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Intermediate communication games

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Speaking activities

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Everyday conversations are an important part of life in the UK. Do you talk to the other people in your neighbourhood? Watch the video, which focuses on people living in a typical neighbourhood in the UK. Practise your speaking skills as you complete the activities.

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Being Strategic: Adult Learners and Speaking

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Roleplay ideas

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by Andrei Zakhareuski 630,804 views

There are two ways a role play can go: scripted and non-scripted. With a scripted role play, the teacher might use an example in a text book. This is a good idea for a warm up exercise, by getting everyone to split up into pairs and allow them to speak to their partner, taking on different roles. Non-scripted ones are when students are given a role each and must use whatever knowledge they have in order to speak with that partner. Below is a list of ideas for a general English class. This can be adapted to suit a situation.

Try These Fresh Role Play Activities With Your Class

1. Telephone Conversation
Speaking on the phone is different to a face-to-face conversation because one relies solely on language to communicate. Get the students who are practicing to sit back to back in order for this to work properly. There is a whole range of ideas which one can use to act this out. Examples include: phoning to make a complaint, speaking to a friend or inquiring about a job position.

2. Going to the Shop
A great one for younger learners as it will teach them the basics of interacting with people. Children generally rely on their parents to buy things for them, therefore this will boost their overall general confidence in buying. It can be as simple or as complex as one wishes, depending on the situation. Key phrases are often important here, such as " I would like..." " How much are..." " Good morning... " and so forth.

3. Booking a Hotel
This will allow students to practise a specific type of language. Usually this will be formal language as it is a business conversation. This can also be done in the format of a telephone conversation, or it could be someone approaching a text. There is a wide range of opportunity here for the students to learn new forms of vocabulary.

4. Sharing Opinions
Choose a topic that everyone appears to be interested in. Get the students to pair up and give them a list of questions to follow (for example, see our ' 130 Topics for Discussion (more than 2000 questions) For Any Level '). This will allow them to come up with their own phrases and use language in a much more practical way.

5. Job Interview
Work is usually a good topic to begin with when teaching adults. Many are learning English in order to improve their career prospects. As a result, a job interview role play is an excellent way to get the class learning that all important material. Again, this can be scripted or non-scripted. A good idea would be to have the interviewer have a list of set questions, and the students can take it from there.

6. Getting Everyone to Speak
A traditional method is to ask the class to pair off. Of course, one cannot monitor every student particularly if the class is quite large. Therefore, it is important to make sure everyone is speaking and getting the most out of the language they know. If one has time, have each individual group come up to the top of the class and speak in front of everyone else. This will allow people to use their language more creatively.

7. Argument Between Neighbours
Again, this is a new opportunity for learning different types of vocabulary. This could be between two neighbours who are having an argument. Perhaps one plays music too loudly in the middle of the night and is disturbing the rest of the apartment block. This can be as absurd or ridiculous as the students' want, as long as they are speaking and using the language correctly. Some of the situations thought up can be quite amusing. See some suggested situations here: " Neighbour Problems Role Play ".

8. Body Language
Body language is just as important as spoken language, so in their role plays try and let the students get into the role. Of course, one does not have to be an expert at acting but it is important for them to get a feel of the flow of the conversation. Using body language effectively will allow them to become a lot more in tune with the language they are using.

9. Debate
Debates are a brilliant way of encouraging language use. This is because they can become somewhat heated, and many new words can come up. It is important to choose a topic which might not be too controversial to some students. Remember to be sensitive to their age group and the general attitude of the particular country. Divide the class into two sides and give them each a side of an argument to defend.

10. Have Fun
When it comes to role plays, it is all about the creative use of language. The student must put what they know to the test. This doesn't mean they have to list off a boring dialogue. Allow them to be as creative as they can. Put them into challenging situations, and this will allow them to think of new ways of saying things.

Role plays can work as a great ice breaker for the beginning of the class.

Always remember to be sensitive to any particular issues at the time, however, and be wary of the students' age. Usually, the likes of filing a complaint will not really be of interest to children. Once the students are having fun and speaking English, there are no limits to their own learning!

P.S. If you enjoyed this article, please help spread it by clicking one of those sharing buttons below. And if you are interested in more, you should follow our Facebook page where we share more about creative, non-boring ways to teach English.

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10 Fresh Roleplay Ideas for General English

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by Andrei Zakhareuski 630,804 views There are two ways a role play can go: scripted and non-scripted. With a scripted role play, the teacher might use an example in a text book. This is a good idea for a warm up exercise, by getting everyone to split up into pairs and allow them to speak to their partner, taking on different roles.

