The end of 2011 is fast approaching, and it’s the season for performance reviews and end-of-year appraisals.
Few people actually look forward to sitting down with their supervisor and talking about the past year. For most, it’s quite a nerve-wracking experience. But today I want to show you that if you’re prepared, there’s no reason to be shaking in your boots.
Discussion Questions
1. Does your company review employee performance regularly?
2. How do you feel when you are evaluated for the work you do?
3. What kind of preparation do you think is important for a year-end review?
This is the second in our two-part Business English Pod lesson on delivering workplace training.
Delivering training requires you to lead and control a group. This is no easy task, as you’ll know if you’ve ever done something similar such as delivering a presentation. You need to engage people, you need to make the topic interesting or relevant to them, and you need to make sure they participate.
In the end, you want them to learn something. If their ears or minds are closed, they won’t do that. So how can you get them to listen, to respond, and to learn? Well, you can try some of the language and techniques we’ll look at in today’s lesson.
In our last episode, we heard some useful language for introducing a training session. Today, we’ll hear about eliciting input, encouraging participation, and giving feedback. We’ll also look at connecting to personal experiences and checking understanding. These are all important ways to make sure you are an effective trainer, or presenter.
We’re going to rejoin Zack as he delivers a workshop on customer service. You’ll also hear Ian and Nicole, two of the participants.
Listening Questions
1. Why is it a good idea to use a customer’s name when talking to them?
2. What does Ian suggest doing when talking to customers?
3. According to Zack, what should we do more than we speak?
At some point in our work, we all have to teach others how to do something or explain a certain topic. So how can we do this effectively? How can you make sure that the participants are following what you say, focused on what you want, and reaching the outcomes you expect?
The skills you need to deliver effective training will help you in other ways too. Whether you’re giving a presentation or making a sales pitch, there are lots of techniques and language that overlap.
We’ll learn some of these techniques today. We’ll look at language you can use to connect the topic to people’s experience and create a sense of inclusion. We’ll also look at organizational issues, like outlining your topics, establishing objectives, and transitioning to a new topic.
In this episode, we’ll hear a trainer named Zack. He’s delivering the first of a series of workshops on customer service. You’ll also hear a couple of the participants, Ian and Nicole, as they interact with Zack.
Listening Questions
1. What experience did Ian have recently?
2. What is the goal of the training course?
3. What does Zack say is the first thing they’ll talk about?
This business English vocabulary lesson is the second of our two-part series on legal English vocabulary related to contract law. In our last lesson, we looked at some of the basic principles of contracts. In this lesson, we’ll focus on specific legal terms and language found in contracts.
This business English Vocabulary lesson is the first of our two-part series on legal English vocabulary related to business contracts. In this lesson, we’ll look at the key principles behind contracts and contract law.
