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I've always had a problem with the term business-to-consumer (B2C). Labeling a person a consumer reduces them to a single activity in their life: buying stuff. People who like corn chips do not walk around saying, "I am a buyer of corn chips." When we business leaders think of our customers in those terms, we are demonstrating that we don't care about them. We just care about their shopping lists.

There's a similar disconnect with business-to-business (B2B). These transactions often assume that the qualities that make human beings discerning purchasers - judgment and trust - somehow vanish when they buy for an enterprise. If that were true, all business purchasing decisions would be based on price alone.

In short, the distinction between B2C and B2B is no longer useful. Instead, we should begin thinking about "B2I," in which the I stands for individual. Companies succeed or fail these days based on their ability to build and maintain lasting relationships with individuals. We have to earn our customers' trust or those relationships will not grow.

Labeling a person a consumer reduces them to a single activity in their life: buying stuff. People who like corn chips do not walk around saying, "I am a buyer of corn chips."

This reality represents a kind of reversion to the pre-industrial world, when most purchases were personal. In many clothing purchases, for example, the maker was also the seller. Through continued measurements and alterations, the tailor or seamstress came to know the customers: their build, the fabric they preferred, and the way they wanted to look. Mass production and retailing changed all that. Customization disappeared from most purchases as people bought clothing off the rack, with sizes and styles designed to fit many people.

Today, companies are once again shaping their selling experience to fit each customer individually. That means constantly modifying the standard product or service, like the tailors of a bygone era, but now companies add that type of craftsmanship at scale. No matter what their industry, businesspeople are learning to measure and outfit many customers every day, one individual at a time. Companies such as Haier and Adidas, for example, are establishing regular practices for manufacturing products to order based on online shoppers' requests. In the B2B world, one example is the use of dye sublimation - a digital process for applying images to clothing and products - to quickly customize textiles for apparel manufacturers, whose needs can shift at the speed of fashion. Another example is the tailoring of employee health insurance plans to match changes in workforce demographics, with portals that allow HR leaders to select options for their employees.

Related Stories

by Tim Laseter, Andrew Tipping, and Frederick Duiven

As a result of this steady innovation, individual consumers and B2B customers increasingly expect a customized experience. Research from Salesforce's State of the Connected Customer report, based on a study of more than 6,700 consumers and business buyers in 17 nations, shows that being treated like a person, not a number, is almost equally important to individual consumers (84 percent) and business buyers (83 percent). The type of online experience developed by Amazon - with easy-to-browse pages, reviews from other customers, and machine-learning-generated recommendations - has revolutionized consumer buying and is now valued by nearly 70 percent of business buyers, as well.

In fact, business buyers are more demanding than individual purchasers when it comes to customer experience. The same study found that 74 percent of business customers, compared with 63 percent of consumers, will pay more for a better customer experience. A similar share of business buyers (81 percent) and consumers (79 percent) agree that the experience a company provides is as important as its products and services. More business buyers (77 percent) than consumers (70 percent) also say they share good customer experiences with others. For today's buyers, customer experience rules.

To deliver an experience truly catered to the individual, marketing leaders must rethink the way they use customer data. That means understanding far more about people's lives and preferences than simply their shopping list. Yet most companies know little more about individual customers than the data they collect from interactions with them. Even that data is often fragmented and scattered across siloed business units.

Instead, companies must aggregate data from all relevant sources to create a 360-degree view of each individual. All the data on a customer should be accessible and usable by every part of the company - sales, service, and marketing - to establish a "single source of truth." Of course, practices for gathering data must respect the privacy of each individual. For any relationship to flourish, it has to be rooted in trust and transparency.

However, data itself is not enough to create those personalized experiences. Artificial intelligence is required to turn the comprehensive trove of data into insights that can anticipate customers' needs and act as their digital assistant. Much like his or her pre-industrial counterpart, a B2I virtual tailor, for example, would know each individual's measurements and tastes in fabrics, styles, and other variables, and could thus make highly personalized recommendations.

Or imagine a business traveler walking into a hotel room designed by a company that knows how to craft a B2I experience for its frequent visitors. The room is populated with photos of her family generated in digital frames. The temperature of the room and the lighting are just the way she likes them. Her favorite music is playing. In her inbox is an email asking if she wants the salmon Caesar salad - without croutons - that she ordered last time from room service. She turns on the television and it suggests a movie she hasn't seen, starring her favorite actress. A rental car of the make and model she has been eying to purchase is available at the hotel, along with a reminder to take her allergy medication if she takes a drive in the country.

This isn't marketing to a category of consumers. It's applying AI and all the customer data to cater to the needs of a single individual, which is much more powerful.

Can hotel chains do this right now? No. But they're getting close. In the near future, individuals may have secure digital identities under their control; the related apps will mine a person's histories and know their preferences. An AI-powered digital assistant, like the one Google has demonstrated with its new Duplex project, could represent individuals in the marketplace and take care of routine tasks. Someone who needs to plan a trip, collect the latest news on a favorite topic, parse out what personal information to share with a brand, set up a business meeting, or order flowers for a loved one, could leave all of that and more to a digital assistant.

This kind of B2I exchange won't feel like interacting with an impersonal machine. It will be more like connecting with a trusted friend who has known you for decades. B2I as a concept may not fully mature for three to five years, but customers are already beginning to expect this level of engagement as a matter of course. The technology platforms that enable it won't be long in coming. We need to be ready to move from primarily transactional relationships to more intimate, AI-powered personalized relationships with the individuals who buy our products and services.

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I've always had a problem with the term business-to-consumer (B2C). Labeling a person a consumer reduces them to a single activity in their life: buying stuff. People who like corn chips do not walk around saying, "I am a buyer of corn chips."

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by Tracey Ruff

Building your product management skill set goes beyond just knowing everything there is to know about your product.

What are the Basic Product Management Skills For SaaS?

First things first: There is a core set of skills that all product managers need. And because you deal with so many different teams and work with different products (depending on where you work and where you've previously worked), you have to have a pretty large skill set (which makes you super cool, by the way).

If you're just starting out in product management, or if you're thinking of making the move over to product management, these are some of the fundamental skills you'll need.

A General Understanding of Data

For SaaS product managers , it's even more crucial to be able to analyze and interpret data because SaaS products, in general, tend to generate huge volumes of data. In this case, it's important for you, as a SaaS product manager, to become a data-driven one and lead the way in digital transformation.

Industry Insights and KPIs

A core product management skill is to have knowledge of market and industry trends and being able to set and track key KPIs, such as customer acquisition costs, customer conversion rate , daily active users, features usage, user churn, Net Promoter Score , customer satisfaction, and customer lifetime value .

We say it time and time again on our blog: The market and competition for SaaS companies is fierce. SaaS companies are growing (and sometimes sadly dying) all the time, and while many feel the race is on to create products customers want, it's important that running this race doesn't come at the expense of creating a solid, quality product that truly meets the needs of its niche customer market.

Product managers need to have . It's easy to assume that speaking directly with customers is the responsibility of sales and well-defined use cases and clear customer personas and they must leverage data and customer feedback to find that all important product-market fit customer success teams, but product managers actually have a lot to gain by communicating directly with active users.

Strategic Thinking

Strategic thinking is also needed for of yours. You should be able to predict how much time each phase of the defining that all-too-important product roadmap product life cycle will take and when you can better position your product depending on market cycles. You'll also need to come up with strategies to manage costs and risks that arise along the way.

Basic Business Skills

Design and User Experience Knowledge

While all skills are valuable, having a decent understanding of UX design etc. is a must-have for product managers in the SaaS world. For SaaS companies to succeed, they NEED to provide an inimitable customer experience . The UX dictates the success of the company, so having a basic knowledge of UX and combining this with the knowledge of your UX researcher, for example, will set you up for success.

Other Common Skills

The other common core skills that are necessary include teamwork and team building , excellent time-management (this is particularly important because you're working with different teams and stakeholders all the time, so you need to manage your time effectively and wisely, especially if large chunks of your time are being taken up by meetings), compiling reports and preparing documentation, project management, good delegation skills (here, it's always important that you empower those around you by also giving them responsibility and independence), prioritization skills (and REALLY good ones at that), being able to remain objective (you can read up on objective prioritization frameworks ), presentation skills, being able to lead team meetings, and being able to conduct solid user interviews.

5 Product Management Skills That Are Non-Negotiable

Moving on from the core skills that every product manager needs, we're going to take a look at some other important skills that you may not necessarily have been aware of when you stepped into your career as a product manager.

So, if you REALLY want to be at the top of your game and stand out from the product manager crowd, then here are 5 more skills you need to have to kick some serious S(aaS) ;).

You are an excellent communicator

It may seem obvious that you need to be good at communication, but good doesn't really cut it in product management ;). You are the spokesperson for your product as well as the voice of the customer for your teams, and as mentioned above, you work with a lot of different teams and deal with external stakeholders on a daily basis. And as the spokesperson for your product, you need to be able to clearly communicate your product vision and strategy to the team.

People often tend to forget just how important communication is. A lack of communication, or the wrong kind of communication, can really make or break a relationship. So, as a product manager, you truly do need to possess strong communication and interpersonal skills.

Having strong communication skills entails being able to give excellent, valuable, and captivating presentations, being diplomatic, and having the ability to listen, to empathize, and be respectful (which we discuss in more detail below). You need to be able to empower and motivate your team and build trust with them not only by what you say, but by what you do as well.

I personally like these words from , the principal product manager at :

"Product Managers are directly responsible for synthesizing the voices and needs of senior stakeholders, the product team, and customers. As such, they are the communication hub within their business."

Co-founder of and Mind the Product , Janna Bastow, believes that when things aren't going well, it's not because of your product roadmap - it's how you're dealing with people management!

Communication is a soft skill that can be honed, developed, and practiced. Excellent communication is critical to drive product success because it's tied to (among other things) empathy and understanding. I don't know about you, but I definitely don't want a leader or manager who doesn't have the ability to empathize or fails to try and understand the unique needs and goals of his/her team (which is often incredibly diverse and made up of people from different backgrounds and cultures).

Communication can either make or break a team, and without a team, you definitely won't have a successful product. It comes down to being aware of how you communicate and understanding just how important it is to communicate effectively. There are a variety of resources on how to improve your product management communication skills - and there's always room for improvement!

You work as a professional negotiator

However, it should never come down to meeting in the middle for the sake of it simply because one party may have more sway than the other. It shouldn't work like that, especially when you're creating a product for your customers. We recently wrote a post on how to develop a customer-first culture, so when it comes to making decisions, it's essentially the customer who drives the decisions.

Once again, negotiation might seem like a skill specifically for sales and customer service or success teams, and that's why this might be an overlooked skill in product management. In fact, Brent Tworetzky, SVP of product at , believes that half of your job as a product manager is negotiation.

So, when you need to negotiate with stakeholders or your internal teams, you'll need to:

Back your case up with data ( data-driven decision making )

Establish rapport with the stakeholders, keep your emotions in check, and set a positive mood from the beginning

Set goals for the negotiation meeting - what do you want to get out of the meeting? Don't get side-tracked: You have a purpose, so stick to it.

Avoid both soft negotiation (where you focus too much on not damaging a relationship and therefore only get weaker outcomes) and hard negotiation (where your only aim is to win, and this can come at the expense of relationships) and strive for principled negotiation, which, in the words of Brent Tworetzky, "brings both parties of the negotiation together as a team to find the best outcome in an efficient way that maintains the relationship."

Remain as objective as possible and reach a conclusion based on data and creative options generated by different teams.

It's definitely not an easy skill, but you're actually negotiating every day without even realizing it. Keep in mind that when you're negotiating, you need to strive for the following three things according to Brent Tworetzky:

1. A positive result and one that all (or at least the majority of) the parties agree to.

2. Making the most out of the time you have set for the meeting - be as efficient as possible.

3. Maintaining relationships. Breaking trust is an absolute no-no. Boost morale, empower those around you, and handle conflict ethically and responsibly.

