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Hello and welcome back to the Skills 360 Podcast. I’m your host, Tim Simmons, and today I want to look at leading a group to a decision.

If you tuned in last time, you may remember what I said makes a good decision. It’s one that people buy into, and people see the reasons behind. Well, that’s easier said than done. If you’re leading the meeting, you might wish for a simple and straightforward discussion that ends in one - and only one - logical decision. But dream on. You should expect a few obstacles along the way.

For one thing, sometimes people can get a bit personal. I mean, one person makes a suggestion, and someone else attacks the person, as opposed to the idea. It might be pretty easy to detect, like “Come on Dave, you always come up with the stupidest ideas.” But it might be a bit more indirect, like “Geez Dave, do you have any other great ideas?” In any case, you need to shut this down immediately. Call people out for personal attacks, and keep the discussion focused on ideas, not personality conflict.

This is part of your role as a facilitator. You’re supposed to encourage people to listen, prevent interruption, and generally make sure people feel respected and heard. As soon as people feel attacked personally, they’ll shut up. And you don’t want anyone to shut up, because anyone in the room could be sitting on the million dollar idea. So bring it back, nicely, to a focus on ideas, like this: “Okay everyone, let’s just focus on the issue at hand…” or “All right, but what about the website ideas?”

Another thing you need to shut down is conversation that goes completely off topic. People do this without even realizing it. They hear something, it reminds them of something else, they start talking about it… soon enough the conversation has gone from the topic of increasing sales to the best place to buy muffins. Your job is to steer the conversation back. Don’t be shy about it. Just come out and say “Muffins are great, but they’re way off topic.” Even people who tend to stray appreciate this.

Okay, so what about the people who love to hear themselves talk? I mean, there are some people who will go on and on and on about the same idea. Well, you can’t let them go on forever. Once you realize they’ve made their point, find a slight break in their little speech and jump in with a summary. Try something like: “So you’re saying…” or, if you need to be a bit more aggressive, you could say: “Okay, okay, hang on just a sec. As I understand it, you think…”

Another obstacle in a decision-making meeting is what we call “groupthink.”
Groupthink is when people just follow along with the ideas being discussed, without thinking for themselves. Or, they don’t try to come up with anything new. Instead, people just accept what is being put in front of them.

So how can you deal with groupthink? Well, you can try to encourage some creative thinking from the get-go. Tell everyone what groupthink is, and then tell them to avoid it.

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Hello and welcome back to the Skills 360 Podcast . I’m your host, Tim Simmons, and today I want to look at how you can lead a group to a decision.

In fact, it might be better to say we’re talking about how to lead groups to good decisions. After all, any meeting chairperson can push for a quick decision, or call a vote before matters have been fully discussed. But that’s not the kind of leadership I’m talking about. And that doesn’t necessarily produce good decisions. A good decision is one that people buy into, and one that has a strong rationale behind it. Achieving these two things can’t be done quickly, or forcefully.

So how can we go about leading a group to a decision? Well, right at the start of the meeting, you need to set the stage for a good discussion, and a good decision.

Setting the stage involves a couple of important things. Firstly, you need to be very clear about the purpose. If you’re meeting to make a decision, make sure everyone knows it. Also make sure they’re clear on the decision-making process. Does it have to be unanimous? Are you striving for consensus? Will you put it to a vote? These are not issues to be left to the middle of a heated discussion.

Now, it’s often a good idea to have a bit of a process to a decision-making meeting. And that process typically goes like this: start with information-sharing, then run through or brainstorm different options, then evaluate those options through discussion, and finally make a decision.

Notice that generating ideas and evaluating ideas are separate steps. That helps prevent people feeling criticized or getting defensive. Of course, people will bounce around a bit. You’ll be evaluating options, and someone will bring up an important piece of information they neglected to mention earlier. That’s fine, and unavoidable. But overall, it’s a good idea to follow this rough process.

Within this process, leading group decisions is all about facilitating good discussion. And the magic of good facilitation is making everyone in the room feel listened to and emotionally validated. That can seem easy for the outgoing people who like to think out loud and are comfortable jumping into the middle of conversation. But the deep thinkers need more time to articulate their thoughts. For this reason, when you think discussion has stalled on a particular topic, just wait. You’ll be surprised what emerges after a minute of uncomfortable silence.

Overall, you need to make sure that everyone has had a chance to speak and express themselves. Sometimes this means calling on people directly. Or it might simply mean staying attuned to how those weaker voices attempt to join the discussion. If you’re perceptive, you’ll be able to see when someone wants to say something. Maybe they lean forward and open their mouth slightly. Or they make gestures with their hands. Your job is to help these voices be heard.

