/Mind
Recent research in Japan showed that people who exercise three times a week for half an hour have mental abilities 30% greater than those who don’t. It really stands to reason – do you think you learn more effectively if you physically exercise regularly? Test it and see – take time to exercise. The exercise can be gentle like walking, swimming, cycling or whatever type of exercise you like.
7. Age – regularly exercise your mind
No matter how much of your brains potential you have used so far, there is always more to use – you have at least 100 billion brain cells. The reason that we believe “mental abilities get worse with age” is because most people believe it! There was a time when we all thought the world was flat as well! We were all wrong! Begin to believe that your … mental abilities can soar with age… exercise them and as they say “use it or lose it”.
8. Reinforce – keep noticing what’s working: The law of reinforcement
Whatever behaviour is reinforced will tend to be repeated – so keep on noticing what’s working and celebrate it! Keep on reinforcing what it is you would like more of in your life. Think about everything that is working, then ask yourself – how can I improve the rest?
9. Never give up learning to learn
Learning is growth. Growth is learning. Never stop learning. Never quit exploring. Your canvas awaits your creative masterpiece. Never give up learning! Never give up learning to learn!
Now if you’ve read this far, congrats and remember as Einstein said “the true power of knowledge is in its application”. Decide to take at least one action after reading this article and learn more … effectively, enjoyably and easily! Let us know how it goes!
Sean is a leading expert on how to use more of your minds infinite potential. Sean trains and coaches organisations and individuals worldwide to tap into some of this untapped infinite mental potential. With over 25 years of experience in the training industry, Sean has delivered training to many businesses and organisations worldwide. You can learn more about him at: www.MindTraining.biz
The secret L&D Manager: What do L&D Managers look for in a training offer?
/in Methods & Tools /by Guest AuthorThis 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 – as an L&D manager, an in-house trainer and as an external training provider.
What do you look for in a training offer?
First and foremost I want to see if the provider actually listened to me. I want to see some evidence that they understood what I was saying and had a clear grasp of my expectations. What I mean by that is the offer has to reflect my true needs and the information that I gave to them at the beginning. Next, I want to see some added value as well. Yes, I want to be sure that they listened to me but I also want them to bring something extra to the table. I guess I’m expecting them to show me that they are sharing some of their expertise and experience by offering me a new idea or a solution to a problem that I hadn’t thought about.
To be honest I don’t really want, or even need, a super-detailed offer document. In fact, the more I think about it the less likely I am to be impressed by a 50 page in-depth report with all the i’s dotted and t’s crossed. Let’s face it, we’re all very busy, so what I want to see is a document where they break it down into chunks so that I can get a clear look at what is going to happen and how they’re going to make it happen. Oh and not forgetting, the expected outcome at the end of the training. You know, what people can do better after they have been on the training course than they could before. That is after all why we’re sending them on a training course.
Obviously I want a clear understanding of how much the training solution is going to cost me. Yes, I know that it is not always possible to identify every possible cost but what I don’t want are any nasty surprises later in the process. You know, you suddenly find you’ve got a business class ticket you’re paying for. That’s going to be an issue.
If it’s the first offer from a new provider, what extras do you need?
Things are a bit different when it’s somebody you haven’t used before. If it’s the first time, I really want to see an example of what the training material looks like. That look and feel is very important to me. I want to be sure that the material looks professional and isn’t, for example, full of cartoons or hand-drawn pictures. On day 1, when our people walk into the training session and pick up the material for the first time, I want them to be impressed. First impressions matter.
Equally I want to know what they’re going to get at the end of the training. Are they going to get a whole slide pack, pdf documents of notes, and photographs of flipcharts? You know the sort of things I mean. Whatever it is I want to know that in advance. So samples are always a good idea.
Do you need any information about the providers in the offer?
Generally not, I like to do my homework before anybody gets to the offer stage with me. I want to feel reasonably confident that the provider is up to the job, whatever the job is. So before I even ask for an offer I will have done a fair bit of digging and that will include references from previous customers and things like that. That type of thing needs to be handled before an offer not during or after the process.
How many offers do you look at for one session?
Generally I want 2 or 3. Any more than that and I’m wasting my time digging around and doing a very bad job of filtering out the good offers in the first place. There are times when I know exactly what I’m looking for and then one provider will probably be fine. Sure, for me, as an internal training provider, it’s important to have multiple providers. But if there are courses where we only uses one particular provider I don’t have a problem with that.
What is your biggest frustration with offers?
I think the thing that frustrates me more than anything else is when you feel like you’re just getting the same thing that they send to everyone. It drives me mad! Why did I spend 2 hours explaining my situation to you and you send me a generic offer. That makes me feel like I’ve wasted my time. I never expect to buy, and probably never (or very rarely), buy an off-the-shelf product.
And there is one more thing. The one where you get an offer that has no mention whatsoever of the intended outcome and what we’re actually trying to achieve. I would say those are the 2 most frustrating things.
Who is the Secret L&D manager?