You have thick skin, but know when to put your foot down.

Everyone cares about their product. It's what your salespeople sell, your marketers market, and what your customers work with. Therefore, everyone feels that they have a say in what goes into the product and what is going to make it better.

Yes, you are human and we should never deny the human aspect when it comes to work relations. We are emotional, we all have ideas and opinions and what we think may be best for a product or customer, but the emotions need to be balanced out by logic, rationality, and data-driven decisions. Psychologists often talk about the emotional mind, the rational mind, and the wise mind.

The emotional mind and the rational mind need to balance each other out to create the wise mind. Think about it: Too much emotion when making decisions is always risky, and too much rational thinking can kill the passion you have for the work you do and for your product.

You are an active listener

Relating to point 3, you know that you need to display a level of understanding when you are dealing with certain stakeholders.

"A successful product manager builds a process to improve the joy and output of the team. They ask what needs to happen for a successful product launch and then follows through. They are always listening and learning in order to be better."

I'll never forget once reading that we have one mouth to speak but two ears listen. It's a silly anecdote, but it serves to highlight the importance of listening in the communication process.

Active listening is definitely a critical skill for product success. Not only do you have to listen to your team, you have to listen to you users - listen to them. What are their paint points? Their unmet needs? Feature requests?

And referencing Janna Bastow of ProdPad once again, she suggests investing in a culture of psychological safety. What this means? Making your team feel comfortable and secure when they want to speak up.

Like effective communication, active listening requires a concerted effort - you need to actively practice this skill every time you're speaking with someone. For some help on how to be better at active listening and communication, you can check out these resources/ books:

You are a jack-of-all trades

In a post for Udemy for Business , former Senior Product Manager at SoundCloud Cole Mercer suggests trying out a few of these different roles for a bit in order to gain some practical experience. Even just shadowing someone else in a different department for a day can give you some good insight, especially in terms of what your customers are experiencing. Watch the sales team do a demo or listen in on a customer success manager's call.

Familiarizing yourself with these roles will help you understand what challenges each team faces and what their unique goals are. And having a little knowledge of how each team functions is what you need to become a valuable jack-of-all trades product manager.

And this is always valuable in terms of how teams perceive you: If you're willing to get involved, engage with them, and understand what they do and why they do it, they'll have a lot more respect for you and they'll be more likely to trust you when it comes to decision-making and getting everyone on board with your vision and strategy.

I don't know about you, but I really appreciate someone who's in a management or leadership position being interested in my work and how it contributes to the overall success of the business and customers. So don't be afraid to take a hands-on approach and avoid being a leader or manager who is unrelatable and disinterested in what other teams are doing, even if they aren't directly involved in product.

The Most Important Product Management Skill Everyone Misses

Cole Mercer believes that the gift of storytelling and evangelism is the one single trait that truly distinguish the top 1% of product managers from the rest.

To tell a great story, you need to know your audience. And for you, your audience is both internal and external. No matter where you are in the product development cycle, you need to be able to tell a great story behind all your hard work.

As a product manager, you are tasked with the challenge of telling the product story to your internal stakeholders as well as your company as a whole. You will have to do this in a way that everyone can understand and get behind. You have to get them onboard with your vision and strategy, and you have to get them excited and passionate about they company's product.

O nce you have settled on the user needs you are solving for, you will want to tell the product story to your users. This is mission critical because if you can't get your users to understand your product, then you will have a very hard time retaining them and keeping them engaged.

Usability research is a UX design skill that you use to analyze products and identify the pain points you want to solve for the user.

Once you have these pain points identified, you can bring them to your stakeholders to further develop the product story.

This usually results in numerous benefits:

By allowing the stakeholders to experience the development process first hand, they will better empathize with the product and engineering teams when something doesn't go to plan.

You establish trust by facilitating these important conversations and managing expectations with the stakeholders. Keeping them in the loop, following up on status updates, and bringing them back into conversation when necessary all go a long way when building trust.

The earlier you can circulate your ideas (supported by thorough research and data) with the stakeholders, the sooner you can anticipate potential concerns from each department.

By collecting all of the information from stakeholders and users, the better equipped you will be to be able to tell the right story both users and stakeholders will buy into.

Steve Jobs really is the epitome of being a master storyteller. He got the whole world excited about Apple products and what they could do for the future - and just look at where Apple is today and how successful they have become.

What did Steve Jobs teach us about Apple? Love your product. Be an evangelist. Be a visionary. If you can tell a story that people can get behind, then your business is more likely to succeed.

To become a visionary, you need to be dedicated to reading voraciously, analyzing market trends both past and present, and engaging with other visionaries and evangelists. If you're passionate about your role as a product manager and passionate about your product, you can achieve great success, no matter what that looks like to you. People are driven first and foremost by emotion, and you can leverage this through storytelling and passion.

Resources to Improve Product Management Skills

As Cole Mercer says in his article on Udemy for Business, the most critical skills can be learned and taught by corporate L&D efforts, so don't despair if you're just starting out in your career!

There are, of course, an abundance of truly excellent resources online that you can use to refine your product management skills. You can check out our very own blog too for some resources. We've compiled a list of the top online product management courses that are highly recommended by experts in the field, and we've also got a post explaining all the important UI and UX terms you need to know as a product manager (oh, and bonus - this post is written in the form of a story, which ties in with you needing to be a good storyteller).

Many of the course mentioned in our blog post also come with online certifications/ qualifications, which you can, naturally, add to your resume.

The Future of the Product Manager

With the explosion of tech and SaaS companies, product managers are proving to be highly valuable because they are, in the words of Mercer, "responsible for shipping the software for customers". This means that they are the ones responsible for figuring out how to create a product that their customers both love and that SOLVES their problems. It's definitely not an easy task at all to be a product manager - let alone an exceptional one!

In such a competitive market, it's critical for you to set yourself apart from the rest and strive to be in the top 1% of product managers. Achieve this by honing and developing the skills we've mentioned above and never stop learning. Product management is one of those fields that requires continuous learning and development. You'll need to develop and sharpen your skills constantly to keep up with and stay ahead with changing consumer needs and demands. It's challenging work, but if you're a product manager, you clearly love a challenge, otherwise you wouldn't be in this field to begin with ;).

In this post, we've looked at both hard and soft skills, and before I end this post, I'd like to leave you with this quote from Brian Sparker (PM at G2):

"Soft skills are criminally under-valued when it comes to product management. I think people tend to focus more on the product side of things, and not the management. A great product manager is a leader of people. They are selfless, never content to settle for mediocrity, and willing to do what it takes to ensure their teams success."

So be that product manager superhero of your company and keep on working on those superpowers - the world of SaaS needs you now more than ever.
Check out a recording of our webinar with expert Product Manager, Megan Bubley, in which she discusses all the necessary skills you need to develop and implement successful product features.

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6 Product Management Skills That Are More Important Than You Think

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by Tracey Ruff Building your product management skill set goes beyond just knowing everything there is to know about your product. First things first: There is a core set of skills that all product managers need.

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LinkedIn article

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Work boundaries help safeguard our time, our energy and our purpose and how fulfilled we feel. Some work boundaries are functional and clear, while others are more intangible and flexible. For example, at some point we absolutely need to get some sleep and there are boundaries in place to ensure that happens.

Now having clear boundaries doesn't mean that we won't think about work when we're not working or that we won't think about personal stuff during work time. We don't have switches in our heads that help us to turn off who we are or what we've got going on.

Instead, boundaries encourage us to have dedicated work time and dedicated time to recharge. There should be a palpable mind shift, the lifting of the weight of workplace responsibility, and a sense that we're done for the day.
Here's how we can start to establish work boundaries and stick to them:
1. Understand your worth

If we never feel as though we're enough, we can throw ourselves into our work to try and ascertain enough-ness from our output, usefulness and indispensability. But in doing so, we tend to head toward burnout - the more we do, the further away being enough feels. Plus, those around us will grow used to a level of output from us. We're more likely to say yes to what's asked of us even when we'd rather say no. If approval temporarily feeds our feeling enough, then that's what we'll continually seek.

We're all brimming with value, even when we can't see it. The amalgamation of our experiences, skill sets, expertise, energy, insights and perspectives has a unique value that only we can offer - there's nobody quite like us, quirks and all.

Understanding our worth and value means that we have an awareness and appreciation of our achievements and what we can offer. It also underlines how and when we communicate, what we might be willing to do for recognition (or not), what we're motivated by, and how likely we are to speak up when our boundaries have been violated. When we value ourselves and our time, energy, skills, and expertise, we become a bit more particular about what we take on and which balls we're quite happy to drop.

2. Be clear and concise

When starting a conversation in which we'd like to assert a boundary, we can sometimes let apologies creep in. We'll say things like "Sorry to bother you, but I just wanted an update on XXX" or, "I hate to be a pain, but could I please chat with you about flextime?"

Unfortunately, being apologetic makes us sound primed for a "no" or for some reprisal before anyone has had any input. These apologies also dilute our messages so that they become unclear.

When we communicate honestly and clearly, we're leaving no uncertainty behind our intention and our meaning. It opens the door for other people to do the same and means that they're not stuck trying to interpret what has just been said.

It's OK to assert our boundaries. It's OK to change our minds. It's OK to share our perspective on a situation. It's OK to be assertive and to the point. It's OK to follow up on missed deadlines, to check in and to ask for adjustments, tweaks and changes.

3. Manage and negotiate expectations

We start work armed with a job description and a contract of employment or a baseline set of mutual expectations. In return for doing this and that, we can expect to be compensated in this way and that way. At the get-go, we can decline the job if we disagree with anything laid out in those baseline documents or we can negotiate. As time progresses, we'll probably be asked to do other tasks and projects and we might ask for workplace adjustments.

The baseline evolves, which is fine as long as the expectations remain clear, realistic and mutually agreed upon. But so often, they're not.

When expectations aren't clearly defined, understood or agreed upon, it causes heaps of stress for all concerned. This is where it becomes super important that expectations be managed, because there are often consequences that arise when expectations aren't met and we feel the threat of those outcomes.

4. Identify your nonnegotiables

Most every work decision we make involves consequences and compromises. If we're asked to work overtime, there's a trade-off that occurs somewhere else because we can't be in two places at once. If we're not conscious of what the trade-off is, we might not have considered the things we're giving up.

It's helpful to have a nonnegotiables list, pre-written when we have the time and space to weigh up the implications of the choices that we might make where work is concerned. If we're saying yes to overtime, what are we saying "no" to? Or even, what are we saying "yes" to?

Perhaps overtime takes us away from our loved ones, but it's helping us to save for a down payment. Perhaps one of our nonnegotiables will be to consume a certain amount of water per day, which means we need to factor in time in our water schedule to have a drink. It sounds simple, doesn't it?! But so many of us get our heads down and crash through the day only to find we have a headache when we log off, possibly caused by dehydration and not having had a break from our computer screens or any break at all.

Nonnegotiables might be that we don't ever want to miss a parents' evening, a school play or activity, or taking care of our kids when they're sick. It could be that we have a book club, a long-standing badminton game or a support group that we absolutely don't want to miss.

Our nonnegotiables could be about methods of communication. Perhaps we don't want to be contacted by our work colleagues via WhatsApp, text message or social media because we prefer to use those with our close friends and family. Creating a list of nonnegotiables helps us uncover what's important to us, and from them we can create, communicate and negotiate boundaries to support and shield our priorities.