One thing you should be doing throughout the discussion is checking back with the participants for a variety of purposes. For one, you might confirm agreement by saying something like “Okay, is everyone on board with this plan?

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Hello and welcome back to the Business English Skills 360 podcast. I'm your host, Tim Simmons, and today I want to look at making your ideas stick.

Have you ever been in a meeting or listened to a presentation where someone talks about their big idea? And then, forty PowerPoint slides later, you're still not quite sure what they're talking about, or why their idea is so great? Well, there might be a good idea somewhere behind it all, but for some reason it didn't stick.

On the flip side, there are ideas that you couldn't forget if you wanted to. For whatever reason, people understand them, they remember them, and they get behind them. The ones that stick are the exceptions. Business history is littered with ideas - for products or business models - that never became popular.

So what's the difference? Why do some ideas stick while others die a sad death? In our last lesson, I talked about keeping it real and keeping it relevant. Those are two important ways of increasing stickiness. Today I want to focus on keeping it simple and keeping it dynamic.

Let's start with keeping it simple. That deck of 40 PowerPoint slides? There are probably just four or five in there that convey the core of your idea. The rest is fluff. Now, you might be thinking that you need details and explanation to support your idea. That's true. But you need to prioritize those points. Combine them. Support your idea with three smaller ideas, not 39.

Ideally, you should be able to express your idea in a single sentence. The founder of Uber once described his idea like this: "You push a button and in five minutes a Mercedes picks you up and takes you where you want to go." The company later simplified that even more to "Tap a button, get a ride."

You'll notice that there's no buzzwords there. There's no talk of "platform" or "users" or even "app." It's just a simple description of a great idea. So use simple sentences and simple words

Sometimes it helps to use common reference points in your one-sentence idea. For example, a new dating app called Stitch is touted as "Tinder for seniors." Everyone knows Tinder, so Stitch can use that knowledge to make their idea clear.

Besides keeping it simple, you need to keep it dynamic. What do I mean by dynamic? I mean make it surprising and fresh. And engage multiple senses or emotions. This is especially true for presentations. You can't use the same template for every purpose. Getting your new idea to stick isn't the same as making sure a team of managers understands the sales figures from the first quarter.

When you're presenting information, you might follow the standard pattern of "tell them what you're going to tell them, then tell them, then tell them what you've told them." That might work for some purposes, but it's not a really sticky format.

You've got to get people's attention, then keep it. Start by saying something that's never been said before. Wake your listeners up with a shocking fact, a mystery, or a bit of humor. Appeal not just to their rational brains, but their hearts. And give them a visual that enhances the shock, or the mystery, or the humor.

Think of music. A good song has changes in volume and intensity. It includes some repetition - just think of the chorus and the melody - but i...

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Hello and welcome back to the Business English Skills 360 podcast. I'm your host, Tim Simmons, and today I want to look at how you can make your ideas stick.

Just the other day one of my co-workers came to me and said: "I've got a killer idea for a new app." Then he went on to say that… well, I don't remember exactly what he said. There was something about productivity and something about scheduling… I think.

Let's face it: ideas are a dime a dozen. And just having a great idea doesn't mean a thing if you can't get other people to believe in it. And before you can get anyone to believe in it, you need to help them remember it. You need to make it stick.

So today I want to share a couple of tips for helping your ideas stick. It doesn't matter if you're giving a presentation, proposing something in a meeting, or pitching to investors. The secrets to stickiness are the same.

The first thing you need to do is to keep it real. For one thing, that means avoiding abstract nouns. Think about the word "solution." It means zip if you don't tell people exactly what the problem is and how you're solving it. And don't try to awe people with the word "innovation." Impress them by describing what it is that's actually innovative about your idea. And for Pete's sake don't say that your tool will "enhance predictive capabilities" when you can say it will help you "predict the future better."

That last example shows you something important: verbs have much more power and clarity than nouns. I mean, why say that the new regulations "led to the destruction of" the industry, when you can just say they "destroyed" the industry? Why say "make a decision" when you can just say "decide?" That may seem like a small difference, but when you start piling on all those abstract or academic words, people's eyes will glaze over. They'll stop listening. And your idea will have no chance of sticking.

To test whether you're keeping it real, ask yourself: am I talking about people? Or about ideas? People are real. The things they do are real. And most people are interested in themselves and other people. For example, think about this statement: "The executive announcement of spending cuts provoked a strongly negative reaction." Where are the people in that statement? It's much stickier to say, "When the CEO announced spending cuts, people reacted poorly." Better yet, be more specific and say "people complained angrily." Can you feel the difference?