The Secret L&D manager is actually many L&D managers. They are real people who would prefer not to mention their name or company – but do want to write anonymously so they can openly and directly share their ideas and experience with peers. Also from the Secret L&D manager:
10 more sporting idioms you will hear in business meetings
/in Business English /by Guest AuthorLast 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 idioms you may hear around the office …
to take a rain check
From baseball, meaning ‘I can’t now, but let’s do it another time’. “Thanks for the invite to happy hour, but can I take a rain check? I need to get home for dinner with my family.”
a Hail Mary pass
From American football, meaning ‘a last minute, desperate attempt at something’. “We offered the client a 15% reduction in price as a Hail Mary to win their business.”
to touch base (with someone)
From baseball, meaning ‘get in contact with someone’. “Can you touch base with Chester next week to see how he is doing with the forecast numbers?”
a front runner
From horse racing, meaning ‘the person who is leading but hasn’t won yet’. “I think we are the front runner for the winning the account, but XYZ’s offer was also very strong.”
the ball is in (someone’s) court
From tennis, meaning ‘it is someone’s turn to take action or make the next move’. “I received an offer for a new job. The ball is now in my court to ask for more money or decline it.”
the home stretch
From horse racing, meaning ‘to be near the end” or ´to be in the last stage or phase’. “This has certainly been a challenging project, but we are now in the home stretch so let’s stay focussed and keep on schedule.”
to get the ball rolling
From ball games, meaning ‘to start something’. “OK, now we’re all here for today’s meeting let’s get the ball rolling. Heinz, can you start with an update on ….”
to keep your eye on the ball
From ball games, meaning ‘to stay alert’. “We have worked with this client before and we know that they can be chaotic. We need to keep our eyes on the ball, especially when it comes to safety on site.”
par for the course
From golf, meaning ‘something that is normal or to be expected’. ‘Jim was late for the meeting again today. That is par for the course with him.’
to strike out
From baseball, meaning ‘to fail at something’. ‘I have tried to get a meeting with the Head of Purchasing 5 times but have struck out each time.’
Quick fixes for 5 typical mistakes German speakers make in English
/1 Comment/in Business English /by Jonny WestGermans 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). In another study, 100% of German employers interviewed said that English skills are significant for their organization. Evidence like this shows why Germans are rightfully proud of their English skills – and the vast majority of Germans we work with want to be even better. If your first language is German, and you want to improve your English at work, you might find it frustrating that your English-speaking colleagues don’t correct you. After all, you can’t get better if you don’t know what you’re doing wrong! In this post, we’re going to take a look at a handful of German speaker errors that are really common in Business English. The good news? They’re really easily fixed..


1. “We discussed about last month’s figures at the meeting.”
In English we don’t discuss about something. To fix it, leave out the about after the verb discuss. So the correct English sentence is “We discussed last month’s figures at the meeting.” Keep in mind that you can use about after the noun “discussions” as in “There were discussions about last month’s figures at the meeting”.
2. “Good morning together.”
This is a direct translation of a lovely (and efficient) German way of greeting everyone at the same time. Logically, together, makes 100% sense but it doesn’t work in English. How can you fix it? As with about in the last example, cut it out completely. The correct English phrase is simply “Good morning”. You can also use alternatives like “Good morning everyone” or “Morning all” (informal)
3. “We see us tomorrow.”
This is also a direct translation from German. We don’t have an identical phrase in English, so it sounds understandable, but strange in English. In this case, you need to use another expression. So the correct English sentence is “We’ll see each other tomorrow”. You can also use “See you tomorrow.” or “Look forward to seeing you tomorrow.”
4. “I visit normally on Thursdays my clients in Bamberg.”
The word order is German. The sentence is 100% understandable, but it simply sounds wrong in English (likewise when English speakers speak German it can be understandable but grammatically wrong). Adverbs of frequency (words like: normally, sometimes, always, never) almost always go between the person (I) and the verb (visit). So, the correct English sentence is “ I normally visit my clients in Bamberg on Thursdays.”
5. “I work since five years by my company.”
There are only 8 words here, but there are actually 4 mistakes in this sentence.
Here’s how to fix it:
So, the correct English sentence is “I have been working for my company for five years.”
And if you’d like more practice then check out our latest Ebook “Common English mistakes (Germans make) and how to correct them”.
The Secret L&D manager: 4 questions for screening potential training providers
/in Methods & Tools /by Guest AuthorThis month’s Secret L&D manager is German, and works for a global telecommunications organization. He’s been working in training and development for over 20 years for a variety of organizations including automotive, financial services and higher education. He’s lived in multiple countries and is interested in balancing classic approaches with virtual learning and MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses). We asked him, “What questions do you ask potential training providers when they first approach you?”
This eBook is also available in German – follow the link below.
I get contacted by training providers on a regular basis, and to be honest how much time I give them depends a lot on what else is going on. However I’m always interested in new ideas which I think can add value to our associates here and do try to make time to ask questions and learn. I tend to get straight into things and want to take control of the conversation. I’ll ask questions like …
Tell me the two or three topics that you as a training provider are specialized in?
I’m not interested in working with training providers who say they can do everything. So what are the 2 or 3 things that you are good at? I want details. I want to see experience and innovative ideas. I want them to be able to talk me through activities and the “why” behind the activity.