5. Remote work needs boundaries too

Working from home sounds ideal for those who've never had the opportunity. But as many of us have learned, it comes with its own unique set of boundary issues. Aspects of working from home that may need to be addressed include a whole new set of possible distractions; a greater need for self-discipline; having to create reasons to leave your home and get fresh air; and knowing when to put work down when you're always at your place of work. Sometimes our work distractions become more plentiful when we're remote because we end up getting more messages and questions via email or platforms like Slack.

Working remotely requires a heightened consciousness to make space for ourselves in and around work. We need to have careful conversations with our coworkers to ensure that our boundaries are understood and respected.

6. Beware of burnout

The World Health Organization has defined burnout as "a syndrome conceptualized as resulting from chronic workplace stress that has not been successfully managed." It states that the syndrome is characterized by: "feelings of energy depletion or exhaustion; increased mental distance from one's job, or feelings of negativism or cynicism related to one's job; and reduced professional efficacy."

We can be full-throttle passionate about our jobs - fulfilled, purposeful and motivated - and still get burned out. In fact, the more passionate we might feel, the easier it is for us to justify the long hours because we take pleasure and find purpose in what we're working on or toward.

That drive, that tenacity, that compassion, that laser focus is not in limitless supply - we must cultivate it. And we can only do that by stepping away and creating a life outside of work that we also derive pleasure from. The glorification of work isn't doing anyone any favors. It's the people who can, and do, switch off who have it right and not the people who burn the candle at both ends and who are always ignoring their needs to get something done.

Nobody would ever pin a picture of a frazzled person on a vision board and aspire to become them. But that's who we're heading toward being if we continue to keep on keeping on with no respite, with no protective boundaries. When we're knee-deep in the doing, it's easy to lose perspective on what's really important. When we're held to ransom over never-ending deadlines, we have to consider the long-term effects of always being on.

Even though switching off can feel counterproductive, it's playing the long game. There needs to be space between the occupancy of self and work. Taking the breaks we're entitled to is a good way to have respite and create space - the coffee breaks, the lunch breaks, the vacation time and (if we're unwell) sick leave. Creating space by taking breaks doesn't mean that we're no longer passionate, dedicated or motivated - it simply increases our capacity to keep harnessing our passion, dedication and motivation.
Excerpted from the new book Watch her TEDxBrum Talk here: Making Space: How to Live Happier by Setting Boundaries That Work for You by Jayne Hardy. Reprinted with permission from The Experiment, LLC. Copyright © 2019, 2021 by Jayne Hardy.

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How to set clear work boundaries - and stick to them

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Work boundaries help safeguard our time, our energy and our purpose and how fulfilled we feel. Some work boundaries are functional and clear, while others are more intangible and flexible. For example, at some point we absolutely need to get some sleep and there are boundaries in place to ensure that happens.

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All good things must come to an end, including your presentation. Especially your presentation. The way you close will affect how your audience responds and remembers.
A weak ending will leave them unenthused and uninspired, within a few hours they may even have forgotten your message.

But a strong ending will fire them up. A strong ending motivates and empowers. A strong ending encourages people to take action.

So how do you end on a high? Here are 6 tips to ensure you go out with a bang.

1) Call your audience to action

It's not enough to assume your message will inspire people to take action. You need to actually tell them to take action.

I asked Dee Clayton, motivational speaker, public speaking trainer and author of Taming Your Public Speaking Monkeys to share her insight and experience. The call-to-action is Dee's preferred method of closing a speech.

"Summing up the action you want your audience to take is a great way to finish up. To do this, it's best to use a two-pronged approach:

1. Start with a negative motivation - help them see how bad things will be if they don't do what you are suggesting.

2. Finish with a positive motivation - paint a picture of how good things will be when they do what you recommend."

Dee stresses the importance of following this pattern.

Always give the negative first, followed by the positive. You'll end on a motivating high and will maximise your chances of inspiring the audience into action.

2) Refer back to the opening message

Closing a presentation with a look back at the opening message is a popular technique. It's a neat way to round off your message, whilst simultaneously summing up the entire speech.

There are a few ways to approach this technique:

Set up a question at the beginning of your speech and use your ending to answer it.

Finish a story you started, using the anecdote to demonstrate your message.

Close with the title of the presentation - this works best with a provocative, memorable title.

Do you know who's really good at this technique? Stand up comedians. They often make jokes early in the set that they unexpectedly refer back to (in a different context) at the end.

This is known as callback comedy and it often generates the biggest laugh of the night. It's a powerful move because it creates a feeling of familiarity and camaraderie with the audience, making them feel like they're in on the joke.

3) Practice the rule of three

The rule of three is a simple yet powerful and effective method of communication. We use it in written and spoken communications all the time (did you notice I used it just then?).

The rule of three is the understanding that ideas, concepts and beliefs are more memorable and interesting when presented in threes. It's a very persuasive number, three.

Here are three excellent real-world examples of the rule of three. First, Winston Churchill:

This is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.

Now, Julius Caesar:

Veni, vidi, vici.

And Benjamin Disraeli:

There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics.

4) Close with a summary

"If you've already explained your content well and in an engaging way, there is no need to summarise the content again at the end," Dee Clayton says.

She's right. There are far more powerful ways to end your presentation. However, it might be necessary if your message is particularly complicated or your speech is a long one.

Summarising content can be a little dry - both for you and your audience. Make your summary more palatable with humour, a fascinating anecdote or interesting linguistic devices (like repetition, rhyming, and the rule of three).

5) Don't end with the questions

If Dee has one absolute speechwriting no-no, it's this:

Never end with the questions. Too many people make this mistake. If you get a negative question, you've dulled the whole presentation and the audience leave on a negative note. Always do the questions before the wrap up.

Too many people end with questions and it often goes off track. This is memorable for no one. By the time you've answered a handful of semi-relevant questions, the audience have forgotten most of what you've told them.

Take questions throughout your presentation so they remain pertinent to the content.

6) Make it clear that you've finished

Nothing is more uncomfortable than the deafening silence of an audience working out if you've finished.

Your closing words should make it very clear that it's the end of the presentation. The audience should be able to read this immediately, and respond (hopefully with applause).

If the applause isn't forthcoming, stand confidently and wait. Don't fidget and certainly don't eke out a half-hearted, 'And that just about covers it. Thank you'.

Dee used her two-prong approach to explain the importance of making your ending clear:

If you don't spend some time considering how to end your presentation, you may find yourself floundering at the end. You may wonder why few people actually action what you suggest and why there's no reassuring applause! But when you do put a bit of thought, planning and practice into your ending, you will look confident, inspire the audience into action and be able to leave the stage with your head held high.

And isn't that all we really want from our presentations?

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6 Stylish ways to close your presentation | Presentation Ending

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All good things must come to an end, including your presentation. Especially your presentation. The way you close will affect how your audience responds and remembers. A weak ending will leave them unenthused and uninspired, within a few hours they may even have forgotten your message. But a strong ending will fire them up.

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A BETTER SOLUTION TO "DO YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS?"

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A BETTER SOLUTION TO "DO YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS?"

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If you're like most speakers, you probably get to the end of your presentation and open up the floor by asking "Do you have any questions?"

Unfortunately, many people in an audience are uncomfortable being the first one to speak. Sometimes, no one says anything at all. You may pause for a few seconds in the hopes that someone will eventually break the silence-but sometimes they don't.
Speakers can do several things in that situation, including these three techniques:

1. Say something like, "You know, one of the questions I'm asked a lot is..." and answer it yourself.

2. Ask an audience member a specific question, such as, "I spoke about Subject X earlier. What did you think about that?"

3. Use an icebreaker. I once read about a speaker who used this joke: "Since no one wants to ask the first question, does anyone want to ask the second one?"

But during a recent visit to a historical site, I saw an approach to soliciting feedback that I liked even better. My wife and I visited the home of President Franklin D. Roosevelt in Hyde Park, New York. Our excellent tour guide paused every few minutes to allow his audience to interact with him. But instead of saying, "Does anyone have any questions," he phrased his query slightly differently:

"Does anyone have any thoughts?"

That's a subtle distinction, but possibly an important one. By asking for thoughts, he was allowing a much broader scope of interaction than he would have allowed by merely soliciting questions. He wanted to know if anything he had said had triggered an idea, surprised someone, or reminded someone of something related. And it seemed to work in that small group; almost every time he asked for thoughts, someone spoke up.

I've started experimenting with this slight linguistic twist. I don't have enough data yet to know whether or not it makes a big difference. My early experiences suggest it may help-if not substantially, enough to warrant its usage.

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A Better Solution To "Do You Have Any Questions?"

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If you're like most speakers, you probably get to the end of your presentation and open up the floor by asking "Do you have any questions?" Unfortunately, many people in an audience are uncomfortable being the first one to speak. Sometimes, no one says anything at all.

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In management literature over the years, thought leaders keep drilling down on trust as that one huge motivator that will get you great collaboration, increase employee engagement, and lead to positive business results.

But what's the starting point to trust? Well, like anything else involving communicating with another human being, it's the words we choose that matter.

In the context of conversations, there are certain undeniable phrases that, if we use them more often, will result in others perceiving us in a way that will build bridges and increase trust.

If hubris isn't the obstacle in your path, here are 10 phrases to initiate your trust-building starting now.

1. "That was my fault."

Admitting to being human and making mistakes has been found to actually increase trust. Paul Zak, author of Trust Factor: The Science of Creating High Performance Companies, says, "People who are imperfect are more attractive to us. We like them more than people who seem too perfect."

2. "I can't tell you how much [something performance-related] meant to all of us."

Acknowledging others for doing a challenging task or for their specific work performance is critical for human motivation. We need to show fellow co-workers that we do pay attention and that their hard work is on our radar screen. So go ahead -- praise their work, using something like, "I can't tell you how much your extra mentoring efforts for the new employees have meant to the whole team. They have hit the ground running fast and the whole team has exceeded their productivity because of it." The key: Make sure you're attaching the praise to a specific work performance to make it that much more impactful.

3. "I loved the way you handled that."

Another form of praise should be given for someone's leadership or character traits for handling a challenging situation or difficult person. By praising people for character traits, you reinforce the cultural behaviors that make the company a great place to work. Here's a clear example: "I loved the way you handled last week's crisis with your calm, cool, and confident demeanor. Instead of people panicking and blaming each other, your attitude helped the team focus on coming up with solutions so it doesn't happen again."

4. "Can I get your advice on this?"

There's this false notion that people who ask for advice are perceived as less competent. To the contrary, research has linked people that ask for advice to being perceived as more competent. It demonstrates humility, a leadership strength that builds trust with others.

5. "I'm happy to see you!"

Often used as a greeting phrase, when done with the proper and enthusiastic voice tone and body language it's packed with deeper meaning that positively elevates the other person (and makes you look and feel good). It communicates, "You matter, and I value your presence."

6. "I trust your judgment."

Trust is a two-way street. By extending it to others on your team, they'll be more inclined to return the favor and trust you back. Next time someone gives you input on the direction of a project, be open, have faith in that person's competency to get it done, release your control or fear, and say, "I trust your judgment on this one. Lets roll with that option and see where it takes us."

7. "What was the highlight of your day (or week)?"

This encouraging question puts the conversation on a positive note right off the bat, giving the other person a chance to reflect on something he or she is excited about.

8. "I couldn't have done it without you."

This is another great way of saying thank you to someone for going above and beyond, especially if it made you look good. Saying it publicly in front of peers is especially gratifying -- it puts the other person on the pedestal he or she deserves.

9. "What can I do to help?"

This phrase can move mountains when deadlines are due, stress is high, and desperation is setting in. It demonstrates action by genuinely having the backs of fellow co-workers. When expressed frequently and in a timely manner, it creates a ripple effect and a culture of helping and serving.

10. "Tell me about why ..."