There's one more part of keeping it real that I want to tell you about. Remember back at the start of this lesson, when I talked about my co-worker with the forgettable mobile app idea? Yes, well, it turns out that stories help ideas stick. Telling stories helps us focus on people, rather than ideas. It forces us into concrete reality, and away from that abstract hocus-pocus of "innovation," "efficiency," and "optimization." Stories are an amazing way to transmit information. People have been doing it for thousands of years. And as I explained in a previous lesson, stories help you connect with your listeners.

Now, besides keeping it real, I've got another related bit of advice for you: keep it relevant. Last week on a business trip I was hanging out in the lobby of my hotel. And I got to talking with a guy from England.

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Hello and welcome back to Business English Skills 360 podcast. I’m your host Tim Simmons, and today I want to give you some more tips for using metaphors in English.

If you tuned in last time, you’ll remember that a metaphor is when you compare something you’re talking about to another idea. A classic example of a metaphor is “time is money.” But, if you really want to use metaphors to take your English to the next level, you’ll need to learn to think outside the box.

Whoa, wait a second. What did I just say? “Take it to the next level” and “think outside the box?” Well, those expressions are idioms, which is one kind of metaphor. But haven’t you heard those expressions a bit too much? I sure have. And that’s why I suggest avoiding these kinds of extremely common metaphors, or clichés. A cliché is an expression that is used so much that people don’t really think about its meaning any more. And if you use clichés, you won’t make a good impression on people.

So don’t just memorize extremely common metaphors. Instead, make new ones. But about what? Well, in business we cook up metaphors from many interesting topics. Take sports, for example, which are easy to compare with business. This is why you might talk about “performance,” or “scoring a goal,” or “coaching.” And that’s why we use expressions like “drop the ball” and “down to the wire” and “slam dunk.”

Sports aren’t the only source of metaphors. Other great topics are food, war, games, gardening, and mechanics. But really, the list of topics is endless. The important thing is that you use metaphors that connect with your audience and your purpose.

So which topic might be useful if you’re trying to motivate your team before taking another company to court? Well, then you might pull out the war metaphors and talk about “doing battle” and “sharpening your swords” and “attacking the enemy.” Or if you’re giving a presentation to engineers about teamwork, you might draw on mechanics. For example, you might talk about “interlocking gears” and “a well-oiled machine.”

These kinds of metaphors are very direct. We are saying that one thing is another thing. But sometimes we rely on longer comparisons between two things to show how they’re parallel. For example, I’ll always remember when I heard a speaker compare a business to a plant. To paraphrase, he said something like “a business is like a plant, in that it’s either growing or dying. There’s nothing in between.” He went on to explain how helping a plant grow and taking care of a business are very similar. It stuck with me because it really made sense. He could have expressed all the same ideas about business without talking about plants. But the comparison really helped explain the ideas.

We call this kind of comparison an analogy. It’s similar to a metaphor, but it’s less direct. We compare two things and show how they’re similar in many different ways. Analogy helps people understand and remember. It gives them a way to think about something that makes sense to them.

One great example of analogy comes from the world of computers. It’s an analogy that helped transform computers from big mysterious machines to everyday tools for the home and office....

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Hello and welcome back to the Business English Skills 360 podcast. I’m your host Tim Simmons, and today I want to give you some tips for using metaphors to make your speech more powerful.

Have you ever heard of Alfred Sloan? He was the head of General Motors during the Great Depression. He once gave a speech where he talked about GM at the time as a “great ship in a fierce storm.” From that description, you get a sense of danger, of a big boat getting tossed around in the unpredictable ocean waves. And you can imagine that everyone on that ship has to work hard to get through the storm which, like all storms, would one day end.

Alfred Sloan was using a metaphor. GM isn’t really a ship. And the economy isn’t really an ocean. He could have talked about how the company needed to improve its balance sheet during a time of economic uncertainty. But a ship in a storm is a much more memorable and impactful way of describing the situation. And if you read or listen to speeches by great leaders, you’ll see they are full of interesting comparisons like this.

So what exactly is a metaphor? Well, a metaphor is when you compare something you’re talking about to another idea, for example: “time is money.” This comparison helps us understand, or see something from a new perspective. Just as “time is money” helps us see time as very valuable. Or, as Alfred Sloan said, GM is like a ship. And the Great Depression is a storm. And metaphors aren’t reserved just for big speeches by famous people. Metaphors are everywhere in our language.

One of the most common kinds of metaphor we use are idioms. For example, we often say “climb the corporate ladder” to mean try to attain higher positions in a company. But saying “climb the corporate ladder” is more evocative. That is, it has more emotional power.

When you’re tired, you can say you’re “running on empty,” like a car with no fuel. When you don’t have all the right information, you can say you’re “missing a piece of the puzzle.” And when you’re waiting for someone else to make a decision, you can say “the ball in his court.” You may have learned some of these idioms, but you may not have known they’re all a kind of metaphor.