If I feel they know about training and are not trying to promise the earth, my second question needs to be about their trainers. Knowing more about who their trainers are is hugely important to me and I need to know they’ll fit my training population. I ask something like ….
Who are your trainers? How do you find them? How do you select them? What is their background?
I was a trainer myself, and still do some internal training. I know the impact and potential of the training is realized (or limited by) by the person in the room – by the trainer. I want specifics and real examples from a potential training provider. I’m not interested in general broad-brush descriptions. I want to know who they would use to deliver a specific solution and to know why that person, what’s their experience, style etc.
I’d then ask …
Why do you think you’re different from all the other trainers and training providers that offer similar things?
Seriously, explain to me why what’s special or different about what you’re proposing? Otherwise, why should I change? If they stop and think about the answer, that’s fine. If they babble, then I’m not interested. For me a training provider needs to know themselves why they are different or special.
My last question would be something like …
Before we spend any more time on this can you explain your pricing model?
I want to know what they charge for a one-day, off-the-shelf training program. The kind of thing that’s really a commodity product. I want to know pricing for a customization and preparation, and I want to know if travel and expenses are included or not.
I want to find an example. I’ll pick something simple, so I know if their rates are competitive and if this actually makes sense to me and our situation. If you deliver a standard 2-day presentation skills training for me, what will the cost be for 10 people? And if it’s much more expensive than what I already have, or if I have no real reason to believe that they will be genuinely considerably better than my current solution, then that’s time saved for both sides. I also want a clear answer here.
I think these are my top four questions. These are pretty much what I need as a basis. If I’m interested, then I’d like to meet them in person and see where we go from there.
Who is the Secret L&D manager?
The Secret L&D manager is actually many L&D managers. They are real people who would prefer not to mention their name or company – but do want to write anonymously so they can openly and directly share their ideas and experience with peers. Also from the Secret L&D manager:
What should I do with my hands during a presentation?
/in Soft Skills /by George BarseWhether 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. Other research shows that gestures – more than actions themselves – impact our understanding of meaning. Put simply, you need to unleash the power of gestures when you present.
Your hands give you away (4 things not to do)
We have all seen somebody standing in front of a large group of people, trying to remain calm and hide their nervousness, and their hands giving them away. We can see they’re nervous and uncomfortable. When presenting, don’t:
4 Things to do with your hands when presenting
When you are presenting, the focus should be on you. Therefore, use everything in your arsenal to ensure your audience is interested and informed. By using your body to help emphasize your words, your presentation becomes more dynamic, and your audience is more likely to remember your message. Use your hands and arms; don’t leave them at your sides. Be aware of your body and how it can help you.
Open up
If you maintain a closed stance, the audience may suspect you are hiding something and won’t trust you. Remember not to cross your arms or to keep them too close together. You are not a T-Rex, so don’t keep your elbows glued to your ribs. Claim the space and show your hands.
Use broad gestures
These should fit with what you are saying and not be used randomly. You know what you are going to say, so now decide how you are going to say it. Your body is an extension of your voice, so it is important to use confident gestures while you are practicing your presentation. With practice, the gestures will become more natural and a part of your dynamic speaking style. Use your hands to emphasize, to contrast or even to convey emotions in your story.
Show an open palm
By keeping your hands open and showing the audience your open palms, you are showing you have nothing to hide. The audience are more likely to feel they can trust you, and that you are sincere in your message.
The Palm Sideways
This is like holding your hand as though you were going to shake another person’s hand. This gesture is used to impress upon the audience the point you are making. You are opening up your message and showing them what is inside. You can also use this to point … without using your finger.
Videos
And keep in mind that you don’t necessarily need to be flamboyant and bounce around. You just need to be authentically you! This Target Training video from James Culver on storytelling is a great example of how smaller and gentle movements can be natural and still reinforce the message.
What to do with your hands when you’re presenting
Two excellent and short video displaying tips and tricks.
4 essential tips
From the 2014 Toastmasters International world champion of public speaking Dananjaya Hettiarachchi. You may feel that Hettiarachchi is a little theatrical for a business scenario, but the 4 tips are directly transferable!
Body language
This video is longer (just under 14 minutes) but comprehensive. It covers all areas of body language when presenting and is definitely worth watching.
If you’d like more tips on presenting in general…
We have 37 blog posts related to presenting on our blog. Two further eBooks on presentations are available to download in the sidebar: “Presentation Models” and “Presenting with IMPACT.” Or, one of our seminars on this topic might be just what you need:
Getting people to read (and respond to) your emails
/in Business English /by George BarseAs everyone already knows, email is ubiquitous – in both our private and professional lives. Emails are easy to write and send – and we are inundated with them daily. As an in-house business English trainer at a major production site, I see daily the frustrations this can cause – not just for those receiving 90+ mails day (or 1 every 5 minutes!), but also for those sending the mails – knowing they may need to wait a while before hearing a reply. Recently, a manager I train in the automotive industry asked “How can I increase the chances that people respond to my emails?”