It's not a secret -- people love to talk about themselves. By drawing attention to them and their story, you make connections. Caroline Webb, author of How to Have a Good Day, says when you ask a genuine question about the other person, it's inherently rewarding for their brains. This is a great association for them to have [about you] -- that you're a curious and open-minded person. And research has found that curious people are known for having better relationships, and other people are more easily attracted and feel socially closer to individuals that display curiosity. An example to finish this sentence could be: "Tell me about why this project is so enjoyable for you. I want to learn more about what gets you pumped up." ?

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10 Phrases You Should Start Saying More Often at Work

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In management literature over the years, thought leaders keep drilling down on trust as that one huge motivator that will get you great collaboration, increase employee engagement, and lead to positive business results. But what's the starting point to trust? Well, like anything else involving communicating with another human being, it's the words we choose that matter.

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English is the major language of international business. Individuals need to increase their competence and fluency in order to remain competitive in the workplace. Meetings are a key part of this modern workplace and individuals need to develop effective communication skills for them.

Understanding the right phrases, language and conversational tone to use during a workplace meeting will help with career progression in our fast-paced international economy.

This article covers essential communication skills for a business meeting, including useful phrases, vocabulary and terminology. You'll improve your ability to lead meetings and deliver workplace presentations.

Leading a meeting in English

When leading a meeting, it's important you ask everyone to introduce themselves and provide a brief meeting agenda. A formal business meeting could start in the following ways:

Introducing yourself

You'll want to start the meeting by welcoming your attendees and introducing yourself. You can start with a simple greeting, using phrases such as:

"Good morning / afternoon"

"Let's begin"

"I'd like to welcome everyone"

"Since everyone is here, let's get started"

"I'd like to thank everyone for coming today"

After greeting them, introduce yourself:

"I'm [your name]. I'll keep this meeting brief as I know you're all busy people"

"I'm [your name] and I arranged this meeting because..."

Asking others to introduce themselves

For effective discussion during the meeting, it's essential that individuals attending the meeting are well-acquainted with each other. The person leading the meeting could ask everyone to introduce themselves in the following ways:

"Let's go around the table and introduce ourselves, [name] do you want to start?"

"Let's introduce ourselves quickly - please state your name, job title and why you are here"

You ideally want people to say their name, position in the company and reason for being at the meeting. This will help guide any discussions during the meeting.

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Setting the agenda

Likewise, it is important to start the meeting by outlining the agenda clearly and the key objectives of the meeting. The objectives can be stated with the following phrases:

"I've called this meeting in order to"

"We're here today to discuss"

"There are [number] items on the agenda. First..."

"Today I would like to outline our plans for"

Defining action points to be completed before the next meeting

When the meeting has finished, give an overview of what needs to be completed before the next meeting. Use the following phrases:

Getting involved in meetings

Active participation in the meeting is reflected by asking questions and interrupting the presenter politely if you do not understand what is being said, or if there is agreement / disagreement. It is a good idea to show that you are actively involved in the meeting.
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How to interrupt politely

If you accidentally speak over someone or have something to add to what is being said, you can interrupt with the following phrases:

"Sorry, but just to clarify"

"Sorry I didn't quite hear that, can you say it again?"

"That's an excellent point [person's name], what about doing [action point] as well?"

"From our departments perspective, it's a little more complicated. Let me explain"

You can also use phrase such as:

"Excuse me for interrupting"

"I've never thought about it that way before. How does it affect [this point]"

Asking questions

There are many different ways to ask questions during the meeting. The following phrases are suitable when asking for someone to repeat what they have said:

For clarification the following phrases should be used:

The person leading the meeting or giving the presentation can also ask:

Presenting at a meeting

During the presentation, it's important to engage your audience and clearly set out the structure of your presentation. You can use the following expressions to achieve this:

Introducing your topic

The presentation should begin by introducing its purpose with phrases such as:

The presenter can also outline the presentation procedure to ensure clarity, with the phrases such as:

"We're going to run through the main points of the agenda"

"The presentation will cover these [number of points] topics"

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Concluding your presentation

The presentation should end by briefly going over the key messages and action points again. The conclusion should ensure that the individuals present in the meeting leave with a clear idea about the next steps. It's also polite to thank the audience for attending.

The concluding phrases could be:

"To summarize then, let me just run through what we've agreed here"

"Before we end, let me just summarize the three main points"

"To sum up what I've presented"

"That brings me to the end of my presentation, thank you for listening"

Answering questions

The presentation can also end by requesting input or feedback from the participants and answering their questions, if any. The following phrases will be useful for such situations:

"Any final thoughts before we close the meeting?"

"If you have further questions or want to discuss any of it in more detail, we can meet privately or you can send me an email [have email address on the final presentation slide]"

"I'd like to thank everyone for sharing their time today and any feedback would be valuable"

"So do we think this is the correct way to proceed?"

"Are there any objections to what I covered?"

Additional business meeting phrases

Aside from the typical benefits, clear communication is required to hold off an interruption, delegate tasks, confirm decisions, apologise for being late, or excuse you early from a meeting. The following phrases will prove useful for such situations and will help ensure a productive meeting.

When holding off an interruption, you can say:

"Can we come back to that point later? Let me just finish what I was saying"

"Can I just finish making my point?"

Likewise, apologise for being late by saying:

"Excuse me for being late, I was"

"Sorry for not getting here on time, I was"

Some useful negotiation phrases during a meeting:

"I hear what you're saying, however our senior manager is very clear on this one"

"I understand that we can't do that, but can we discuss some other alternatives?"

"I agree with what you are saying, however have you considered [different method]?"

"How about this as an alternative [proceed to explain your alternative method]"

If you want to leave a meeting early, gather your stuff quietly and politely excuse yourself by saying:

You can plan a future meeting by saying:

When the meeting is on a tight schedule and the discussion is dragging on, you can use these phrases:

Learn more English for the workplace with our Learn English for Business immersive course, where you can practice what you learn in online exercises.

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Common business English phrases for a workplace meeting

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Meetings are an essential part of the modern workplace. Understanding the right phrases, vocabulary, words and terminology to use in an English business meeting can help your career progression in the workplace environment.

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The COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated the need for all organizations to be able to weather major, unforeseen disruption. An April 2020 survey conducted by the Office for National Statistics found that 30 percent of businesses in the United Kingdom reported they had less than three months of cash reserves, 24 percent paused trading, and many more turned to government support (79 percent applied for the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme).

Organizations able to absorb and adapt to the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic successfully are, by definition, resilient. Many also find themselves making decisions at a speed, which would have been unthinkable in pre-COVID-19 times.

What characterizes these organizations? What creates this kind of resilience? And how can organizations apply the lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic so that in the "next normal" they remain resilient, flat, and fast?

One answer is agility. We spoke with executives at several leading international and UK-based organizations to build on and complement McKinsey's global research. Each of these organizations displayed uncommon resilience throughout the pandemic, and a few common practices emerged, which align well with the trademarks of agile organizations. These organizations used resilience preparation as their base and were able to adapt and innovate by adding new practices to react to the crisis.

Organizations able to absorb and adapt to the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic successfully are, by definition, resilient.

A resilient foundation to the COVID-19 response

All the organizations we interviewed were well-versed in building resilience through business continuity and crisis planning. They identified their critical processes and developed back-up plans to ensure they were on track, no matter what crisis hit. Most organizations complemented this with war-gaming, which involves rehearsing scenarios that establish a basic operational structure and mindset to adopt in a crisis. The war games also helped ensure role clarity and established chains of command that were communicated ahead of time. In particular, many executives mentioned how their war-gaming for no-deal Brexit helped prepare them for the COVID-19 crisis; for example, they had already put in place measures for supply-chain resilience.

However, understandably, no organizations anticipated or planned for a crisis with the broadscale operational impact of COVID-19. Most multinational organizations we interviewed found that all their global subsidiaries were affected almost simultaneously. War-gaming could only get these organizations so far, but they were able to build on the resilient backbone that their business-continuity planning gave them and, by adopting a series of new practices, absorb and adapt to the pandemic.

Common characteristics of resilient organizations and how they can build to agility

Five characteristics stand out across the organizations we interviewed (exhibit). Each characteristic not only helped them navigate the COVID-19 crisis, but also now points the way toward a more agile operating model that can be more resilient in the next normal. Since it is impossible to war-game every scenario of disruption, building these characteristics into normal operations will allow organizations to deal with future changes and potential shocks. In essence, these characteristics are both a proof of resilience in the past and a measure of readiness in the future.

1. Establish a common purpose and clear communications

The first shared practice was that organizations established a clear, simple common purpose that was applicable to the whole company. This helped engage and motivate employees, and prioritize competing demands. A major UK grocer, for example, established three clear principles at the start of the COVID-19 crisis:

being a safe place to work and shop

having colleagues who are knowledgeable and aware of how to deal with COVID-19 issues

ensuring the commercial well-being of the organization through issues raised regarding the COVID-19 pandemic

These three objectives guided the organization's response and established the priorities in support of the business objectives and values.

Across all sectors, the common purpose did not have to be newly conceived for the COVID-19 pandemic to be effective. Many organizations found their existing purpose held well, and employees were able to change their behaviors and actions to achieve the same purpose in new ways. A large UK bank, for example, found that its clear purpose to serve customers helped prioritize innovative propositions in both the aftermath of the Brexit referendum and during the COVID-19 crisis.

Alongside establishing a guiding purpose, the most effective organizations focused on more frequent communications, taking an adult-to-adult tone that explained decisions and shared a realistic assessment. During the COVID-19 pandemic at UK Power Networks, for example, the CEO shared daily video messages showing the rationale behind corporate decisions. Feedback from employees demonstrated the positive effect of this clear communication and transparency.

For organizations that have found a new focus during the COVID-19 crisis, the next key step should be to consider if they can enhance and develop their common purpose to hold true in more normal times, giving employees the same clarity of decision making and ability to act as during the COVID-19 crisis. Agile organizations often speak of a shared purpose and vision-the "North Star"-which helps people feel personally and emotionally invested in the organization. This North Star allows employees to individually and proactively watch for changes in customer preferences and the external environment, and then, act upon them.

2. Set up structures to enable rapid decision making, including the reallocation of resources against new priorities

The second shared practice we found was that organizations created new forums and structures, or repurposed existing ones, to act as rapid-decision-making bodies. These structures often began life as crisis-management forums composed of the most senior people and met regularly-often daily at the start of the pandemic-to make decisions and reallocate resources quickly. A leading global bank, for example, set up a decision-making daily-working group of key leaders from across the company to coordinate their COVID-19 response. Through this forum they accelerated procurement cycles to days rather than months, enabling the purchase of the technology required for employees to work from home.

These new structures allowed organizations to cut the usual red tape and management layers that had led to slow and laborious decision making. Decisions that previously required hard-won consensus or an onerous burden of proof could be accelerated if they could be overtly aligned to the organization's common purpose. Intel UK, for example, used its decision-making forums to quickly shift employee focus and resources. Government, education, and healthcare became more important sectors for them during the COVID-19 crisis; for example, they developed partnerships with pharmaceutical organizations to aid in enabling vaccine production. Similarly, a UK grocer made the decision to close its fresh-meat and -fish counters and reassign the staff to other jobs within a single meeting-a decision that might normally have taken weeks or months.

The lessons learned from these examples highlight that organizations should retain the rapid-decision-making cycles they implemented during the COVID-19 crisis, but in a way that is sustainable for the long term. Daily conference calls with the entire executive team may be unrealistic, but continuing to embrace the mindset of making small decisions quickly-ensuring teams are guided by a clear purpose and have access to all the information needed to make those decisions-will lead to a greater ability to innovate and adapt to changing circumstances.

Agile organizations emphasize quick, efficient, and continuous decision making, preferring 70 percent probability now versus 100 percent certainty later. Rather than big bets that are few and far between, they continuously make small decisions as part of rapid cycles, quickly test these in practice, and adjust them as needed for the next iteration. This also means agile organizations do not seek consensus decisions-they take input from all team members, prioritizing those who have the most expertise on the topic at hand; but once the decision is made, all employees get behind enacting those decisions.