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Why emotional intelligence is key to creative leadership

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Why emotional intelligence is key to creative leadership

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Belinda Parmar, the CEO of The Empathy Business

These are dark times for empathy. Yet, at a time when hate is spewed in 140-character bursts and in divisive rhetoric, nerves are frayed and uncertainty is the new normal, empathy can have a uniquely transformative effect. In the midst of the fragile economic and social climate, smart creative leaders are increasingly recognising that emotional intelligence is not a nice to have "soft skill", but the very foundation of building successful brands and business

Belinda Parmar, the CEO of The Empathy Business, who is speaking at Campaign Underground next month, is focused on bridging the "empathy gap" and ushering in a new era of emotionally intelligent brands and business leaders. She says: "If you are not an emotionally intelligent leader, you can hit the numbers at first, but, as Silicon Valley shows us, sooner or later it will all fall down.

According to Parmar, a generational shift is afoot in a workplace where, for the first time in history, five generations must work side by side. "The whole concept of the corporation was that it was run by men, designed by men. The entire structure of business was built on hierarchy, when it is collaboration, empathy and purpose that you need both to truly deliver and to attract the best talent," she explains.

A psychological safety net

Parmar points out that the average Millennial will have 20 jobs in their lifetime, whereas many of today's business leaders will have held just four. It is a shift that has significant implications for the workplace, as it means there is a "bigger need for a psychological safety net". Parmar, who is currently working with a media agency to work out how to motivate a 27-year-old with "meaning and not money", believes the desire to be emotionally recognised - as consumers or employees - is a growing trend.

Emotional recognition will signal the death of the annual 360-degree appraisal Belinda Parmar, the CEO of The Empathy Business

But surely the notion that meaning trumps money is overplayed, when so many in the industry jump ship in search of a bigger pay cheque? Not so, says Parmar, who believes when people leave in search of a bigger salary they have already "emotionally checked out" of their current company. Or, worse still, the company lures them back with a bigger pay cheque, when the relationship is already doomed. "Employment is rarely just about the money; emotional recognition is so much more powerful," she adds.

It is a trend that Parmar argues is contributing to a new wave of technology-driven solutions, which will empower leaders to deliver continual feedback to staff. Salesforce, a CRM software company, has already created an app that can deliver this service. "Emotional recognition will signal the death of the annual 360-degree appraisal," says Parmar.

Emotion is not just for Christmas (advertising)

Of course, the power of emotion in advertising is well established. Brands such as John Lewis have built their reputations on having the nation collectively sobbing into its teacups. Yet in an ecosystem in which terrorism, hatred and the savagery of humanity are part of consumers' daily digital diet, are brands facing up to a collective numbness that makes it nigh-on impossible for them to connect with consumers on a meaningful or emotional level?

A new breed of emotionally driven and empathetic leaders is already successfully bridging the empathy gap

Parmar concedes that the UK is an "emotionally constipated nation", but, she says, this does not negate the fact that people want to connect on an emotional level. In essence, emotion is core to cutting through the clutter.

The emotional advantage of being your whole self

The industry may be content to shed a few tears at a melting snowman, errant penguin or a solitary man on the Moon, but what about within the confines of the office? While the rhetoric of "bring your whole self to work" is in full swing, is the business world really ready for unfiltered emotion? Parmar claims it is. "Fundamentally, what is the cost of not being authentic? If there is a gap between who you are at work and who you are as an individual, you will not reach your full potential," she says.

A new breed of emotionally driven and empathetic leaders is already successfully bridging the empathy gap. Key figures such as Karen Blackett, the chairwoman of MediaCom, and Marc Benioff, the founder, chairman and CEO of Salesforce, who have taken a stance on inclusion and tackling the gender pay gap, respectively, prove the business benefits of emotional intelligence.

According to Parmar, how to create an empathetic environment where individuals can thrive is not a "nice to have", but an essential challenge facing organisations seeking to create purpose-driven brands and businesses.

The second immersive edition of Campaign Underground, in association with Total Media, aims to ease the friction between analytics and emotion, exploring how the modern marketer can meaningfully measure emotional loyalty and influence. "The Economics of Emotion" takes place at Proud Camden on 20 September. Click here to find out more and book tickets.

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Why emotional intelligence is key to creative leadership

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These are dark times for empathy. Yet, at a time when hate is spewed in 140-character bursts and in divisive rhetoric, nerves are frayed and uncertainty is the new normal, empathy can have a uniquely transformative effect.

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For 100 Days, I Illustrated People In Exchange For Their Secrets

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For 100 Days, I Illustrated People In Exchange For Their Secrets

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I'm Terence Eduarte and I'm an illustrator from the Philippines. Every person has an interesting story to tell and I wanted to channel that into this project. I gathered a lot of silly secrets from friends and unexpected confessions from strangers around the world.

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For 100 Days, I Illustrated People In Exchange For Their Secrets

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I'm Terence Eduarte and I'm an illustrator from the Philippines. Every person has an interesting story to tell and I wanted to channel that into this project. I gathered a lot of silly secrets from friends and unexpected confessions from strangers around the world.