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! So put away those thesauruses and get rid of those dependent clauses! Simple, concise writing is a main driver in increasing your response rate. As with any writing, placing your reader’s needs first is a must. There is no one magic formula for guaranteeing that people will respond to your email, but it’s important that you write emails that people will read. The tips outlined below will definitely tip the odds in your favour!
Short, simple and obvious subject lines of only 3-4 words get the most responses. The most important thing, though, is to make sure the meaning is clear. Clarity beats ambiguity every time! Military personnel often use keywords e.g. ACTION, REQUEST, DECISION, INFO. This helps the reader immediately understand the purpose of the email. Then, just a couple more words to clarify the subject.
Example:
TIP 2 – Use simple language
As part of my job, I work with engineers providing on-the-job English training. Last week Klaus (not his real name) asked me to help him understand a mail from a supplier. Klaus was struggling to understand …“Hitherto now, I have been unable to place the whereabouts of your aforementioned order, to which I would like to offer the following proposal, able to be fulfilled forthwith”.
Working together with Klaus we simplified it into “We’re sorry but we can’t find the order you mentioned in your email. However, we can suggest the following immediate solution …”. As Klaus rightly said – why didn’t they just say that?
TIP 3 – Write human
In addition to simplicity, write with emotion! It doesn’t matter if that emotion is positive or negative, writing with any emotion is better than writing a neutral email with absolutely no emotion. The bottom line is: use a believable amount of emotion without getting too hostile or overly-sentimental.
Example of increasing positive emotion:
Example of increasing negative emotion:
TIP 4 – Write short sentences and paragraphs
When writing your email, make sure it’s an appropriate length. Imagine if you received a novel in your inbox. Would you even bother to read the first sentence? Probably not! The optimal length of an email is roughly 50-125 words, and the response rate slowly drops off as the emails get longer. When you really need to write longer emails use sub-headings to break the text up.
TIP 5 – Keep the dialogue moving with clear questions
One final way to increase the chances your email will receive a response is to include a task, so ask a few questions! Otherwise, the recipient will most likely assume the purpose of your email is nothing more than to inform. Statistically, 1-3 questions are optimal. Any longer and it becomes a questionnaire, which quickly sends the email to the “do later” box. As I wrote earlier, you won’t get a response to every email you write, but you can change how you write your emails so that you are more likely to get a response when it counts most! And remember to use the phone or video calls if something is important, urgent or contains an emotional message.
Keep on developing your email writing skills with these blog posts
And if you’re looking for training (delivered virtually or face to face) then check out …
Watch, listen and learn: 3 great TEDx talks on listening
/in Soft Skills /by Scott LeveyMany of our communication skills seminars involve practical listening activities, and occasionally we get requests solely for listening skills. But it’s arguably wrong to see listening as one of many “communication skills” – listening is so much more fundamental than that. Listening builds trust, strengthens relationships, and resolves conflicts. It’s fundamental in everything we do. In a HBR article “the discipline of listening”, Ram Charan shared what many of us already know: Not every manager is a great listener. Charan’s own “knowledge of corporate leaders’ 360-degree feedback indicates that one out of four leaders has a listening deficit, “the effects of which can paralyze cross-unit collaboration, sink careers, and if it’s the CEO with the deficit, derail the company.” Good managers need to know how to listen – and great managers know how to listen well. And because we know you’re busy we’ve taken the time to find 3 TEDx talks for you listen to.
William Ury is the co-author of “Getting to Yes”, the bestselling negotiation book in the world. This is a great video exploring what genuine listening really is, why it’s so important and how to take our first steps to improving our listening. He explains why he feels that listening is “the golden key to opening doors to human relationships” and why the skill of listening needs to be actively practiced every day. Ury uses stories of conversations with presidents and business leaders to show the simple power of listening: how it helps us understand the other person, how it helps us connect and build rapport and trust, and how it makes it more likely that you’ll be listened to too.
The Power of Deliberate Listening with Ronnie Polaneczky
Grabbing our attention with the shocking story of an angry reader, journalist Ronnie Polaneczky expands on why we need to consciously and actively practice our “listening muscle”. By practicing deliberate listening and putting aside our own judgements we can discover things we don’t know that we don’t know. She moves beyond the obvious “techniques” (e.g. look them in the eye, nod your head and repeat back what you’ve heard) and challenges us to think about letting go of positions (e.g. “I want to be right”) and embracing learning – letting go of our need to judge. She closes with the personal impact listening has – it doesn’t just change the person being listened to – it changes the listener.
A Case for Active Listening with Jason Chare
You may find this talk far removed from a business environment, but active listening skills are essential for those managers wanting to build a coaching approach. Jason Chare, a professional counselor, shares his experiences with an audience of teachers. The second half (around the ninth minute) begins to look at specific strategies and attitudes – especially the importance of unconditional positive regard and listening with empathy. Check out this article on “Three ways leaders can listen with more empathy” too!
More listening resources for you …
And if you’d like to know more about how you can further develop your or your team’s listening skills then please don’t hesitate to contact us. We’d love to listen to you.
Making sure managers understand the importance of their role in developing our staff
/in Methods & Tools, Soft Skills /by Guest AuthorThis 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 – as an L&D manager, an in-house trainer and as an external training provider.