3. Create networks of local teams with clear, accountable roles

The third common practice was creating networks of teams and ensuring clear role accountability. Local business units became the focus for many organizations, with clear accountability for what they were responsible for versus the central team. For example, a leading global bank published central guidance but then asked local teams to take the lead on implementation within their own jurisdictions. They also encouraged each local team to share any lessons learned or best practices with other jurisdictions. This freed senior leadership to focus on overall guidance and support, while local teams focused on day-to-day activities.

The COVID-19 pandemic also led to several organizations reducing hierarchical barriers, bringing senior leadership in much more direct contact with operational leads. UK Power Networks, for example, brought business leads and trade union workforce representatives into meetings to communicate directly with the CEO.

Agile organizations typically maintain a stable top-level structure but replace much of the traditional management hierarchy with a flexible, scalable network of teams. They go beyond just creating local teams to creating dense networks of teams. They implement clear, flat structures and ensure there is clarity of role accountability. Agile organizations can implement networks of teams in different ways, depending on what makes sense for their specific circumstances. For example, they might use "flow to work" pools, like UK Power Networks did during the COVID-19 crisis, where teams are staffed against the highest-priority customer needs. Alternative models include cross-functional teams or self-managing teams. All of these can work-which model is best depends on the specific context, but all are based around the idea of connected networks of teams.

Flexible, scalable, and flatter organizational structures proved effective during the pandemic. In such cases, the team is at the heart of the structure, and team-based working-a central tenet of agile thinking-has advantages over a hierarchical structure in terms of speed, precision, decision making, and the satisfaction of employees. Organizations would do well to keep this lesson in mind and continue the team ethic and to extend the team-of-teams practice that has proved so effective in uncertain times.

4. Develop a culture that empowers people and gives them the opportunity to unleash their entrepreneurial drive

The fourth common practice is empowering frontline employees and creating a flexible culture that helps unleash their entrepreneurial drive. For example, a major UK grocer encouraged employees to capture the opportunities presented by the COVID-19 pandemic: new sales from customers no longer eating out in restaurants and fewer but larger shopping trips. Supply-chain staff likewise worked hard to keep up with the increased demand, negotiating with suppliers to buy more stock. This allowed the grocer to meet the unprecedented increase of more than 10 percent in year-on-year sales.

Some organizations we spoke to already had a culture of empowering staff and used the COVID-19 crisis as an opportunity to expand and reinforce this. Intel UK, for example, harnessed their employees' passion to help deliver on the organization's purpose-"creating world-changing technology that enriches the lives of every person on earth"-by encouraging staff to look for opportunities to make a positive difference. This flexibility and trust in their people led to a number of new frontline-led projects during the COVID-19 pandemic, including one employee working with a customer to attain a UK patent for the design of protective equipment for hospital staff and other teams working with the VentilatorChallengeUK consortium. (For more information on the consortium, visit ventilatorchallengeuk.com.)

Organizations should reflect on these examples to consider how, post-COVID-19, they can continue to empower their people. Frontline employees are closer to the customer and therefore usually have more relevant first-hand information and better ideas about customer needs. Organizations should ensure this sort of culture continues beyond the current crisis by investing in leadership that empowers and develops their people. In agile organizations, leaders act more as visionaries, architects, and coaches, and less as directors and controllers. They put in place processes that reinforce this and give their people clear accountability combined with the freedom to pursue opportunities. Many also proactively help employees build new capabilities through role-mobility programs.

5. Provide people with the technology they need

The final common practice was the use of technology. To enable many employees to work from home during the COVID-19 crisis, several organizations quickly secured access to remote-working technology such as laptops and webcams. For example, one leading global bank bought thousands of new laptops within days to enable remote working for their global staff.

By necessity, many organizations have had to move to a model where technology is key to every interaction, and a number of familiar tools have quickly become part of ordinary working life.

Organizations are already considering which new technologies they want to embed in their ongoing ways of working. We recommend that they go beyond that consideration. Agile organizations think of technology not as a supporting capability but as being seamlessly integrated with and core to every aspect of the organization. Organizations undergoing a full agile transformation would cut any technology that was outdated-including legacy architecture-to adopt new, more suitable platforms. All organizations now need to consider to what extent they want to do the same, bearing in mind their organization's willingness to take on cost and security risk, which may enable or limit how far they go down this path.

Agile organizations think of technology not as a supporting capability but as being seamlessly integrated with and core to every aspect of the organization.

Building from the COVID-19 crisis to agile practices

It is not surprising that agile practices have enabled organizations to be more resilient to crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic. Agile organizations are designed to make fast decisions and to absorb and adapt to challenges. McKinsey's research on how agile organizations fared during the pandemic showed that 93 percent of organizations thought their agile business units had performed "better" or "significantly better" than their nonagile business units in both customer satisfaction and operational performance. As economies open up and we start to move toward the next normal, nonagile organizations must decide how much of these new practices they want to maintain.

Organizations that want to keep the benefits they've enjoyed during the COVID-19 crisis, such as faster decision making and clarity of purpose, need to make that choice now. To shift toward an agile operating model, organizations need to reflect on what they have learned during the crisis and be deliberate about which practices to keep. These practices need to be embedded in their culture and processes if they are going to persist. Further, if they want to undertake a full agile transformation, they will need to allocate appropriate time and effort for management as well as for the teams directly affected. But when the next crisis hits, they will have even greater resilience to absorb and adapt to the challenges they face.

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Agile resilience in the UK: Lessons from COVID-19 for the ‘next normal’

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The COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated the need for all organizations to be able to weather major, unforeseen disruption. An April 2020 survey conducted by the Office for National Statistics found that 30 percent of businesses in the United Kingdom reported they had less than three months of cash reserves, 24 percent paused trading, and many more turned to government support (79 percent applied for the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme).

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Research from the past 50 years or so reveals that organizations rely on employee rewards that don't motivate people for long. This is according to best-selling author and TED talk favorite, Daniel Pink, who shared his thoughts during the virtual broadcast of SuccessConnect with Meg Bear, senior vice president of product engineering and operations at SAP SuccessFactors.

Motivating employees long term is directly linked to providing autonomy for self-direction, and positive experiences in moments that matter to them.
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"Organizations use all kinds of different rewards, but the mainstay motivator is what I call, 'if you do this, then you get that.' These are very effective for simple tasks with short timeframes because humans love rewards," said Pink. "What's happening now, though, is that organizations use 'if then' rewards for everything. For tasks that are more complex, creative, and conceptual with longer time horizons, we need a different motivational regime."
Autonomy is motivational
While motivational studies reflected a fundamental mismatch between science and business, Bear noted how many leaders have realized the importance of the employee experience, particularly in moments that matter to each individual. Pink said that long term employee motivation stemmed from offering people fair pay, along with autonomy, mastery, and purpose.

"Autonomy is a really important point when comes to [employee] experiences," said Pink. "The problem with 'if then' rewards is the event, the contingency, because the contingency is a form of control. Humans have only two reactions to control - they comply or defy. Do you want people on your team who are purely compliant or defiant? Probably not. You want people who are fully engaged...The pathway to that is self-direction, meaning autonomy."
Tap full brain power with the right timing
On a more personal level, Pink provided his self-motivational tips for daily productivity, drawing from research he captured in his book about timing. He argued against using guesswork and intuition to structure daily work schedules. The best time to do something depends on what you're doing.

"We treat timing like an art, but it's really a science. Our brain power doesn't remain constant over the course of the day. It changes in meaningful ways," he said. "For about 80 percent of us, we move through the day in three stages. There's a peak early in the day, a trough in midday, and a recovery late afternoon. Do your analytic work during the peak, administrative work early to mid-afternoon, and iterative insight work late afternoon and evening."
Skill development for future workforce
As business and markets reel from unprecedented rapid change, Pink acknowledged the challenges people face in reskilling for organizations of the future. Using the metaphor of left brain versus right brain thinking, he suggested a wholesale departure from traditionally celebrated skills.

"To survive today, people have to do work that's hard to outsource and automate, and delivers on the new demands of this particular moment in time," he said. "Certain skills that used to get you into the middle class are necessary, but no longer sufficient. We need the left brain spreadsheet skills, but the abilities that will determine who moves forward and behind are the things we haven't taken seriously enough, like artistry, empathy, inventiveness, composition, and big picture thinking."
Cures for meeting fatigue
Pink had specific tips for staying productive despite the unrelenting pace of online meetings. He urged workers to override their "muscle memory" that called for meetings to get work done, and replace it with a more measured approach.

"Think of a meeting as a bundle of tasks...In some cases, we have overvalued what is synchronous, and undervalued what is asynchronous," he said. "If some tasks can be done asynchronously, let people do them asynchronously. It allows people greater autonomy, and reduces the burden on that meeting."

Bucking conventional wisdom, Pink touted the value of taking breaks. While we tend to think of breaks as deviation from performance, they are actually a critical performance enhancer. Research shows the best kinds of breaks involve moving around outdoors, preferably with other people (safely, these days), fully detached from work. Leave the cell phone behind.
Do less and go for small wins
Somewhat counterintuitively, Pink suggested that people consider reducing their commitments judiciously, so they can focus with greater purpose, and achieve more.

"Doing less, often means doing better," he said. "Every day when I come in, on my list of things to do, I always have my most important task. I do that first. It's a way to be purposeful and have a strong priority."

Looking ahead to the future of work, Pink encouraged leaders to think like scientists, coming up with various hypotheses and testing them in small experiments.

"If it works, keep doing it. If it's a failure, don't tell anyone about it," he said. "We've discounted the importance of small wins...but the way a lot of progress is made is through small wins...that cascade into bigger wins. Especially now in these tough times, go for some small wins."

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SAP BrandVoice: The Science Behind Motivating Employees: Rewards That Drive Business Gains

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Research from the past 50 years or so reveals that organizations rely on employee rewards that don't motivate people for long. This is according to best-selling author and TED talk favorite, Daniel Pink, who shared his thoughts during the virtual broadcast of SuccessConnect with Meg Bear, senior vice president of product engineering and operations at SAP SuccessFactors.

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The past year has accelerated digital transformation across sectors. Along with a universal recognition that resilient employees are the true lifeblood of a company came an understanding that a company's workforce is crucial to business recovery. This has prompted organizations to completely rethink how they attract, retain, and manage their talent.

My organization, Citrix, wanted to understand what the current attitudes of both HR managers and knowledge workers are with regard to their future workforce. We conducted a study, which we dubbed the Talent Accelerator, as part of Citrix's Work 2035 project, a year-long examination of global work patterns and plans designed to understand how work will change, and the role that technology will play in enabling people to perform at their best. The Talent Accelerator study combines research from more than 2,000 knowledge workers and 500 HR directors in large, established corporations and mid-market businesses with at least 500 employees based in the United States. When the study was commissioned, both groups of professionals were working under permanent contracts and were currently or had recently been working from home as a result of Covid-19 restrictions.

Research Findings on the Future of Talent Management

When it comes to what talent management in the future might look like, our study pointed to three defining priorities among knowledge workers:

1. Employees overwhelmingly expect flexible options.

According to the study, 88% of knowledge workers say that when searching for a new position, they will look for one that offers complete flexibility in their hours and location. Also 83% predict that in response to the global skilled talent shortage, companies will leverage flexible work models to reach out to suitable candidates no matter where they live - yet, only 66% of HR directors feel the same. What's more:

76% of the workers polled believe that employees will be more likely to prioritize lifestyle (family and personal interests) over proximity to work, and will pursue jobs in locations where they can focus on both - even if it means taking a pay cut.