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What humans will look like in 1,000 years

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What humans will look like in 1,000 years

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What Humans Will Look Like In 1,000 Years | Insider Tech

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As a fan of new technology, I'm often at the front of the queue to buy the latest gadgets. But even I draw the line somewhere. Consider the HTC Vive, for example, the state of the art in virtual-reality headsets. Using an awesome trick called "volumetric" or "room-scale" VR, it doesn't just transport you to another world: its position-tracking system means you can walk around in it too. There's just one problem: the Vive costs £750, and you also need a £1,000 PC to power it. And a spare room. All this makes for a pricey toy, which is why I have not bought one.

Then there's the DJI Mavic, an insect-like quadcopter drone that can fold up to fit in a backpack. Normally when I try to fly drones they crash into the wall, the ceiling or the cat, and I am ordered to go outside and crash them into trees instead. But the Mavic is idiot-proof. If you try to crash it into a wall (and I tried) it beeps and refuses to go any farther. If you hold up your arms to make a Y shape, it follows you around. Make a square shape with your hands and it snaps a selfie. It lands automatically too. It's great fun, but it costs £999, so I have not bought one of these, either.

Yet despite being expensive toys - or, rather, precisely because they are expensive toys - these are both technologies worth watching. History shows that contraptions built to amuse the wealthy can go on to become world-changing tools. Rich technophiles often provide the initial demand for a complex, untested technology - and, as a consequence, the funding and the motivation to improve and develop it.

Automata offer the most striking historical example. These philosophical toys became popular in the 18th century, as an offshoot of elaborate mechanical clocks. Automaton-makers such as Jacques de Vaucanson and Pierre Jaquet-Droz built lifelike mechanical figures that could dance or write sentences. At the time they were the most complex pieces of machinery ever built, yet their chief use was to amaze the courts of Europe.

Though they seemed frivolous, their construction spurred innovations in precision machinery that went on to find much wider use during the Industrial Revolution. Jaquet-Droz's writing automaton pioneered the use of cams to preprogram complex, synchronised movements; de Vaucanson created the first flexible tubing for his famous automaton duck, and later built an early mechanical weaving machine. Rivalry between automaton-makers also led to new tools such as the milling machine.

As Samuel Johnson noted in 1751, "it may sometimes happen that the greatest efforts of ingenuity have been exerted in trifles, yet the same principles and expedients may be applied to more valuable purposes." He was right: looking back from the 1830s, David Brewster, a British physicist who also happened to be the inventor of the kaleidoscope, pointed out that "those mechanical wonders which in one century enriched only the conjuror who used them, contributed in another to augment the wealth of the nation."

A century later, punched-paper rolls from player pianos (a kind of musical automaton) powered the first "spread-spectrum" radio system, in which sender and receiver use a constantly changing frequency to keep signals from being intercepted. This was patented by Hedy Lamarr, of all people, in 1941, and is the direct ancestor of the radios in modern smartphones. With her dual career as an actress and an inventor, Lamarr embodies the unexpected conduit between entertainment and technology. More recently, the graphics-processing chips from video-game machines turned out to be perfect for powering artificial-intelligence systems.

Quadcopters are mostly toys today, but they are starting to be put to a range of commercial uses, buzzing over fields and building sites and, perhaps one day, delivering things. And VR 's power to create an alternative reality could prove to be an important medium in the future. For the time being, both technologies appeal chiefly to wealthy gadget-lovers. But next time you hear a gadget being dismissed as an expensive plaything, pay attention - because sometimes today's toys turn into tomorrow's revolutionary technologies.

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As a fan of new technology, I'm often at the front of the queue to buy the latest gadgets. But even I draw the line somewhere. Consider the HTC Vive, for example, the state of the art in virtual-reality headsets.

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‘If it doesn’t look dangerous, it doesn’t get attention!’

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‘If it doesn’t look dangerous, it doesn’t get attention!’

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'If it doesn't look dangerous, it doesn't get attention!'

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Nine Gymkhana videos, a mountain of rubber laid to waste, hours of Internet-friendly oversteer and a smile: Ken Block has gone from being whispered in petrolhead circles to a fully-fledged master of sideways. From powersliding his way around an airfield to taking Matt LeBlanc on a hot ride of London.

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'My daughter felt forgotten': parents on working late

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'My daughter felt forgotten': parents on working late

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According to a study by the charity Working Families, only one in three parents leave work on time. We asked readers to tell us why they work late and how their absence from home affects their families. Some names have been changed to protect identities.

Tina, 38, analyst, France: Small kids don't need you to earn lots of money, they need you to spend time with them

There is no culture of presenteeism at my company - no one gets brownie points for staying late. If I chose, I could work at home more (I currently do one day per week at home), and leave earlier. However, I would miss out on social and professional contact, and the career and development opportunities that brings, as well as feeling more part of the team. No one is directly discriminating, but if I am not there, I do not get the opportunities that others do.

My kids would love it if I could pick them up from school. My son was asked recently what he would change if he were boss of the school, and he said: "No after-school club, the parents come every day." When I do make it, they are so happy to see me there. If I could get home on time I would be with the kids more, to play with them, teach them things and help them with their development. It would give me more time to feel on top of things in life, not just scraping by day to day.