One of the things that’s burning at the moment is helping the managers I work with see the role they play in developing people. This is not a question of lack of willingness on their side – just a lack of awareness of the role they can and should play. For example, most of the time if they know that Dieter needs to improve his presentation skills, they send him on one of the 2-day presentation courses we run. When Dieter gets back, they expect that they can tick a box and say, “Well, Dieter can present now.” This is a start, but it isn’t good enough. It is not enough for them to assume that the training department or the training provider is going to solve everything alone. I need to help them see their role in developing their staff’s skills.
How do you see the manager’s role in developing their staff?
If we look at the 70-20-10 model, just 10% of the change will come from the training itself. 20% is when Dieter is learning from his colleagues, sharing ideas and giving each other tips and feedback. BUT, the other 70% will come from just getting up there and doing it (best of course, if supplemented with feedback and guidance where required). If the manager wants somebody to get better at a skill, they need to make sure there is plenty of opportunity for that person to actually use that skill, give them support and guidance and let them use what they are learning. This is clearly in the manager’s hands. I want our managers to be realistic in their expectations and see the role that they play in the developmental process. We work together.
How do you see your role in this?
I have a number of roles. I work to identify current and future training needs. I then organize practical training with training providers who are going to deliver what we need and challenge the participants to really improve. I also need to help our managers understand their role in developing our staff and encourage them to see training as a collaborative effort between them, the employee, us in L&D, and the training providers. And of course, the person getting the training needs to take some responsibility and ownership for their own development – and I can offer advice and support here too, both before and after the “formal” training. Our experts need to be present in the training and they need to actively look to use what they have learned and practiced after the training too. And again, this is where their manager plays an important role.
Who is the secret L&D manager?
The “secret L&D manager” is actually a group of L&D managers. They are real people who would prefer not to mention their name or company – but do want to write anonymously so they can openly and directly share their ideas and experience with peers.
You can meet more of our secret L&D managers here …
And if you’d like to share your thoughts and experiences without sharing your name or company then please get in touch.
50 ways to start a conversation in English at work
/1 Comment/in Business English, Soft Skills /by ian taylorSocializing and networking doesn’t come naturally to everyone. Whether it be a language issue or a question of skills and behaviors, many professionals struggle when networking and socializing with new people. How do you start a conversation when you walk into a meeting room and there are a lot of people you don’t know? Introducing yourself is the obvious first step: “Hi, my name’s Renate and I’m a member of the purchasing team.” … Easy… but what comes next? If you are shy this can be awkward in your own language – AND doing it in a foreign language can be really challenging! Our InCorporate Trainers often find that seemingly small challenges such as this can cause an unnecessary amount of pressure. A few trainers have come up with 50 phrases to help you break the ice and start a conversation. Many of the phrases can be used in any context – but some are only used in certain situations. You don’t need to remember them all just pick the ones you feel comfortable with and can say naturally.


Collecting someone from reception
Waiting for the presentation/meeting to start
During the coffee break
During lunch
After a presentation/meeting
Even more resources
You’ve now got 50 practical phrases and of course there are many, many more. Here are 5 more tips for you.
The power of putting yourself in their shoes when influencing people
/in Soft Skills /by Scott LeveyWhen we run seminars on influencing skills we typically start off by exploring a couple of fundamental questions – one of them being how do people feel about the idea of influencing others and being influenced? Over the years we’ve had a surprising range of responses including “If I’m the manager why must I influence -people should just do what I say” to “influencing is manipulating” to “I’m open to new ideas and approaches – but our colleagues in the order management department aren’t!”. As a trainer these are always great places to start – opinions are on the table and we can openly discuss them. When we dig deeper these opinions often link into personal experiences of how people have influenced (or not). So how do people influence each other?
The two influencing styles – pushing and pulling
Broadly speaking there are two approaches to influencing people – to push and to pull. When we “push” we are directive. We know what we want to see happen, where we want to go, what needs to be different etc. And when we “pull” we are looking for a joint agreement, for collaboration, discussion, commitment. There are different pushing styles and pulling styles, plus strategies, tactics and skills to learn BUT neither approach is inherently wrong. Influencing and manipulating draw on the same skills but with different intents. They both have pros and cons– and neither approach work without considering other key factors too.
Factors to consider when seeking to influence somebody
When we try to influence somebody it helps to take a step back and reflect on what we know. What is the environment, the situation, the relationship and most importantly – what do you know about who you are trying to influence? How successful you’ll be always depends upon what you know about the other person. Examples of practical questions to ask yourself when trying to influence somebody include:
First seek to understand the other person – a transcultural truth
The more you understand the person you are seeking to influence the more effectively you can influence them. As dale Carnegie said in How to win friends and influence people “I love strawberries. But whenever I go fishing I bait my hook with worms. This is because fish like worms – not strawberries.”
In English we have expression like put yourself in their shoes, put yourself in their place, see the world through their eyes and walk a mile in their shoes. And of course the idea of putting yourself in somebody else’s shoes is transcultural! Germans say eine Meile in seinen Schuhen gehen, Italians mettersi nei miei panni, French se mettre à la place de quelqu’un … All cultures- whether it be Europe, the Americas, Africa or Asia and the Pacific have similar expressions.