83% of employees think that workers will be more likely to move out of cities and other urban locations if they can work remotely for a majority of the time, creating new work hubs in rural areas.

In order to position themselves to win in the future, companies will need to meet employees where they are.

2. Employees want to re-imagine how productivity is measured.

In the future, companies will need to rethink how they measure productivity because traditional metrics - and views that real work can't get done outside the office - will no longer cut it. According to the study, today's employees want to be measured on the value they deliver, not the volume. And they expect to be given the space and trust they need to do their very best work, wherever they happen to be.

86% of employees said they would prefer to work for a company that prioritizes outcomes over output. What does this mean? New employees want to work for a company that cares less about the qualified work output they are able to produce, and more about the impact they can deliver to the business in a holistic sense.

But there is a gap here, with just 69% of HR directors saying that their company currently operates in this way, and only half of HR directors saying that their organization would be more productive as a whole if employees felt that their employer/senior management team trusted them to get the job done without monitoring their progress.

Forward-thinking companies will focus on closing this gap, and will design people-centric experiences that give employees the space they need to unlock their full potential and deliver transformative results.

3. Employees want to work with a diverse team.

One thing on which both employees and managers seem to agree? Employees want to work for a company that prioritizes diversity.

86% of employees and 66% of HR directors assert that a diverse workforce will become even more important as roles, skills, and company requirements change over time.

Honest, accessible metrics around your diversity progress and remaining gaps are critical to ensuring that efforts to build a diverse team are measurable, targeted, and impactful.

Takeaway for Leaders

What should the major takeaways be for business leaders when it comes to the implications of these findings?

1. See the forest through the trees.

Without the restriction of location, business leaders must look at their recruiting from a broader lens and expand the potential to attract employees who can boost an organization's creativity and productivity.

They might, for instance, dip into untapped pools of talent such as the "home force" and bring back parents who've put their careers on hold to care for children, or people who left jobs to tend to aging relatives. It could also mean looking to Baby Boomers who've retired, but who still want to work a few hours per week. And it could mean enlisting more part-time, contract, and gig workers - who make up a larger percentage of the workforce than ever - to take on more hours. And, of course, it means looking for global talent that may reside anywhere.

2. Prioritize learning and development.

New business models sparked by the pandemic and changes in customer preferences and needs have given rise to new roles and opportunities for companies - and their employees - to grow. Upskilling and reskilling will be critical factor in capitalizing on them. As the study found:

82% of employees and 62% of HR directors believe that workers will need to hone their current skills or acquire new ones at least once a year in order to maintain competitive advantage in a global job market.

HR directors believe that ensuring that an organization has the latest collaborative technology in place to enable agile learning is the most important factor in recruiting and retaining the best talent, and 88% of employees confirm this notion, saying that they look for this when searching for a new position.

It bears repeating: Organizations will need to prioritize reskilling and upskilling to attract and retain the talent they need to make their businesses grow. Those that do will not only boost the motivation of their existing workers, but will gain the attention of the brightest new recruits and position themselves to emerge from the pandemic not just where they were, but in a stronger, better position to move forward.

The last year has forever changed the way employees view and approach work, but one thing holds true: Businesses that want to attract and retain the talent they need to move forward must understand the top priorities of their future workforce. They must embrace new, flexible work models and cultivate a workforce that can design their own careers. In doing so, they will not only boost the motivation and engagement of their existing workers, but will gain the attention of the brightest new recruits and take their business to new heights.

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The last year has forever changed the way employees view and approach work, but one thing holds true: Businesses that want to attract and retain the talent they need to move forward must understand the top priorities of their future workforce. They must embrace new, flexible work models and cultivate a workforce that can design their own careers.

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Business communication explained

Your business depends on the successful sharing of information - and so do your employees. Yet 66% of companies lack a long-term plan for their internal business communication. Why is this such a critical mistake? What are the most common communication challenges, and how can you avoid them?

Communication matters. In every arena of our lives, we have a fundamental need to share and receive information. Without effective communication, we can't make ourselves heard, connect to our peers, and ultimately achieve our goals. This is particularly applicable in the workplace, where cooperation determines the success of individuals, teams, or even an entire business.

This is what we mean by 'business communication': your ability to communicate with every other member of your organization, and their ability to communicate with each other.

It's a simple concept, yet one that has a significant impact on the health of your business. Business communication underpins almost every aspect of your day-to-day operations. From leadership to staff training, project collaboration to resource management, there are few activities that don't rely on the successful sharing of information and ideas.

The importance of getting this right should be self-evident, but there's also a significant body of research that points to the value on offer. Studies suggest that organizations with effective business communication are more profitable, more productive, and enjoy higher employee retention. Despite this, most businesses fall short when it comes to strategizing their internal comms. While 70% use plans to support specific campaigns and initiatives, only a third (33%) have a document that details their longer-term strategy for internal communications.

This is a mistake. To fully appreciate this, it's worth taking a moment to explore why every company should care about its business communication.

Communication helps workers meet their need to connect

In the middle of the twentieth century, psychologist Abraham Maslow published his academic paper, A Theory of Human Motivation. Within this he revealed his now-famous Hierarchy of Needs. It's a pyramid-shaped diagram that arranges human requirements in an ascending progression from basic needs - those we need to survive - through to our psychological needs, and then finally those that fuel our sense of fulfillment.

Maslow's Hierarchy states that once human beings have met their physiological needs (food, water, warmth and rest) and are in a position of safety and security, a sense of belonging is the next thing we value the most. The desire to connect to our peers is an essential element of our everyday wellbeing.

And this isn't just a theory: more recent research has found physical evidence that proves Maslov was right. Scans of human brain activity show that whenever we're not busy with an active task, our brains default to thinking about other people and what's going in their heads: their thoughts, emotions and goals.

"A workplace with strong business communication is more likely to make employees happy"

In short, human beings are hardwired for social connection - and needless to say, communication is the lifeblood of connection. Our interpersonal relationships rely on the back-and-forth exchange of information; on a grander scale, the sharing of goals and values is what makes us feel part of things that are larger than ourselves. And this is just as applicable to our work lives as it is to our personal endeavours.

What does this all mean for business leaders? Your employees have to be able to communicate. If they can't for some reason - they lack the right tool or forum, or they don't feel empowered to speak up - then their basic needs aren't being met. They're probably unhappy, and this is something you should care about. Not just for the sake of human decency, but also because unhappy workers are less productive and more likely to quit their jobs.

On the other hand, the opposite is also true: a workplace with strong business communication is more likely to make employees happy, which leads to higher productivity.

In short: an investment in your tech is an investment in your people.

Engaged workers are the best workers

As we've established, providing good communication channels and the culture to support them is key to your workforce's wellbeing. But if that's not a strong enough incentive for you, consider this: when you get business communication right, your employees will be more engaged with their work and with the company as a whole.

And time and time again, research has shown that engaged workers are also better for your bottom line.

Gallup's Q ¹² Meta Analysis report is one of the numerous publications that support this idea. "This study confirms what Gallup has seen with previous meta-analyses," said the research institute. " Employee engagement consistently affects key performance outcomes, regardless of the organization's industry or company."

MIT research has also found that the most engaged employees are informed about their company and have more direct communication with their managers. But in most companies, only a small fraction of the workforce is fully engaged. Fifty percent of employees are unclear about the direction of the business, while 84% say that they don't get enough information from their leaders.

The prospect of fully engaging the entirety of your workforce may seem daunting or unrealistic, but as we'll see, new technology can provide significant help. And it's a goal worth pursuing. When your employees have full visibility of the company mission, and you've empowered them to join company-wide conversations, they become personally invested in the business.

This workforce-wide sense of collective ownership is something that every business can achieve, but doing so requires a strong internal communication culture, supported by the right tools and channels. While it may take time and money to establish this culture, the opportunities on offer provide a strong motivation for the investment.

As should the pitfalls that may arise if you neglect this area of your business.

When you get it wrong, the whole organization suffers

Because good communication is the cornerstone of so many aspects of modern business, problems can snowball in its absence. If an employee has an issue that stops them from sharing or receiving the information they need, the disruption spreads far beyond that lone worker. It impacts everyone who relies on that individual and, in turn, potentially all the people who depend on them.

In short, when your workforce can't communicate properly, the business ceases to function as it should. This can lead to expensive errors. A recent survey of 400 corporations concluded that communication issues had cost them billion over a single year.

While any number of factors can contribute to communication problems, one of the most common causes is a lack of investment in the right tools and channels. More than a third of workers worldwide believe that outdated technology and processes are making their jobs harder than they should be. Frontline employees are even more likely to hold this opinion - which is hardly surprising when you consider that the majority of frontline communication still relies on pencil and paper.

As tempting as it may be to 'make do' with outdated technology, the cost of inefficiency far outweighs the short-term savings. Few businesses would consider using old channels for their external communications - relying solely on radio ads and paper flyers for their marketing efforts, for example.This is an area where it's essential to keep pace and explore the latest platforms at your disposal. Why should your internal comms be any different?

And regardless of whether you stay up to date with communications technology, the younger members of your workforce certainly will.

Gen Zs expect you to care about business communication

Most estimates forecast that Generation Z now accounts for between a quarter to a third of the global workforce. Regardless of the exact figure, it's clear that this young demographic will account for an increasing proportion of your employees over the next decade. If you want to attract the best talent from this generation, you'll need to meet their expectations of a modern workplace.

The most obvious of these expectations is a demand for the latest tools and platforms. The link between tech and Gen Z is so commonly cited that it's almost a cliché, but the research certainly supports the connection.

But while your younger employees will certainly expect their workplace to match - if not outpace - the technology they use in their personal lives, this only tells part of the story. Because Gen Z is also defined by its emphasis on human values.

Company leaders must take a holistic approach to business communication. Adopting the right tools is an important part of the process, but you must support it with a strategy that creates the right culture - where people are encouraged to talk and listen.

You should now understand why it's essential to have a long-term plan for business communication - and why the 67% of businesses who don't are taking a serious risk. Perhaps the best way to start is by examining the seven most common forms of company communication.

What are the most common forms of business communication?

There are seven distinct forms of communication. The major difference between them is the type of information people are sharing, the timing of its sharing, and the direction the information follows as it moves through your company.

As you'll see, there's a degree of overlap between forms - but for now, it's helpful to discuss them as separate entities. We'll start by exploring the different directions in which information can be communicated.

Top-down business communication

Top-down communication is traditionally associated with leadership. It's a trait found in social hierarchies - situations where there's a group of people - with one person (or several) in charge.

When leaders want to communicate with the rest of their team, department, or perhaps even the entire company, the information is passed down through the management chain until, in theory, it reaches everyone.

Top-down communication's strength is that it allows leaders to tightly control the spread of information, as they can tailor details for audiences at each stage. For example, when a CEO wishes to implement a policy change, the basic facts stay the same as the news travels throughout the company. However, at each step, new information or more detailed instructions can be added to help employees implement the policy.

Of course, this structure also carries risks. The chain is only as strong as its weakest link: if one person fails to convey information accurately, their mistake gets passed on to everyone else. By the time anybody spots the error, the wrong information is already out there.

For businesses, top-down communication is essential. It allows leaders to share their vision for the company, set agendas, and direct behavior across the workforce. But it's also based on a questionable assumption: the CEO is the all-knowing master of his - and it was usually a 'his' - realm. At heart, top-down communication stems from the idea that leaders talk while others listen.

Today, we see a shift in attitudes. We're beginning to understand that leadership is listening. And this means senior executives need to pay attention to the information flowing the other way through their organization.

Bottom-up business communication

This is the opposite of top-down communication. Here information starts from the lowest rungs of the corporate ladder and moves upwards, with leadership being the last in line to receive it.