To harness the power of metaphors, you don’t have to just learn some idioms. You can create your own metaphors to make what you say more impactful. You might be making a speech, or giving a presentation. Or you might be negotiating, selling something, or trying to convince your colleagues to support your idea. In all these situations, metaphors can be effective.

What exactly do I mean by “effective?” Well, for starters, metaphors can help to simplify a complex idea. Think again of the idea of a ship in a fierce storm. There are a lot of complex ideas behind the situation of a large company in an economic recession. But the metaphor helps people understand quickly and simply.

Metaphors can also appeal to our emotions and imagination. Consider Tropicana, the company that makes orange juice. They could have described the health benefits of their juice and hope that people make a logical decision to buy their product. But instead, they called their orange juice “your daily ray of sunshine.” That has emotional power. Who wouldn’t want a ray of sunshine in the morning?

The Tropicana example is a good one,

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Hello and welcome back to the Business English Skills 360 podcast. I’m your host Tim Simmons, and today I want to give you some more tips for getting the most out of a conference.

Some people see conferences as a way to get away from the office for a few days and take a break. And sure, it’s helpful to step back from the daily grind and learn something, or reflect on your work and business. But if you really want to get the most out of a conference, you should look at it as more than just a learning opportunity. I mean, if you’ve got hundreds or even thousands of people in one place looking to connect with others, it’s a golden opportunity for networking.

In our last lesson, I talked about conference preparation and gave you a list of things you should do during the conference. Today I want to give you some tips for after the conference, and share some “don’ts,” or things to avoid, during the conference.

My first tip is to not attend every session. Don’t feel like you’re missing out if you linger in the lobby or the hallways while others are in a workshop. Some of the best conversations happen outside the meeting rooms, when you’ve got some space and quiet time for really good discussion.

And this ties in with another thing to avoid: rushing. Any time you’re in a hurry, you’re closed to networking. So if you’re having a great conversation with a potential customer and you realize the presentation on “Soft Selling” is about to start, don’t dash off. Skip the presentation and focus on the opportunity at hand.

Now, I realize that conferences can be intimidating. We’ve all had that experience of walking into lunch on the first day and scanning the crowd for someone we know. Like a colleague or coworker. Someone safe and familiar. But safe and familiar is why we go home at night, not why we attend conferences. So don’t glom on to one person or your colleagues. That’s a waste. You need to spread yourself around. So at lunchtime, don’t look for familiar people. And don’t park yourself with a fellow wallflower. Instead, look for interesting, outgoing, or influential people. Ask them if you can join them, and get involved in the conversation.

After all, getting involved is what it’s all about. You need to appear “open for business,” so to speak. And to do that, there are a couple of other things you should avoid. For one, don’t spend too much time on your phone checking email or calling the office to see if the photocopier has been fixed yet. That’s not why you’re there. I realize it’s tempting to pull out your mobile any time you have a spare minute. But here’s a challenge for you: every time you want to look at your phone, talk to someone new instead.

This is not to say that your phone is useless. In fact, I’m about to tell you how you should use it. But first, here’s another don’t: don’t focus too much on business cards. I know that sometimes you judge your networking success by how many cards you got. But quality is more important than quantity. Besides, you can easily lose business cards. And then what do you have besides the memory of a face? So, if you’ve made a good connection, ask instead for the person’s mobile number or email and plug it directly into your phone. You might be thinking that you like to be able to write notes on the back of business cards.

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Welcome back to the Business English Skills 360 for today's lesson on how to connect with your audience while you’re actually delivering your presentation in English.

It’s easy to leave your connection with the audience to chance. I mean, you might think that giving a presentation should be about conveying a message rather than “connecting” with your audience. But I assure you, whatever your message is, you’ll get it across with much greater success if you have a good connection with your audience. And that connection isn't a chance occurrence. You have to work on it.

Last time I gave you some tips on what you can do before you start your presentation. Today I want to talk about what you can do during your presentation. And a great place to begin is at the beginning. One thing you should definitely do in your opening is to tell your listeners why your presentation matters. That might sound like this: “The information I’ll give you today will help you come to a decision about such and such.” Or it might be: “Today I’d like to share some ideas that could completely change the way you talk to your customers.”

In your opening, it’s also a good idea to provoke their curiosity with something interesting, and relevant. That could sound like this: “10 years ago I was working at a conference just like this… as a cleaner.” Or maybe: “we had some pretty big goals for the third quarter… so, did we actually meet them?” In these two ways, you are connecting by making your presentation relevant and interesting.