My mother gave up work to bring up three kids. She went back when I was about 11. We clearly benefited enormously from all her input in terms of our education and development. I feel like kids of parents who are around more get a head start in life. It may seem strange coming from a family where both parents have good jobs and are relatively well paid ... but small kids don't need you to earn lots of money, they need you to spend time with them.

Tom, 40, financial analyst, the Netherlands: I am sick of staying so late

Staff reductions with increased workloads make for a permanent sense of job insecurity. As the primary source of family income, covering all expenses, including mortgage and school fees, I feel the pressure to ensure I can continue to support them. I seldom work less than 50 hours a week.

It is often hard on my children, who complain about what time I return home. My wife can be stressed by having to deal with the children for long periods without additional support, and I am sick of staying so late. That said, in the time away from work I do try to ensure that I'm present and available: that we spend good-quality time together, doing things like reading bedtime stories and walking the dog. But I'm a person who also needs alone time, and getting anything like a reasonable balance no longer feels possible.

Molly, 34, architect, Dublin, Ireland: Having to leave early for work means I can't breastfeed my son

I think a lot of architects are still recovering from the last recession, which left many of us unemployed or out of the industry for several years. So when the whole office is still there at 7pm it is difficult to be the only one leaving on time each day. It has a terrible impact on us. I have a young son and he will only go to bed for me. If I am home late he goes to bed late and is exhausted and upset. My current office is relatively flexible if I come in early but it is limited. The only reason I stay late is because being unemployed again is worse than the stress of working late and having a tired baby.

An unexpected problem I have is that it affects breastfeeding, because with my working hours it is difficult to be there both when my son wakes and falls asleep. He only has milk at those two times, so some days he misses out on that crucial nutrition. That is an extremely difficult thing for me - to leave early for work with him asleep because he is exhausted, and me knowing he isn't getting his milk.

Owen, 41, manager, Washington DC, United States: It's affected the kids' concentration at school

There is more work to do than the staff can deliver. I know that to keep my manager's salary I need to continue to deliver the same results so I end up working until 7 or 8pm. I used to take work home to do after the family dinner when the kids are in bed, but as I get older I find it harder to motivate myself back to work once I've switched off. Hence I stay later. Mealtimes and bedtimes get pushed back. This was fine for a while, but recently it's affected the kids' concentration at school and even their grades - although I can't say this is definitely the reason, it just feels like it. It also puts a strain on my wife, who has the kids all by herself for longer. If I had more time with my family I think they would be happier as the day-to-day events wouldn't always come second to work.

Stef, 38, PR manager, Scotland: I probably don't play enough with my kids

I like my job, so staying later at work is satisfying; I get home around 7.30pm most nights. It also helps to delay having to face the chaos of over-tired children, the bedtime battle and hours of chores that wait for me. I probably don't play enough with my kids; my husband does that more than I do. I end up having very little time with them during the week, but I don't work Friday afternoons so I make up for it then, if I can. Also, my house is an absolute tip - all of the time. If I didn't stay so late at work, my kids might have a better bedtime routine if I were there, as I am strict about trying to get to bed on time.

Jason, 38, software developer, Nagoya, Japan: We feel guilty when we can't do things as a family

The primary reason I stay late is the workload. The workload in an average week is about 65 hours, and falling behind is considered a sign of poor performance that can seriously limit a person's career. I have no plans on staying in the same job beyond 45, and this means needing to stay late to stay afloat. Our son is less than a year old and quite an active child. My wife is always exhausted. She just doesn't have time to accomplish everything she needs to do for her work, and everything she wants to do at home. I help out as much as I can with the laundry, dishes, nappies, bottles, and everything else, but there's only so much noise you can make after 10 on a work night. When the weekend comes around, we want to spend as much time together as a family, but end up dedicating half of our waking hours to cleaning. We feel guilty when we can't do things as a family. We feel awful when the house is a mess. But we feel exhausted by nine every night. Going home early would open up our evenings and weekends more.

Karina, 55, teacher, England: My daughter felt forgotten

As a teacher, it was impossible to complete work duties in a regular eight hour work day. As a single parent either my teenage daughter spent lots of time alone at home or she had to spend afternoons at my school watching me work. I was tired and completely overwhelmed. My stress levels were sky high and my daughter became resentful of my career, and she and I were on antidepressants. My daughter felt forgotten and acted out by ditching school. The irony of teaching, was that I spent more time with other people's children than I did with my own child.

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'My daughter felt forgotten': parents on working late

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According to a study by the charity Working Families, only one in three parents leave work on time. We asked readers to tell us why they work late and how their absence from home affects their families. Some names have been changed to protect identities.