Once again, the success of bottom-up communication is determined by the people's reliability at each step of the chain. As we'll discuss below, there's a two-fold problem here. Firstly, most business leaders don't believe that they need to listen to their frontline, so they don't promote a culture that encourages people to speak up. Even if they do, employees typically lack the tools that make it easy to pass information up the chain of command.

Despite these hurdles, bottom-up communication can and should play an integral role in your business. Everyone in your company has a different perspective. Creating open lines of communication with your frontline staff will provide valuable intelligence on everything from what your customers are thinking to the efficiency of your manufacturing processes.

And as we've already discussed, when you give your workers a voice, it makes them feel connected to the broader business - which is good for them and good for your bottom line.

Lateral business communication

Also known as horizontal communication, this is the most common form of information exchange. Lateral communication takes place between people at the same level: it's what happens when team members talk about a project they're working on, or when store managers share best practice.

Lateral communication can unfold across almost any medium you can think of. The critical factors here are that your employees can access the channels that best suit their working needs, and they then adopt them universally.

In short, adoption matters. So while many platforms support lateral communication, it's important to ensure that you're not using too many of them. Fewer channels mean less onboarding, which in turn makes it easier to aim for company-wide uptake. After all, there's no point in training a single department in a powerful tool if no-one else in the business knows how to use it.

Synchronous and asynchronous business communication

Top-down, bottom-up, and lateral communication describe the direction that information follows as it flows through your organization. The four remaining forms of communication are all concerned with its speed and timing.

As their names suggest, synchronous and asynchronous communication exist in direct opposition to each other. In synchronous communication, information is shared back and forth with immediacy, or at least something close to it: one person says something, and then the recipient responds as soon as they process what they've read or heard.

Speech is the most obvious form of synchronous communication, but instant messaging tools also fall under this category. When you send someone a message on a chat app, you typically expect to get a reply back pretty swiftly. If the recipient takes too long to respond, frustration sets in - you'll likely try another means of contacting them, or speak to someone else entirely.

With asynchronous communication channels, there's an understanding that there will be a gap between the initial message and any response. Posted letters are the classic medium of asynchronous communication, but email and message boards are more relevant examples in today's workplace.

The important thing to know about synchronous and asynchronous channels is that your business needs both of them. Synchronous communication lets you share information at speed; asynchronous communication ensures that information is there when the recipient needs it.

If you try to use asynchronous tools for synchronous communication - or vice-versa - problems arise. We'll explore this further in the next section of this article.

Static and dynamic business communication

Static communication describes any information that's designed to remain consistent over time. Dynamic communication describes the information that people are continually updating.

The best way to understand static communication - sometimes known as "cold" communication - is that it's permanent. Think employee handbooks, HR policies, work from home advice, or technical support pages. These are all things that tend to be associated with a company intranet: you probably won't search for them every day, but you expect them to be available on the rare occasions when employees need them.

In contrast, dynamic communication - sometimes known as 'hot' communication - is information that recipients can change or update. The whole point of dynamic communication is for multiple individuals to alter information together collectively. Digital collaboration tools have made dynamic communication a core element of the modern workplace, enabling entire teams to work on the same documents at once.

Static communication makes a record and provides a point of reference. Dynamic communication is all about collaboration.

Each of these communication forms has a different role to play, and your employees will need to use them efficiently if your business is to flourish.

Next, we'll examine some of the most common communication problems that tend to arise, along with their solutions.

Synchronous communications don't work well at scale

Picture a scenario where you're with five friends, and you're all taking part in the same conversation. Nice and straightforward, right? But if another eight people were to show up, it would be significantly tricker for everyone to make themselves heard.

Now imagine the same scene but with 50 people all trying to participate in the same conversation. Absolute chaos.

That's the main criticism of synchronous communication channels. Chat apps, conference calls and in-person meetings are all designed for swift exchanges of information, where each participant can express their views. The more people who join, the more noise there is - until eventually the channel becomes unusable for everyone.

The solution: The important thing here is to control the situation and to limit excess noise. The most obvious way to do this is to break a large group into several smaller ones. But if everyone has to be involved in the same conversation, set rules that determine who can speak and when. For example, nominate a few participants to act as spokespeople for their peers, and have someone act as a chair who controls the conversation. If you want the broader audience to remain directly involved, the chair can direct a Q&A session.

Alternatively, it may help to consider a different channel altogether. Some collaborative work platforms facilitate large-scale synchronous communications - enabling a CEO to address their entire workforce via streaming video, for example. But if you're trying to cram 50 voices into the same live conversation, it's probably a sign that the conversation shouldn't be live at all. Consider using an asynchronous comms method instead.

The bottom line is that your organization needs the right mix of channels and clear guidelines on how and when people use them. With both of these elements in place, the limitations of synchronous communication will never be an issue.

Bottom-up business communication is hard to do well

As we touched upon earlier, the idea that businesses should embrace bottom-up communication is a pretty recent development. This means that most companies aren't set up to do it effectively: they lack the right channels, their leaders don't believe in it, and their employees lack the conviction to speak up.

For businesses that do actively try to foster bottom-up communication, there are fewer established best practices to follow.

If a CEO wants to make themselves more accessible to their workers, how should they go about doing that? Do they give out their email address, and risk being inundated with messages they can't respond to? Perhaps they should just encourage employees to speak to their line managers instead, who can pass on their feedback. Or does that only reinforce the sense of distance, and go against the spirit of 'making yourself accessible?'

The solution: The first thing you need is a suitable channel because not all of them can handle bottom-up communication. You need one that allows leaders to give public statements in a way that encourages comments and feedback.

Enterprise social networks are a good option because they support this kind of visible mass engagement by design. In contrast, email is a particularly poor option, as our previous example illustrates. Even if our hypothetical CEO did offer up their email address, and then took the time to reply to the flood of inbound messages, their responses would be mostly invisible to the rest of the workforce. And one of the main points of bottom-up comms is for leaders to show that they're listening to their workers.

Regardless of your choice of channels, the important thing is to support them properly. Once they're up and running, it's vital to champion those early adopters who are the first to use the new system. These people set an example for others to follow, so it makes sense to spotlight what they're doing.

As a leader in the business, you have an even more significant role to play when it comes to modeling behavior. Senior figures should set the tone by interacting and responding to employee posts and questions. For the CEO, this might just mean giving a thumbs up or making the odd comment, but team leaders should be more active as they make their presence felt. This encourages people to offer their views and join the company-wide conversation.

Above all else, be sure to listen to the feedback when it comes in - and back this up with some kind of visible response, so your workers can see that you're engaging with what they have to say. Without this, your employees will doubt your sincerity, and you'll fail to create a bottom-up communications culture.

People prefer to use the tools that they know

There are several aspects of this challenge. The first is something we've already talked about: employee expectations.

If your technology isn't good enough, you'll struggle to attract the best talent, which means you're losing a competitive advantage. Meanwhile, if your tech is bad to the point that it's borderline unusable, your existing employees may dump them for their consumer apps - which, as we've discussed, is a major security headache.

Another universal problem is that humans are naturally resistant to change. Their preference for the familiar can make them reluctant to adopt new tools and channels, even if the old ones have significant flaws. This is somewhat understandable: it takes time and effort to learn new processes, and most people would rather keep their heads down so they can get on with their work, and the rest of their lives.

If left unchecked, this can lead to situations where individuals or even entire teams favor different communication methods. This may seem unlikely if most of your employees work in the same building, but if your business operates across dozens of sites in multiple countries, it's easy to understand how localized habits and procedures can start to gain traction.

If multiple strands of your organization are using different channels, it's much harder for them to communicate properly. It also undermines your efforts to create a unified approach to business communication.

"If you give people an easy solution and help them see the benefits, they'll be quicker to adopt the new tool"

The solution: We've already underscored the value of investing in up-to-date technology. But as you introduce new platforms, it's essential to support them with a strong rollout plan.

Help your workers understand what the new tech is for, what it's replacing, and why you've decided to make this shift. Then ensure they receive proper training in how to use the new tools, with an understanding that this may take time. If you're following a phased approach, ensure that everyone has full visibility of where and when their peers are making the switch, and what procedures they should follow during the transitionary period.

That covers half the challenge, but what about people's resistance to change? You can make life considerably more straightforward - for you and your employees alike - by adopting platforms that are easy to switch to. There's no point paying for a fantastic tool that will solve all your theoretical issues if it requires a Computer Science degree to switch it on. People don't care enough to learn something that complex, so look for something foolproof.

And though it should go without saying, you should check that the tech you're introducing genuinely meets your worker's needs - accessibility being one of them. This provides the incentive for people to embrace the change you're suggesting. If you give people an easy solution and help them see the benefits, they'll be quicker to adopt the new tool - and more likely to keep using it.

For all the reasons we've outlined, it's vital to include your HR and Comms departments in the decision-making process. Don't leave your choice of tech to IT alone, because they may not be as concerned with your workers' real needs.

One final thought: as you introduce new platforms, don't be afraid to turn the old ones off. Consolidation is the name of the game, so instead of looking for several best-in-class single apps, find accessible tools that employees can use for multiple tasks. Being more efficient will give you a better return on your investment, and it'll also mean fewer programs for your employees to learn and monitor.

People using the right tools for the wrong tasks

Individual preference can sometimes result in over-reliance on a particular medium or method. In turn, this can lead to another common headache: people trying to use channels for the wrong form of communication.

Imagine trying to use an asynchronous medium for synchronous communication, such as conducting a 'live' conversation via dozens of back-and-forth emails in a short timeframe. While it's certainly possible to communicate this way, it's wildly inefficient compared to the same exchange via instant messaging. The result is a considerable amount of noise in the inboxes of everyone involved.

It can also work the other way around, with people using synchronous channels for asynchronous messages. This is a common issue with team-based instant messaging tools, primarily designed for a single, 'live' conversation per channel. If someone shares a message for future discussion, it will disappear from view if other conversations kick off in the meantime.

Some tools solve this problem with a function that allows users to "pin" important posts for swift retrieval. But it's still easy for people not present at the time of the original post to overlook messages and miss essential information.

And of course, there are obvious risks if organizations keep static information in a dynamic communication format. Whenever people use a channel for a communication form that it wasn't designed for, problems swiftly arise.

The solution: Again, the answer here is to have transparent processes in place, supported by the right culture. The more effort you put into creating clear, company-wide guidelines for your entire workforce, the less likely you are to run into this challenge. With that in mind, this issue's potential should be one of the factors that persuade you to conduct a full audit of your business communication (see below).

Conduct a full audit of your current business communication channels

If you're serious about improving your business communication, you need a clear understanding of your current practices.

Carry out a company-wide audit of the channels, and gather a wide range of insights from across the business. What's working well? What are the most common problems? Which platforms would your employees most like to use, given a choice? The answers to these questions will tell you whether you need new tools or better training.

Treat business communication as a resource to invest in, not a cost to be minimized

Hardware and software upgrades can be a significant expense, especially when you have to apply them to every employee in your workforce. But as this article should have made clear, the benefits of strong business communication eclipses the costs. Cutting corners will expose you to risks that your business can't afford.

The important thing is to invest in the right solutions for your organization, which is why it's good to start with a detailed audit.

Give everyone a voice, supported by a clear process

Leaders that understand the real value of business communication look for ways to make their entire workforce part of the conversation. They champion perspectives from across the organization and do everything they can to encourage people to speak up. As part of this, they create a culture where employees can express dissenting views, knowing that senior management will actively listen and respond.

All of this requires a good range of powerful channels, supporting your needs across all seven forms of communication. But communication platforms are only valuable if you train employees to use them to their full potential, and they understand how these tools contribute to your business - its mission, values and internal culture.

Share your business communication roadmap

It takes a serious commitment to create the communications culture that your business, and employees, deserve. Once established, it requires consistent care and attention to maintain.