I know you’ve probably heard that it’s a good idea to grab the audience’s attention with a joke, or a shocking idea, or an eye-catching visual that makes them sit up and take notice. To be perfectly honest, this bit of advice has led to a lot of really lame openings. I mean, you can’t just tack on a surprise to the start of a boring presentation and think that you’ve done the tough work of audience engagement. If you’re funny, and you’ve got a relevant joke, then tell it. Otherwise, don’t. Because it’s not authentic. I can’t emphasize the importance of authenticity enough. Be yourself, and people will be more likely to connect with you.

But remember, it’s not all about you, it’s about your audience. If you learned something about them before your presentation, drop that information in somewhere during your presentation. Give examples from their own lives, or work. Another really simple but effective way to connect is using people’s names. If you’re presenting to a group of people you don’t know, it’s a good idea to find out a few names beforehand. So, by using people’s names and information that matters to them, you make the presentation about them.

I’ve been talking a bit about what you should say or mention in your presentation. But no relationship is a one-way street. And it’s much much easier to keep people engaged if you invite them to do a bit of talking themselves. Even just a bit helps. How do you do that? Well, you ask questions. Asking questions is one way to make people feel like participants, not just listeners. Hearing from the audience also gives you ongoing feedback on how they’re feeling and what’s important to them. And you can use that feedback to adapt on the fly.

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Hello and welcome back to the Business English Skills 360 podcast. I’m your host, Tim Simmons, and today I want to talk about how to connect with your audience during a presentation.

You’ve probably heard all sorts of advice about delivering a good presentation in English. But at the end of the day, every single presentation strategy is designed for one thing: connecting with the audience. In fact, if you don’t connect with your audience, you might as well pack up your PowerPoint and head home. You need to build a bridge to send your message across. No bridge, no message. And don’t think you need to be an easy-going extrovert to connect with an audience. This is something that you can learn to do well.

Today I want to focus on what you do before you actually take the stage. Yes, before you even lay eyes on your audience, you can start thinking about how to connect. You’ll need to do some thinking about your audience, and plan accordingly. Don’t put your information at the center of the presentation, put your audience at the center.

Think for a second about a presentation that you felt wasn’t up to snuff. What was wrong with it? Maybe the presenter told you things you already knew, or told you things you never really wanted to know in the first place. Or maybe he was just plain boring. Whatever the case, chances are that presenter didn’t put you, the audience member, at the center of his presentation. He put himself, or the information.

So, to avoid this blunder, find out who your audience will be. What’s their background? Are they similar to you? Do they work in the same job, company, or industry? What’s their level of knowledge? These are all questions you should keep in mind as you plan. Because what you say, and how you say it, is vastly different depending on the audience. Would you give the same presentation, for example, about your company’s history to a flock of eager college grads and to a small group of senior executives from a foreign company? Hopefully not.

Once you’ve got a handle on who you’ll be talking to, you can consider what they want, or need, to know. Put yourself in their shoes and ask “what would I expect out of this presentation?” Then design your presentation to satisfy those expectations. You might think this seems self-evident, but it’s not. In copywriting, there’s something called the Red Pen Rule. This rule says that once you’ve got what you think is tight and compelling text, take out your red pen and nix 30% of the words. Most presenters would be wise to follow this advice with the information they include. There’s usually 30% of a presentation that shouldn’t make the final cut. It’s that 30% of irrelevant stuff that can kill your connection with the audience.

Now, here’s another important consideration about content: don’t just give them the “what.” Give them the “why” and the “so what.” Presenters who focus on the “what” drone on about strategy X or sales figures for Y or new research on Z. But why do X, Y, and Z matter? And so what if they’re true? In other words, what are the implications of all this information? I’m talking here about giving context to what you’re saying....

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Welcome back to the Skills 360 for today’s lesson how to influence people.

The power to influence can allow you to do many wonderful things, such as lead people, change their minds, motivate them to action, and negotiate successfully. These are abilities that can help you in life and in business. Now, it might seem like some people naturally have more influence than others, but that’s not always the case. Many powerful people have learned how to influence people using specific techniques.

In our last lesson, we had a look at what you should talk about and how you should talk about it. Today I want to take a closer look at some language techniques that can open the door to greater influence. And these techniques all help build rapport or trust with the person you’re talking to.

Let’s start with one key habit that really makes a positive impression on people: using their name. Dale Carnegie, who literally wrote the book on influencing people, said that “a person’s name is to that person the sweetest and most important sound in any language.”

And this doesn’t just mean when you first greet them. Drop their name into the middle of a conversation, or in the middle of a sentence, like “So, I’m wondering Susan if we should try something a bit different here.” You can probably think of someone you work with who does this habitually; next time you talk with that person, think about how it makes you feel to hear your name.