Put simply, if you want to influence somebody then seek to understand where they are and who they are. Start by understanding their situation, use your emotional and social intelligence and then adapt.
And if, like me, you’ve got the song “Walk a mile in my shoes” going around in your head now .. here it is.
Your first virtual presentation – practical planning tips for beginners
/in Business English /by Scott LeveyThe move to delivering presentations virtually isn’t natural for most of us. Put simply, it feels weird. So here’s the good news. Most of the core principles behind what makes an effective presentation still apply. You need to know: what your message is, reflect on who your audience is, merge your message with their interests, have a clear structure, etc. In many ways delivering a presentation virtually requires the same knowledge and skills … but there are differences too. If you are a beginner to making presentations online there are 2 areas to think about –preparation and delivery. Our clients often tell us the delivery stage is the area that worries them most BUT we can’t emphasize enough that making changes to the way you plan your virtual presentation is where you set the scene for success. This blog post looks at the planning stage.
When you start planning your virtual presentations the 3 big questions to ask yourself are
How am I going to keep their attention during my presentation?
Your audience’s attention span (how long they’ll concentrate on you and your message ) is shorter online than off line. This is partly because they won’t have you to focus on in person, partly because they will have other distractions tempting them away (emails, watching colleagues etc) … and partly because they can pay less attention and you won’t notice. So, to keep their attention you need to
What can I do in advance to feel more comfortable?
If this is your first time presenting virtually then
What if something goes wrong with the technology?
This is less likely than you think but something going wrong with the technology is often top of most first-time presenter’s fears. Here are 3 things you can do …
To summarize
Success starts with planning your content, adapting your visuals, knowing your content so you can speak naturally, controlling your environment and being ready for the dreaded technical problem.There’s a lot more to presenting in a virtual environment and some of those things will be discussed in a future post. In the meantime, here’s an eBook that will help you deal with all of your presentations stress – virtual or not.
The importance of asking investigative questions in negotiations – and how to do this in English
/in Soft Skills /by ian taylorThere are times in negotiations when we can be too focused on our own position. If we want to get the best outcome then we need to find out why the other side asks what it asks, offers what it offers, and wants what it wants. One of the most effective ways of doing this is by adopting an “investigative mindset” – and then actively listening to what is (or is not) said. Harvard Business School Professors Deepak Malhotra and Max Bazerman set out 5 key principles that underpin this method. This post provides a simple overview of the 5 principles, offers useful phrases for those looking to further improve their business English, and closes with some great suggestions for further reading.
Find out what your counterparts want – and why they want it
Asking questions to uncover needs and priorities is essential in any negotiation. The sooner you can find out what your counterparts wants AND WHY they want it, the sooner you can build solutions. Malhotra and Bazerman give the example of an US pharmaceutical company negotiating exclusive rights for an ingredient from a small European supplier. Despite the pharma company’s best offers, the supplier refused to agree to exclusivity. It was clear the smaller company had no chance of securing such a large order from any other customer – so what was going on?
With the negotiation in deadlock the American negotiator decided to ask a simple question “Why wouldn’t they grant exclusivity?” The reason was equally simple – the supplier was selling a small amount of the ingredient to a family member who needed it to manufacture a product sold locally. A new offer was made and quickly accepted – the European firm would provide exclusivity except for a small annual amount for the supplier’s cousin.
Discover your counterparts’ constraints – and then help them relieve them
Whenever we go into a negotiation we always have limits. In fact having your BATNA clear up front is a must if you don’t want to leave the negotiation with regrets. These limits are influenced and/or restricted by external forces – pricing, strategy, risk, relationships etc. And just as you have limits, so does your counterpart. When your counterpart’s limits seem to be unreasonable or rigid, ask investigative questions to better understand what is behind the scenes. What is going on? Why is somebody responding like that? How can you help them remove their constraints or concerns?
Understand what is behind a demand – and then look to interpret them as opportunities
When our negotiating partner makes “excessive demands” we feel attacked and can become defensive. We then focus on either avoiding, mitigating, or even combatting this demand. The response of an investigative negotiator is to understand what is behind the demand and what they can actually learn from it. How can they reframe the demand from a threat to an opportunity? Malhotra and Bazerman article illustrates this nicely with the story of a construction company closing a major deal. Just before the deal was closed the property developer introduced a game-changing penalty clause for late completion. In this case, reframing looked like “why was this penalty clause so important?” which led to “ timely completion was hugely important” which then led to “was the developer interested in completion ahead of schedule?“ . The negotiation concluded with the construction company agreeing to pay higher penalties than proposed and with a sizable bonus for early completion.
Look to create common ground
Despite the pervasive mantras of “partnership” and “win-win”, too often when we are in a negotiation it we end up with “”sides”. My side and your side, you are my competitor etc …This means that we miss out on opportunities to create value. Investigative negotiators focus on genuinely exploring areas of mutual interest to find real common ground. This can be especially important when negotiating across cultures.