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How to Find Help to Recover From Addiction

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How to Find Help to Recover From Addiction

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Addiction alters the brain in insidious ways, but people who misuse alcohol and drugs can and do recover. Resources across the country offer treatment and support, although the current opioid epidemic is straining the nation's treatment centers. The federal agency charged with combating substance abuse, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, is a good place for addicts to consult for help.

To find treatment centers that are accredited by state or federal authorities and have specially trained staff, go to this locator.

You can find physicians authorized to treat opioid dependency with buprenorphine at this locator.

Programs that treat drug dependency with methadone are listed here by state.

You can reach support groups at these sites for help in battling addiction:

Visit SAMHSA's website, or call the National Helpline at 800-662-HELP (4357). Free, confidential advice is available 24 hours a day from trained specialists who can provide referrals to local treatment facilities, support groups, and community-based organizations. Callers can also request free publications.

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How to Find Help to Recover From Addiction

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Addiction alters the brain in insidious ways, but people who misuse alcohol and drugs can and do recover. Resources across the country offer treatment and support, although the current opioid epidemic is straining the nation's treatment centers. The federal agency charged with combating substance abuse, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, is a good place for addicts to consult for help.

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Could Your Personality Derail Your Career?

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Could Your Personality Derail Your Career?

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Executive Summary

Two decades ago the psychologists Robert and Joyce Hogan created an inventory of 11 qualities, ranging from excitable to dutiful, that when taken to the extreme, resemble the most common personality disorders. Subsequent profiling of millions of employees, managers, and leaders reveals that most people display at least three of these "dark side" traits, and about 40% score high enough on one or two to put them at risk for career disruption. For example, being excitable may help you display passion and enthusiasm to coworkers and subordinates, but it can also make you volatile and unpredictable. Having a deeply skeptical, cynical outlook makes it hard to build trust. And diligence, in excess, can morph into procrastination and obsessive perfectionism.

The author discusses the individual traits and suggests how to manage them, which involves identifying the ones that trip you up, modifying some of your behaviors, and continuing to adjust in response to critical feedback. In the process, you can greatly enhance your reputation, your career, and your leadership potential.

When considering what it takes to succeed at work, we often focus on innate strengths: high intelligence, the ability to learn, the ambition to achieve, and the social skills to develop strong relationships. But these characteristics always coexist with weaknesses-aspects of personality that might seem innocuous or even advantageous in some circumstances but that when left unchecked can wreak havoc on careers and organizations.

Two decades ago the psychologists Robert and Joyce Hogan created an inventory of these "dark side" traits-11 qualities that when taken to the extreme, resemble the most common personality disorders.

Since then their related assessment, the Hogan Development Survey (HDS), licensed by the eponymous company with which I am affiliated, has been widely adopted within the field of industrial-organizational psychology as a way to identify individuals' development needs.

After profiling millions of employees, managers, and leaders, we know that most people display at least three of these dark-side traits, and about 40% score high enough on one or two to put them at risk for disruption in their careers-even if they're currently successful and effective. The result is pervasive dysfunctional behavior at work.

Worryingly, leaders tend to do a poor job of evaluating their own dark sides, particularly as they gain power and move up the ranks. Some perceive their career advancement as an endorsement or encouragement of their bad habits. Eventually, however, those weaknesses may derail them, and perhaps their teams and organizations, too. For example, cautious leaders may convey the illusion of control and risk management in the short term, but being overly cautious may cause them to be so risk-averse that they obstruct progress and innovation. Being excitable may help you display passion and enthusiasm to coworkers and subordinates, but it can also make you volatile and unpredictable, which is taxing to others. Diligence helps you pay attention to details and strive to produce quality work, yet in excess it can morph into procrastination and obsessive perfectionism.

Research over decades suggests that it's very difficult to change core aspects of your personality after age 30. But you can-through self-awareness, appropriate goal setting, and persistence-tame your dark side in critical situations, by changing your behaviors.

Understanding the Dark Side

Dark-side traits can be divided into three clusters.

Those in the first are distancing traits-obvious turnoffs that push other people away. Being highly excitable and moody has this effect, for instance. So does having a deeply skeptical, cynical outlook, which makes it hard to build trust. Another example is leisurely passive-aggressiveness-pretending to have a relaxed, polite attitude while actually resisting cooperation or even engaging in backstabbing.

Traits in the second cluster are, in contrast, seductive qualities-geared to pull people in. They're often found in assertive, charismatic leaders, who gather followers or gain influence with bosses through their ability to "manage up." But these traits can also have negative consequences, because they lead people to overestimate their own worth and fly too close to the sun. Being bold and confident to the point of arrogance is a good example; so is being puckishly mischievous, with an enormous appetite for reckless risk.

The third cluster contains ingratiating traits, which can have a positive connotation in reference to followers but rarely do when describing leaders. Someone who is diligent, for instance, may try to impress her boss with her meticulous attention to detail, but that can also translate into preoccupation with petty matters or micromanagement of her own direct reports. Someone who is dutiful and eager to please those in authority can easily become too submissive or acquiescent.