Not only do people like to hear their name, they like to hear their own ideas too. For that reason, it’s a good idea to echo what other people say. On a basic level, you can just repeat a single word. So if Bob says that something is “essential,” you can use that word “essential” in what you say too. That will help Bob connect with your ideas. But you might use more than just one word. You might repeat an entire idea, like “So Bob, you think that it’s absolutely essential to increase our workforce? That’s definitely something to consider.” Bob will feel heard and validated simply because you repeated his idea.

And besides repeating what people say, you can mirror how they speak. If someone is speaking informally, you can speak informally too. If someone leans in when they speak, you can lean in too. Sometimes we do this without even knowing it. Whether you’re aware of it or not, mirroring can help build rapport. But a word of caution here: mirroring is effective with peers, or colleagues, or people in the same position as you. But mirroring across lines of seniority can have a negative effect. And don’t try imitating someone who is very different from you. You don’t want to come across as mocking.

Now here’s another little language trick for increasing trust and rapport: instead of saying “I” and “you,” try saying “we.” How can you do that? Well, if you’re giving an opinion, rather than saying “I think that maybe…” try saying “Maybe we should…” And instead of saying “you need to come up with a solution,” you might try “we need to come up with a solution.” You might mean “you,” but using “we” makes it feel more collaborative. The word “we” brings you together with the other person, while the words “you” and “I” separate you from others.

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Welcome back to the Skills 360 for today’s lesson how to influence people.

So there are many different reasons why you might want to influence people. Maybe you’re trying to get their support for your idea, or maybe you want to inspire them, or maybe you want to convince them to do something. Whatever the case may be, I think you’ll find the techniques we’re going to learn today very useful for winning people over.

First I want to look at what you should focus on when you speak to others. And that doesn’t mean just talking about yourself or your idea, as people might stop listening. Instead, try starting with the ‘why’ instead of the ‘what’. That is, give people a reason to listen to your idea, then give them your idea.

For example, say you believe that your company’s marketing budget should be decreased. Instead of starting with that idea, set it up with compelling reasons first. That might sound like “we’ve had a pretty surprising dip in profits this past year.” Or maybe it’s “Gerry from marketing came to me and said they’re going to come in under budget again.” Or maybe you’re trying to sell something. In this case, don’t begin with a list of product features, like “the X300 comes with 16 gigabytes of RAM…” Instead, start with why that RAM might be important. For example, you might say “speed matters.”

Now here’s another thing: focus on the connection between other people and you, and the connection between ideas and life. What do I mean by that? Well, if you want to influence someone, show how you have similar values or experiences, like this: “So, I know we have all had some problems with this new software…” Or maybe this: “It’s pretty clear that everyone here is concerned about costs…” Showing a common interest will help make people more receptive to you, and your ideas.

As for the connection between ideas and life, remember that most people don’t deal in abstractions. They think about ground level experience. If we think again about that example of trying to persuade someone to buy a new computer. Don’t just talk about what the computer can do, talk about how that translates into a better experience for the user. In the end, isn’t that what really matters?

And when I say you need to connect ideas with life, I’m talking about other people’s lives, not yours. You need to appeal to people’s desires, interests, dreams, and hopes. That starts with getting people to talk about themselves. It’s amazing how much people will like or trust you if you just let them bend your ear about what they want or hope for. Ask them questions. Show interest. It will not only make them feel good, it will give you useful information.

Useful how? Well, you’ll know what interests them or drives their desires. Then you can tailor what you say to match that. So if someone mentions their passion for football, you can drop in a nice metaphor like “we seem to be playing from behind on a muddy pitch here.” Or if it seems clear that someone wants to appear smart, then you can compliment them on their intelligence.

You see, different people might require different approaches. Some are logical, in which case you should use logic.

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Hello and welcome back to the Skills 360 podcast. I’m your host, Tim Simmons, and today I want look to give you more great tips for ramping up your business English skills.

You’ve probably heard that one of the traits of a great business leader is the ability to communicate. So, what does it mean to be a good communicator? What does a good communicator actually do? Well, there are a few things that every good communicator does. In our last lesson I covered a few of these simple techniques, and today I want to add to that list.

When you think of being a good communicator, you probably think about speaking skills. But my first bit of advice is all about listening. Nobody likes it if you drone on and never give anyone else a chance to speak. You’ve got to learn to keep your mouth closed and your ears open. And you’ve got to listen actively to actually show people you’re listening. That starts with smiling and nodding, which are simple habits that let the speaker know you’re tuned in.

But that’s not all. You can throw in the occasional “yes,” or “I see.” Or you can echo what the other person is saying, like “a 30% increase? Impressive.” If you do this, people know you’re engaged. And that’s especially important when you can’t actually see the other person, like when you’re talking on the phone or in a teleconference.