When things don’t work out keep on investigating
Even after rejection, there is nothing to be lost, and actually much to be gained, by asking “What would it have taken for us to reach agreement?” or “Can you explain to me why we lost this business? … as I’d like to learn for next time”. It is much easier to get unguarded information when there is no deal to be done. If you don’t know what went wrong, how can you improve your approach in similar future negotiations? And of course there is always a chance of actually reopening negotiations based on the new insight.
Useful language and further reading for negotiators
As Deepak Malhotra wrote “In the end, negotiation is an information game. Those who know how to obtain information perform better than those who stick with what they know.”
Using investigative questions
Building and practising active listening skills
Active listening (as the name suggests) is when you actively and fully concentrate on what is being said, rather than just passively hearing the words. Communication theory breaks what is being said into two elements – the content and the context. Content is the what – the data, the facts, the information etc. Context refers to everything else that is going on when somebody speaks with you – the relationship, the background, the situation, the emotions etc. Active listening involves paying close attention to the content being shared AND the contextual components between the listener (the receiver) and the speaker (the sender). Skilled active listeners can hear the what PLUS interest, emotion, concern, energy and other contextual factors from the speaker’s perspective. And they can hear what isn’t being said.
How good are your listening skills?
Books on negotiations
Finally, as a training company, you just know we’re going to suggest organizing negotiation training for yourself or your team.
6 reasons why silence is golden in presentations
/in Soft Skills /by Guest AuthorI 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. The one thing this highly diverse group did have in common was their tendency to talk too much during their presentations. Why is that a problem you ask? Aren’t we supposed to talk when presenting…isn’t that the point? Of course it is, but there is a time when silence, or a nicely timed pause, works in your favor as the presenter. We spent a lot of time working on the usage of pauses and silence in their presentations with great results. So, I’d like to share with you 6 practical ways that silence can improve your presentations:
It slows you down
Many people struggle with speaking too quickly when they are presenting. This can be due to nerves, having a lot to cover in a short period of time, etc. Building planned pauses into your presentation allows you to slow things down, collect yourself and focus on enunciating your message to the audience.
It helps your audience absorb and retain your message
Using a strategic pause after stating your walk away message can allow it to better ‘sink in.’ I’d suggest doing this more than one time throughout your presentation at it will reinforce what you want the audience to do/think/feel after listening to your presentation.
It helps non-native speakers ‘catch up’
Many of our clients present in their second language, English, to an audience who are receiving the message in their second or third language. Regardless of how talented someone may be in a second or third language, they still need more time to process things compared to their native language. Using pauses can give the audience ‘space to breath’ and make sure they fully comprehend what you are saying.
It shows willingness to listen and take questions
When a speaker is ‘speed-talking’ through their points, an audience can feel that things are rushed and there is no time for questions. Fielding and asking questions in a presentation can work in the speaker’s favor if handled correctly. It involves the audience and gives the presenter a chance to reinforce their walk away message in a context that matters to the audience.
It emphasizes important points
Silence is an effective tool to emphasize important points, build positive suspense and highlight things that need to be clarified. Mark Twain once said, “The right word may be effective, but no word was ever as effective as a rightly timed pause.”
It shows confidence, control and poise
Most of us get nervous and experience stress when speaking in public. The important thing is not show it when presenting if possible. Using pauses and silence throughout your presentation will give you the breaks you need to collect yourself and refocus if need be.
Try it for yourself…
Using pauses and silence when speaking doesn’t come natural for a lot of people. It takes practice and being open to feedback from colleagues or friends. One quick and easy activity to practice using pauses is as follows:
It sounds like a simple exercise, but many people have a hard time waiting the full three seconds to start the second sentence. Try this with a colleague at work over lunch. Ask each other how it sounds and how you feel. Try it a few more times and then try using it at least once the next time you speak in front of people.
We have all heard the phrase ‘Silence is golden’. Whether you agree with this or not, try to use a little bit of it in your next presentation. I think you will be pleased with the results, and your audience will be too.
6 ways to improve your Business English by yourself
/1 Comment/in Business English /by Hooria MahmoodWhether 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. Just sitting passively in a training session once a week isn’t enough. The good news is that according to popular research into language learning, we are all born autonomous learners. It is in our nature to be proactive, explore, and respond to our environment. We naturally take charge of our learning by setting ourselves goals and we are driven by our own motivations and needs. This could be getting a promotion at work, being able to participate effectively in a meeting, working confidently on an international project or giving a successful presentation. To help you learn autonomously, knowing effective ways you can improve your business English independently is essential. Here are some tried and tested strategies to improve your Business English by yourself!
Set yourself learning goals
Setting yourself goals is motivating in anything you do and a great way to understand your own learning process. These goals can be daily, weekly or monthly and ones, which are achievable and realistic. Try to focus on SMART goals (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-bound). Your goals can be as simple as “I will record and learn 10 new business phrases I can use in project meetings”. Once you have set yourself a goal you can assess yourself using simple online tools such as Quizlet. You can also download the app on your phone in order to review and assess progress on the go!
Immersion
Put yourself in real life situations where you have to use business English. Take every opportunity to speak to your international business colleagues. Instead of writing an email, go ahead and pick up the phone! Try to participate in meetings, events, conferences and projects where you have the opportunity to practice. Communicate and socialize with English speakers you know at work or out of work, this could be going for a coffee, lunch or dinner.