Not all dark-side traits are created equal. In a global meta-analysis of 4,372 employees across 256 jobs in multiple industries, distancing traits had a consistently negative impact on individuals' work attitudes, leadership, decision making, and interpersonal skills (reflected in poor performance ratings and 360-degree reviews). But the seductive traits sometimes had positive effects. For instance, colorful, attention-seeking leaders often get better marks from bosses than their more reserved counterparts. And bold, ultra-confident CEOs often attain high levels of growth in entrepreneurial ventures. Dark-side traits also differ in their consequences. A mischievous, risk-taking leader who is under pressure to demonstrate financial growth can destroy an entire organization with a single impulsive decision. An excitable leader might simply wreck his career with a public temper tantrum.

It's worth noting that a complete lack of these traits can be detrimental as well. An extremely calm, even-tempered, soft-spoken manager-someone who isn't remotely excitable -may come across as dull or uninspiring. The key, then, is not to eliminate your personality weaknesses but to manage and optimize them: The right score is rarely the lowest or the highest but moderate.

Managing Your Dark Side
If you are unable to complete a full psychological assessment to identify your potential derailers, you can take an abbreviated version of the HDS at www.hoganx.io (with registration required) or simply compare your typical patterns of behavior with the basic profiles of the traits. Even better: Ask bosses, peers, subordinates, and clients to give you honest and critical feedback on your tendency to display these traits. Tell them that you want to improve and need their candor. How do they see you when you're not at your best? Do any of the traits sound a little (or a lot) like you? You might mention a pattern you've noticed or that others have commented on. You can improve your self-awareness through formal feedback mechanisms, such as performance appraisals, 360s, check-ins with your manager, and project debriefs. The key to gathering accurate information is to recognize that people will generally avoid offering critiques, especially to leaders, unless the behaviors are truly egregious. So in addition to assuring them that you welcome their honest assessments, you should listen carefully for subtle or offhand remarks.

Jane, the R&D manager of a global pharmaceutical company, is liked by her team and her boss, largely because of her emotional intelligence. However, her positive attributes are often eclipsed by her dark side. As someone who scores high on dutiful, Jane rarely disagrees with her reports and does so even less often with her boss, and she has real trouble providing negative feedback. She often underestimates big problems and rarely takes the initiative to suggest new ideas or projects. After her HDS scores revealed that these issues were rooted in her personality, Jane committed to making some changes. Her regular meetings with direct reports now start with a request: "Tell me what I can do better, and I'll do the same for you." She has become more assertive in critical situations: challenging the poor performers on her team, routinely presenting her manager with strategic recommendations, emphasizing things she "would do differently," and joining a couple of blue-sky task forces as an impetus to think more independently about big-picture innovation. As a result, Jane feels that her reputation has moved from "good manager" to "potential leader," while her team's mentality has shifted from "getting along" to "getting ahead," which has improved its performance.

Remember, too, that people in your personal life are likely to be more familiar with your dark side than work colleagues are, so ask for their candid opinions as well. At work you're often on your best behavior. In private, when you're comfortable being yourself and are relatively unconstrained by social etiquette, you're more likely to show your true colors.

It's also important to identify danger zones. As your situation changes-say you get a new manager, take a promotion, or switch organizations-different derailers may become more pronounced, and the context will determine whether they are more or less problematic. For example, a high score on imaginative may be useful if you're in an innovation role or working for an entrepreneurial boss, but it's worrisome if you're in risk management or have a conservative manager. Stress brings out dark-side traits by taxing our cognitive resources and making us less able to exert the self-control needed to keep our worst tendencies in check. And when we're under too little pressure-too relaxed-we may display some of the dark traits we successfully hide when we are more focused.

The next step is to preempt your derailers with behavioral change. You may have to feel your way toward that through successive approximations-tracking others' perceptions, making adjustments, doing more gauging, and so on. The goal here is not to reconstruct your personality but, rather, to control it in critical situations.

Amir is a sales VP with a high excitable score. Though he'd always regarded himself as passionate and energetic-willing to speak out in leadership meetings and engage in heated debate on important business issues-interviews with his manager and peers revealed that others perceived him as hotheaded and lacking an executive disposition-a person who would verbally lash out at anyone who offered an opinion contrary to his own. He learned to temper this derailer by incorporating three behavioral changes into his routine. First, he started taking short walks before regularly scheduled team meetings to compose his thoughts and consider topics that might arise and trigger his emotions. Second, as group discussions began, he moved his watch from his left arm to his right as a reminder to maintain control. Third, he began using "information-seeking behaviors" with peers in team meetings-such as asking, "Can you tell me a bit more about your idea and how it might improve the situation?" Colleagues recognized the sincere effort he was making and began to regard him as more "considerate" and "controlled."