All right, so we’ve covered listening. Now I want to give you some speaking techniques. First off, have you ever found yourself at a loss for words when you have to criticize someone or their work? Because you know that it’s not just what you say that is important, it’s how you say it, right? If you just come out and say “your report was lousy,” you’re going to put the person on the defensive. Instead, you need to be a bit more indirect. Try something like “well, I think there are some things you could work on.” Better yet, combine the criticism with some praise, like this: “I think you captured the main ideas, but you might want to make the summary a little clearer.” Wouldn’t you rather hear feedback like that?

This kind of indirect criticism is wrapped up in something bigger that every great communicator has a special knack for: being diplomatic. Diplomatic language is careful language. And I’m not just talking about criticizing or disagreeing. Careful language is also necessary when you make suggestions or pitch an idea.

One of the tricks to being diplomatic is using words that soften what you’re saying. We can do that with modal verbs, like “can” and “could” and “might.” For example, think about the difference between “that is too expensive” and “that might be too expensive.” Sure they have the same meaning, but one is softer. And a bit of indirect language will make it even more diplomatic, like “I’m wondering if that idea might be a bit on the expensive side.” That’s certainly not going to get anyone’s back up, is it?

Another way to soften a statement is to use words of possibility, such as “maybe” or “perhaps.” Imagine you want to suggest buying new computers. You might say “we need to buy new computers,” but that might sound too forceful. Instead, how about something like “perhaps we could buy some new computers?”

So, a diplomatic approach can make people more receptive. But you also want your ideas to stick in people’s memory, and a great way to do that is with repetition. You can try repeating an important word or idea so people don’t f...

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Hello and welcome back to the Skills 360 podcast. I’m your host, Tim Simmons, and today I want look at some quick and easy hacks you can use to improve your business English.

Business is all about relationships, and relationships are founded on good communication. And while English may seem like a difficult language, being a great communicator and connecting with people isn’t rocket science. You can learn just a few techniques that will take your business English skills to the next level. And I’m not talking about learning a thousand new words or some obscure rules of grammar. The tips I want to give you are fully within your grasp right now.

Let’s start with a real easy one: keep it simple. Use the language you know, and that your listeners know, to communicate your message in simple terms. Do you really think a sophisticated vocabulary is going to impress people? Or help you negotiate a good price from a supplier? Probably not. And it won’t help you connect with people on a human level. Listen to any great political speech or watch any great presentation online, and you’ll notice that the speaker keeps things simple.

Simple also means short, or concise. Why use 50 words when you can use 15? Everyone appreciates language that is clear and to-the-point. So keep it simple, and you’ll keep people engaged.

But what happens when other people don’t keep it simple? Communication is a two-way street, and sometimes you find yourself scratching your head at what someone else is saying. So what you really need to do is to clarify. And remember to be specific about what it is you don’t understand. If a supplier tells you a part is “temporarily unavailable,” which isn’t very clear, don’t just raise your eyebrows and say “pardon?” Instead, say something like “what exactly do you mean when you say this part is temporarily unavailable?” That will encourage the speaker to be more specific.

Another way to clarify is to check back and confirm. That sounds something like “So, you think we shouldn’t build a new website, right?” Or maybe it means saying “You’re saying John is the best applicant, am I correct?” Checking back and confirming is a great way to clarify because it poses a yes-no question. The person can either say “yes, that’s what I mean,” or “no, that’s not what I mean.” And if it’s the latter, the person can then give it another shot. And you can bet they’ll be extra clear so you don’t have to ask again.

So, we’ve talked about being simple and clarifying. Now here’s another crucial technique for communicating clearly: connect your ideas. Your ideas are, in fact, connected, right? So make that clear to your listeners. You can use simple linking words, like "and," "so," and "but."

Or you can dress it up a bit with some more formal expressions. For example, you might say: “Product A is the cheapest. However, cost is not the only consideration. We also need to think about quality. For this reason, I think we should go with Product B.” Can you hear how important those words “however” and “also” and “for this reason” are? These linking words help show the connection between your ideas. And they help listeners see your logic.

Connecting your ideas can also mean showing a sequence. And once again, you don’t have to get fancy. Basic words like “first,” “second,” “next,” and “lastly” can help people see where you’re going. But if you don’t connect your ideas,

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Hello and welcome back to the Skills 360 podcast. I’m your host, Tim Simmons, and today I want to look at how to succeed in a technical interview.

A technical interview can sound like a pretty scary prospect. The interviewers will test your knowledge and understanding of technical concepts, and your problem-solving abilities. You’ll also need to show them what you know and how you think. This is a pretty high-pressure situation, a difficult hoop to jump through for that job in finance or engineering or tech.