Watch and listen
Try to take a little time every day to watch or listen to business related resources online. This could be news, podcasts, or videos. The more you watch and listen to business English, the more you will train this skill and the easier it will get when you have a real situation at work. The web is full of resources but to get you started TED Talks always has interesting speakers, The BBC’s Business Daily site has plenty of videos and audio reports and check out the Harvard Business Reviews’ Ideacast (also available on itunes) and videos.
Recording new vocabulary
Keep a small notebook or use your notes on your phone to record useful/ relevant business English phrases and words. If you want to get more creative, I suggest using a voice recorder to record this information. Instead of just writing the English word and the equivalent in your language, try to also write an example sentence, something relevant/ personal to you and something you are likely to remember e.g. Word: negotiate “We had to negotiate with the supplier to get the best price”. Try to review the new vocabulary daily in order to internalize it and challenge yourself to use a new word during your next meeting, in an email or on a presentation slide.
Writing practice
Start by downloading Grammarly. This is a free tool with which you can check all daily emails, presentations and documents in order to avoid grammar mistakes and punctuation errors. You can also keep a diary of your day or about your learning experience, which will give you some extra writing practice and is a great strategy for self-reflection. I train a senior project manager who takes 10 minutes at the end of each day to write notes on reflections, insights and ideas. He does this to practice writing notes in English to help with his many meetings, but also to ensure he has reflection time and can focus on what is important to his project.
Reading business related material
Reading improves all areas of a language, including vocabulary, grammar, spelling and writing. The more you read the more input the brain gets about how the language works. Context helps you figure out meaning and repetition of vocabulary helps you remember the words. If you don’t want to read long articles or blogs you can always download Twitter and subscribe to news or anything of interest to get your 15 minutes of reading practice a day. Our blog is a great place to start so bookmark it and there are plenty of online magazines and newspapers which are free.
The single most important thing though is to .. do something regularly.
Does the Peter Principle still hold true? (And what you can do to develop your managers.)
/in Soft Skills /by Tony NormanNearly half a century ago Laurence J. Peter published his seminal work on selection and promotion, “The Peter Principle”. In this satirical look at why things go wrong in businesses, he argued that the selection of a candidate for a position is based on the candidate’s performance in their current role, rather than on abilities relevant to the intended role. Thus, employees only stop being promoted once they can no longer perform effectively, and “managers rise to the level of their incompetence.” His theory is so convincing that you feel it must be one of those natural laws that is just simply true, and indeed the Peter Principle is based on the behavioural observation that there is a strong temptation for people to use what has worked before, even when this might not be appropriate for the new situation.
Over the last couple of decades I have had the impression that the Peter principle is either out of fashion or no longer as relevant. Management training is now so widespread that all managers are now allegedly agile, change agents, ace communicators and inspirational. Yet intuitively I have always felt the Peter Principle in its elegant simplicity must still hold true, so you can imagine my relief when I came across an article in the Times by Alexandra Frean entitled, “Rise of the accidental manager lies behind UK’s low productivity”. She uses the term ‘accidental managers’ and explains “they have excelled in their role and are rewarded with promotion to a management position that is entirely different from the job they have been doing, only to flounder when they get there.” Does this sound familiar? The focus of her article is that accidental managers are more prevalent in the UK and account for the UK’s poor productivity. According to Ann Francke, head of the Chartered Management Institute (CMI), four out of five bosses in Britain are accidental managers; so 2.4 million managers are probably not delivering to full capability. And international comparisons indicate UK managers perform 30% below the benchmarked countries of Germany and Scandinavia. Francke does not agree that good managers are born not made and makes an impassioned plea for more and better training.
Which neatly brings us on to the question: What does effective management training look like? Here are four thoughts to consider:
Invest early
Building skills, knowledge and behaviors in young managers can provide spectacular results for years to come! Simply teaching and training simple skills for managing the task, the team and the individuals, does yield real returns. More investment at the beginning is a must especially training solutions for when they first move into management .
Show the managers that their managers care about the training
Research consistently shows that when a training participant’s manager shows interest and involvement this is the single most important factor in transferring the training to the workplace. Involvement starts with explaining the purpose of the training and linking it to values, strategy and concrete business needs. It finishes with senior managers who are committed to delivering results through developing performance. And keep this human!
Fewer models
There are hundreds of management, communication, team, interpersonal dynamics, and strategy models. Good management training understands that models can be useful BUT they need to be simple to grasp, easy to remember and actionable. And be aware of trying to bend a model out of shape just to fulfil a trainer’s desire to show how everything fits. Managers can deal with complexity too!
Skill drills beat bullet points
It’s not what you know it’s what you do as a manager that counts. Discussing the role of feedback, exploring SCARF, sharing horror stories can be useful BUT the most important things is to get managers practicing, practicing and practicing. Skill drills change behaviors and build confidence. Yes, role-plays aren’t real but they give you an opportunity to experiment and practice! And my experience is that investing in business actors always add value too. This is why Target’s own leadership and management programs focus on doing (again and again).