Change may involve engaging in a new behavior. For example, if you are highly reserved, which often leaves others wondering what you think, commit to speaking up once in each meeting, use e-mail to communicate thoughts on critical issues, or convey your feedback through others. You might also work to eliminate certain behaviors. For example, if you are highly colorful, you might avoid watercooler chitchat or hold back from volunteering for important presentations so that a colleague or a subordinate can take center stage. These changes may make you uncomfortable at first, but the more you practice, the more natural they will feel, and the more likely they will be to become habits.

To control your dark-side traits long-term, you'll need to view reputation management as central to your development. This may seem like a superficial strategy for change, but career advancement is a function of how people see you. When your dark-side traits negatively affect others' perceptions of you, they become barriers to career success and good leadership. Unfortunately, even small slips-ignoring negative feedback when you are bold, responding to unpleasant e-mails in an impulsive manner when you are excitable, or getting carried away by awkward ideas when you are imaginative- can cause significant reputational damage.

To be sure, taming your dark side is hard work. Most people don't really want to change-they want to have changed. But if you identify the traits that trip you up, modify certain behaviors, and continue to adjust in response to critical feedback, you will greatly enhance your reputation, and with it your career and leadership potential.

A version of this article appeared in the September-October 2017 issue (pp.138-141) of Harvard Business Review.

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11 Personality Traits That Could Derail Your Career

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Executive Summary Two decades ago the psychologists Robert and Joyce Hogan created an inventory of 11 qualities, ranging from excitable to dutiful, that when taken to the extreme, resemble the most common personality disorders.

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7 words that make you sound smarter without sounding like a jerk

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7 words that make you sound smarter without sounding like a jerk

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7 words that make you sound smarter without sounding like a jerk

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You can improve how you sound to those around you by adding a few words to your vocabulary. But don't go randomly searching through the dictionary. You don't want to come off sounding pretentious. -------------------------------------------------- Follow BI Video on Twitter: http://bit.ly/1oS68Zs Follow BI on Facebook: http://bit.ly/1W9Lk0n Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/ -------------------------------------------------- Business Insider is the fastest growing business news site in the US.

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How a handful of tech companies control billions of minds every day

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How a handful of tech companies control billions of minds every day

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Tristan Harris: How a handful of tech companies control billions of minds every day

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A handful of people working at a handful of tech companies steer the thoughts of billions of people every day, says design thinker Tristan Harris. From Facebook notifications to Snapstreaks to YouTube autoplays, they're all competing for one thing: your attention.

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What do you need to know in advertising today?

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What do you need to know in advertising today?

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Turns out that taking a political stand is good marketing these days.

Pharmaceutical giant Merck's consumer perception received a notable lift after its CEO Kenneth Frazier quit President Trump's manufacturing council last week, according to YouGov BrandIndex, a consumer perception research service for brands.

To read more about how Merck gained its lift, click here.

In other news:

Popular weather app AccuWeather reportedly sent its users' location data to a monetization firm. The app seemingly continued to gather information even when permission to access a user's location was denied.

Google and Walmart are joining forces to take on Amazon. Starting in September, Google's commerce platform, Google Express, will count America's largest retailer among its list of vendors, the company announced Wednesday.

A beloved craft-brewer owned by Heineken is brewing marijuana beer. But there's a catch - the beer won't actually get you high as it doesn't contain THC, the psychoactive ingredient in weed.

Cheetos has opened a "fine-dining" restaurant in New York City. Here's what it was like.

BuzzFeed has hired a veteran New York Times editor to head up its business section. Jennifer A. Kingson comes in as the publication continues to build up its newsroom, and as its head of video Henry Goldman and supervising producer Jessica Naudziunas leave the company.

Martin Shkreli is buying websites associated with the names of journalists critical of him and customizing them with mocking messages. On a website named after Vanity Fair tech reporter Maya Kosoff, for example, the site welcomes the visitor, adding: "Here we honor one of the most vibrant Social Justice advocates today," a reference to "social justice warriors," a derisive slur associated with advocacy for liberal causes.

Breitbart's top editor fell for an email prankster who posed as Steve Bannon. The anonymous self-described email prankster posed as Bannon in an email exchange with Breitbart Editor in Chief Alex Marlow, who said in a series of email exchanges that he "spooked" Kushner and Ivanka Trump.

Advertising holding company WPP reported a second-quarter net sales decline that was worse than analysts expected, the Wall Street Journal reports. WPP has cut its full-year forecast for net sales growth to "between zero and 1%," sending its shares into a nosedive this morning.

Snapchat has an alcohol problem, Digiday reports. Alcohol marketers are reluctant to advertise on Snapchat because they are not confident that its age gating will ensure their ads are only being served to people over the age of 21.

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What you need to know in advertising today

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Turns out that taking a political stand is good marketing these days. Pharmaceutical giant Merck's consumer perception received a notable lift after its CEO Kenneth Frazier quit President Trump's manufacturing council last week, according to YouGov BrandIndex, a consumer perception research service for brands. To read more about how Merck gained its lift, click here.

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US scientists have calculated the total amount of plastic ever made and put the number at 8.3 billion tonnes.