But there’s no way around it, so you’d better get used to the idea. Last week, I talked about how to answer those tough questions that you face. Today I want to talk about some of the common pitfalls that you might encounter in a technical interview. I mean those moments when your heart sinks because you don’t know what’s being asked, you don’t know the answer, or you make a mistake.

Of course, there’s a good way to prevent these things from happening in the first place. It’s the same key to success for any interview, presentation, or sales pitch. And that’s preparation. But even preparation can present challenges. One of the biggest mistakes is to over prepare or to cram too much new information into your head. What the interviewers really want to see is a clear grasp of fundamental principles and concepts. So don’t go trying to learn a new programming language before your interview.

Still, no matter how wisely you prepare, you might face some challenges. For one thing, you might not be sure exactly what the interviewer is asking. If you’re afraid of appearing dumb, you might just wing it and try to answer the question anyway. But that’s not such a great idea. It’s always best to get clarity first. You might ask “Could you please repeat the question?” Or you might say “could you rephrase that please?” Or even “I’m not sure I understand what you’re asking. Could you explain?” That certainly sounds less dumb – and more honest – than giving an answer that’s way off base.

So, what if you understand the question, but you just don’t know the answer? Or what if you’re asked to solve a problem that you’re not really so sure about? Well, you can attempt to answer with what you’ve got. For example, you might say “I’m not certain about the programming language you’ve asked about, but I know that in C++ you could do it this way…”

But if the question requires you to actually know something and you don’t, then fess up. You can be honest about your ignorance and still maintain dignity. For example, you might say, “To be frank, I haven’t had to calculate such a thing before.” Or maybe, “That’s a very interesting question and one that I’d really like to find out an answer to.” In fact, many people report getting a job even when they couldn’t answer several questions in their technical interview. So don’t sweat it too much.

Now, what you shouldn’t do in these situations is show frustration. You see, it’s not just about what you know; it’s also about how you deal with pressure. The interviewer may be evaluating whether you’re a good person to have on a team with a tight deadline or crunching a tough problem. And in this case a good person is a calm person, one that doesn’t break under pressure.

There’s another situation in which it’s important to keep your cool, and that’s when you make a mistake. Imagine, for example, that you’re asked to calculate some financial ratios...

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Hello and welcome back to the Skills 360 podcast. I’m your host, Tim Simmons, and today I want to look at how to handle a technical interview.

Whether you’re in finance, engineering, technology, or software design, your job search might involve a technical interview. In a technical interview, you have to do more than just answer questions about your background and experience. You have show you understand the technical ins and outs of your field and have a sharp mind. And you’ll do that by solving technical problems and answering brainteasers.

That might sound challenging, but if you get a technical interview, consider yourself lucky as they’re typically reserved only for the best candidates. But chances are when you face a technical interview you feel more anxiety than good fortune. So how can you head into your interview with confidence and deal with the questions effectively?

For starters, you need to make sure you actually understand the question. If it’s not clear right away what the interviewers are asking you to do, be upfront about it and ask for clarification. For example, you might ask “exactly which programming language do you mean?” Or “should my calculations be adjusted for inflation?” If you don’t understand the exact question right off the bat, your solution or answer will be off base. It’s always best to clarify everything right at the start, rather than finding out you’re confused in the middle of your response.

Once you understand what is being asked, you can craft a good response. And you should realize that a technical interview is designed to test more than just your technical know-how. You’re also being assessed on your communication skills and problem-solving abilities. So make sure your answers are short, concise, and well-organized. Keep this in mind when you prepare for your interview. You shouldn’t just be brushing up on formulas – though that might also be important – you should also be practicing giving good clear answers and solutions.

But good clear answers aren’t always easy, and being clear might require you to take the time to stop and think. Problem-solving is a process. For example, if you’re asked how you would design a program that manages customer information and sorts it for marketing purposes, you won’t be expected to rattle off a solution off the top of your head. You’ll need to think about it. And when you do, avoid filling the time with useless chatter like “hmm… that’s a tough one” or “well, maybe I could try… oh… no, that wouldn’t work…”

But while you want to avoid useless chatter, you do want to show the interviewers your thought process. That’s really what they’re interested in! So think it through out loud. Describe the mental steps you’re taking. Give them insight on how you’re approaching the problem while minimizing “ums” and “ahs” that are meant just to fill the silence.

Another good little strategy you can use when answering questions is relating your ideas or the problem to previous work situations you’ve faced. This is a good way to underline key experiences and show how you’ve learnt from them. For example, imagine you’re in an accounting interview faced with the question “is it possible for a company to show positive cash flow yet be in serious trouble?” You can answer “yes” and explain how a company might be selling off inventory and delaying payables. But you can also add “and I saw several examples of this during ...