It is an astonishing mass of material that has essentially been created only in the last 65 years or so.

The 8.3 billion tonnes is as heavy as 25,000 Empire State Buildings in New York, or a billion elephants.

The great issue is that plastic items, like packaging, tend to be used for very short periods before being discarded.

More than 70% of the total production is now in waste streams, sent largely to landfill - although too much of it just litters the wider environment, including the oceans.

"We are rapidly heading towards 'Planet Plastic', and if we don't want to live on that kind of world then we may have to rethink how we use some materials, in particular plastic," Dr Roland Geyer told BBC News.

A paper authored by the industrial ecologist from the University of California, Santa Barbara, and colleagues appears in the journal Science Advances. It is described as the first truly global assessment of how much plastic has been manufactured, how the material in all its forms is used, and where it ends up. Here are some of its key numbers.

8,300 million tonnes of virgin plastics have been produced

Half of this material was made in just the past 13 years

About 30% of the historic production remains in use today

Of the discarded plastic, roughly 9% has been recycled

Some 12% has been incinerated, but 79% has gone to landfill

Shortest-use items are packaging, typically less than a year

Longest-use products are found in construction and machinery

Current trends point to 12 billion tonnes of waste by 2050

Recycling rates in 2014: Europe (30%), China (25%), US (9%)

There is no question that plastics are a wonder material. Their adaptability and durability have seen their production and use accelerate past most other manmade materials apart from steel, cement and brick.

From the start of mass-manufacturing in the 1950s, the polymers are now all around us - incorporated into everything from food wrapping and clothing, to aeroplane parts and flame retardants. But it is precisely plastics' amazing qualities that now present a burgeoning problem.

None of the commonly used plastics are biodegradable. The only way to permanently dispose of their waste is to destructively heat it - through a decomposition process known as pyrolysis or through simple incineration; although the latter is complicated by health and emissions concerns.

In the meantime, the waste mounts up. There is enough plastic debris out there right now, Geyer and colleagues say, to cover an entire country the size of Argentina. The team's hope is that their new analysis will give added impetus to the conversation about how best to deal with the plastics issue.

"Our mantra is you can't manage what you don't measure," Dr Geyer said. "So, our idea was to put the numbers out there without us telling the world what the world should be doing, but really just to start a real, concerted discussion."

The Inquiry: Time to ban the plastic bottle?

A mission to the Pacific plastic patch

Plastic heading for oceans quantified

Plastic-eating caterpillar 'may cut waste'

Recycling rates are increasing and novel chemistry has some biodegradable alternatives, but manufacturing new plastic is so cheap the virgin product is hard to dislodge.

The same team - which includes Jenna Jambeck from the University of Georgia and Kara Lavender Law from the Sea Education Association at Woods Hole - produced the seminal report in 2015 that quantified the total amount of plastic waste escaping to the oceans each year: eight million tonnes.

This particular waste flow is probably the one that has generated most concern of late because of the clear evidence now that some of this discarded material is getting into the food chain as fish and other marine creatures ingest small polymer fragments.

Dr Erik van Sebille from Utrecht University in the Netherlands is an oceanographer who tracks plastics in our seas. Of the new report, he said: "We're facing a tsunami of plastic waste, and we need to deal with that.

"The global waste industry needs to get its act together and make sure that the ever-increasing amounts of plastic waste generated don't end up in the environment.

"We need a radical shift in how we deal with plastic waste. On current trends, it will take until 2060 before more plastic gets recycled than landfilled and lost to the environment. That clearly is too slow; we can't wait that long," he told BBC News.

And Richard Thompson, professor of marine biology at Plymouth University, UK, commented: "If plastic products are designed with recyclability in mind they can be recycled many times over. Some would say a bottle could be recycled 20 times. That's a substantial reduction in waste. At the moment poor design limits us."

To illustrate that point, Dr Geyer said: "The holy grail of recycling is to keep material in use and in the loop for ever if you can. But it turns out in our study that actually 90% of that material that did get recycled - which I think we calculated was 600 million tonnes - only got recycled once."

Jonathan.Amos-INTERNET@bbc.co.uk and follow me on Twitter: @BBCAmos

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Earth is becoming 'Planet Plastic' - BBC News

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US scientists have calculated the total amount of plastic ever made and put the number at 8.3 billion tonnes. It is an astonishing mass of material that has essentially been created only in the last 65 years or so. The 8.3 billion tonnes is as heavy as 25,000 Empire State Buildings in New York, or a billion elephants.

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How boredom can lead to your most brilliant ideas

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How boredom can lead to your most brilliant ideas

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How boredom can lead to your most brilliant ideas

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Do you sometimes have your most creative ideas while folding laundry, washing dishes or doing nothing in particular? It’s because when your body goes on autopilot, your brain gets busy forming new neural connections that connect ideas and solve problems. Learn to love being bored as Manoush Zomorodi explains the connection between spacing out and creativity.