Making this happen requires a collective effort from everyone in your organization. Take the time to understand the necessary change. Develop a clear vision for what you want to achieve, and then share that vision with your workers. Give them a voice, listen to their input, refine the plan. If you do these things, it's an entirely achievable goal.

Only a third of businesses have a long-term strategy for their business communication. Make sure that you're one of them.

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Your business depends on the successful sharing of information - and so do your employees. Yet 66% of companies lack a long-term business communication plan. Why is this such a critical mistake? What are the most common communication challenges? And how can you avoid them?

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7 POPULAR PROJECT MANAGEMENT METHODOLOGIES

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7 POPULAR PROJECT MANAGEMENT METHODOLOGIES

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Every project manager knows that selecting the right methodology is crucial to getting the job right. While there are project management methodologies a-plenty, we've narrowed it down to seven popular ones and what they're best suited for.

Let's kick things off with a project management methodology definition, so that we're all on the same page:

According to the Project Management Institute (PMI), a methodology is defined as 'a system of practices, techniques, procedures, and rules used by those who work in a discipline. Lean practices, Kanban, and Six Sigma are project management methodologies examples.'

They are essentially processes that aim to assist project managers with guidance throughout the project, and the steps to take to completing the tasks. Different methodologies have different strategies that aid in managing issues should they arise during the project's delivery.

So, which one should you choose?

There are many methodologies to choose from, each with their own set of rules, principles, processes, and practices. Which methodology you should implement depends entirely on the type of project you will undertake. The point of selecting a project management methodology is to maximize the use of resources and time.

One thing to keep in mind is that while there are a number of methodologies to choose from, there is not such thing as the 'right' methodology. Meaning, there won't be the one methodology that is perfect to use for every single project. Projects vary in scope and requirements, which means the right methodology to implement will also vary.

Now, let's take a look at some of the more popular methodologies, and do our own project management methodologies comparison.

1. Agile

One of the more recognizable project management methodologies, Agile is best suited for projects that are iterative and incremental. It's a type of process where demands and solutions evolve through the collaborative effort of self-organizing and cross-functional teams and their customers. Originally created for software development, it was established as a response to the inadequacies of the Waterfall method (info on it later below), the processes of which did not meet the demands of the highly competitive and constant movement of the software industry.

Agile project management stems from the values and principles of the Agile Manifesto. A declaration cemented in 2001 by 13 industry leaders, its purpose is to uncover better ways of developing software by providing a clear and measurable structure that fosters iterative development, team collaboration, and change recognition.

Made up of four fundamental values and 12 key principles, here's what they are:

Values

1. Individuals and interactions over processes and tools

2. Working software over comprehensive documentation

3. Customer collaboration over contract negotiation

4. Responding to change over following a plan

Principles

1. Customer satisfaction through early and continuous software delivery

2. Accommodate changing requirements throughout the development process

3. Frequent delivery of working software

4. Collaboration between the business stakeholders and developers throughout the project

5. Support, trust, and motivate the people involved

6. Enable face-to-face interactions

7. Working software is the primary measure of progress

8. Agile processes to support a consistent development pace

9. Attention to technical detail and design enhances agility

10. Simplicity

11. Self-organizing teams encourage great architectures, requirements, and designs

12. Regular reflections on how to become more effective

Because of its adaptiveness, Agile methodology is commonly used to deliver more complex projects. It uses six main deliverables to track progress and create the product which are the product vision statement, product roadmap, product backlog, release plan, Sprint backlog, and increment. With these features, it establishes itself as a methodology that places an emphasis on collaboration, flexibility, continuous improvement, and high quality results.

Best suited for: Projects that require flexibility and have a level of complexity or uncertainty. For instance, a product or service that hasn't been built by the team.

Agile is a methodology that has methodologies within itself, such as Scrum and Kanban. While some may argue that they should be considered more as frameworks, they are used to develop and deliver a product or service and carry their own set of characteristics and terminology which I think makes them worthy enough to be included on this list.

2. Scrum

Scrum is comprised of five values: commitment, courage, focus, openness, and respect. It's goal is to develop, deliver, and sustain complex products through collaboration, accountability, and iterative progress. What distinguishes Scrum from the other Agile project management methodologies is how it operates by using certain roles, events, and artifacts.

Scrum team roles

Product owner: Product expert who represents the stakeholders, and is the voice of the customer.

Development team: Group of professionals who deliver the product (developers, programmers, designers).

Scrum master: Organized servant-leader who ensures the understanding and execution of Scrum is followed.

Scrum events

Sprint: Iterative time boxes in which a goal is accomplished. Time frame does not exceed one calendar month and are consistent throughout the development process.

Sprint planning: Where the entire Scrum team get together - at the beginning of every Sprint - to plan the upcoming sprint.

Daily Scrum: 15 minute time boxed meeting held at the same time, every day of the Sprint, where the previous day's achievements are discussed, as well as the expectations for the following one.

Sprint review: An informal meeting held at the end of every Sprint where the Scrum team present their Increment to the stakeholders, and discuss feedback.

Sprint retrospective: A meeting where the Scrum team reflect on the proceedings of the previous Sprint and establish improvements for the next Sprint.

Scrum Artifacts

Product backlog: Managed by the Product Owner, it's where all the requirements needed for a viable product are listed in order of priority. Includes features, functions, requirements, enhancements, and fixes that authorize any changes to be made to the product in future releases.

Sprint backlog: A list of the tasks and requirements that need to be accomplished during the next Sprint. Sometimes accompanied by a Scrum task board, which is used to visualize the progress of the tasks in the current Sprint, and any changes that are made in a 'To Do, Doing, and Done' format.

Best suited for: Projects that consists of teams of less than seven people who need a flexible approach to delivering a product or service.

3. Kanban

Kanban is another popular Agile framework that, similar to Scrum, focuses on early releases with collaborative and self-managing teams. A concept that was developed on the production line of Toyota factories in the 1940s, it is very visual method that aims to deliver high quality results by painting a picture of the workflow process so that bottlenecks can be identified early on in the development process. It operates on six general practices, which are:

1. Visualization

2. Limiting work in progress

3. Flow management

4. Making policies explicit

5. Using feedback loops

6. Collaborative or experimental evolution

Kanban achieves efficiency by using visual cues that signal various stages of the development process. The cues involved in the process are a Kanban board, Kanban cards, and even Kanban swimlanes for those looking for that extra bit of organization.

Kanban board: What's used to visualize the development process, a Kanban board can be either physical (a whiteboard, sticky notes, and markers) or digital (like Zenkit's online project management tool).

Kanban cards: Each Kanban card depicts a work item/task in the work process. Used to communicate progress with your team, it represents information such as status, cycle time, and impending deadlines.

Kanban swimlanes: Flowing horizontally, Kanban swimlanes are a visual element on the board that allows you to further distinguish tasks/items by categorizing them. Their purpose is to offer a better overview of the workflow.

While there are no set rules of Kanban per-se, it works by using a Kanban board to represent the stages of development from the beginning when ideas are produced, to the work in progress, to when the work has been completed. The board's basic structure is three columns labelled as 'To-Do, Doing, and Done' - which is rather self-explanatory.

Like most Agile frameworks, Kanban made its mark within the software development industry. However, due to its flexibility it has gained traction in other industries, and is one of a few project management methodologies that can be applied to any project that requires continuous improvement within the development process.

Best suited for: Like Scrum, Kanban is fitting for projects with smaller teams, who need a flexible approach to delivering a product or service. Kanban is also great for personal productivity purposes.

4. Lean

Lean methodology promotes maximizing customer value, while minimizing waste. It aims to create more value for the customer by using fewer resources. Stemmed from the Japanese manufacturing industry, its values suppose that 'as waste is eliminated, quality improves while the production time and cost are reduced.'

It identifies three types of waste; muda, mura, and muri, also known as the 3Ms.

Muda

Muda is about getting rid of waste, and refers to an activity or process that does not add value. It can either be something that is a physical waste of your time or something that is a waste of your resources. Characterized as seven original wastes, they are:

1. 'Transport: The movement of product between operations and locations.

2. Inventory: The work in progress (WIP) and stocks of finished goods and raw materials that a company holds.

3. Motion: The physical movement of a person or machine whilst conducting an operation.

4. Waiting: The act of waiting for a machine to finish, for a product to arrive, or any other cause.

5. Overproduction: Over producing product beyond what the customer has ordered.

6. Over-processing: Conducting operations beyond those that customer requires.

7. Defects: Product rejects and reworks within your processes.'

Mura

Mura is about eliminating variances in the workflow process at a scheduling and operation level so that everything flows evenly. For example, when publishing a magazine, if an editor spends too much time editing an article, it means that the design team will have less time to create the spread before the publishing deadline comes. Therefore, you would reduce the editing time and ensure every department's timeframe spent on the article is the same.

Muri

Muri is about removing overload so that the nothing slows down. It refers to managers and business owners imposing unnecessary stress on their employees and processes due to things such as poor organization, unclear ways of working, and using incorrect tools.

Instead of implementing certain processes, Lean is more about adhering to a set of principles. The five main principles are; specify value by the customer, identify steps in the value stream, make product flow continuously, allow customers pull value from the next upstream activity, and manage towards removing unnecessary steps.

Best suited for: Often mistaken for specializing in manufacturing industries, Lean methodology is ideal for any business or organization that is not looking for a process as such, but is interested in transforming how they conduct doing business.

5. Waterfall

One of the more traditional project management methodologies, Waterfall is a linear, sequential design approach where progress flows downwards in one direction - like a waterfall. Originating in the manufacturing and construction industries, its lack of flexibility in design changes in the earlier stages of the development process is due to it becoming exuberantly more expensive because of its structured physical environments.

The methodology was first introduced in an article written in 1970 by Winston W. Royce (although the term 'Waterfall' wasn't used), and emphasizes that you're only able to move onto the next phase of development once the current phase has been completed. The phases are followed in the following order:

1. System and software requirements

2. Analysis

3. Design

4. Coding

5. Testing

6. Operations

Waterfall is a project management methodology that stresses the importance of documentation. The idea is that if a worker was to leave during the development process, their replacement can start where they left off by familiarizing themselves with the information provided on the documents.

Pre-Agile saw the Waterfall methodology being used for software development, but there were many issues due to its non-adaptive design constraints, the lack of customer feedback available during the development process, and a delayed testing period.

Best suited for: Larger projects that require maintaining stringent stages and deadlines, or projects that have been done various times over where chances of surprises during the development process are relatively low.

6. Six Sigma

Six Sigma is project management methodology first introduced by engineers at Motorola in 1986. It aims to improve quality by reducing the number of errors in a process by identifying what is not working and then removing it from the process. It uses quality management methods, which are mostly empirical and statistical, as well as the expertise of people who are specialists in these methods.

There are two major methodologies of Six Sigma carried out by Six Sigma Green Belts and Six Sigma Black Belts, and are supervised by Six Sigma Master Black Belts. They are DMAIC which is used for improving business processes, and DMADV which is more for creating new processes, products or services. The letters stand for:

' Define the problem and the project goals
Measure in detail the various aspects of the current process
Analyze data to, among other things, find the root defects in a process
Improve the process
C ontrol how the process is done in the future'

' Define the project goals
Measure critical components of the process and the product capabilities
Analyze the data and develop various designs for the process, eventually picking the best one
Design and test details of the process
V erify the design by running simulations and a pilot program, and then handing over the process to the client'

There is also a Lean Six Sigma methodology which is committed to improving team performance by systematically eliminating waste and reducing variation.

Best suited for: Larger companies and organizations that want to improve quality and efficiency through a data-driven methodology.

7. PMI/PMBOK

PMI stands for the Project Management Institute which is a not-for-profit membership association, project management certification, and standards organization. Through the PMI, comes the PMBOK which is not quite a methodology but a guide detailing a set of standards that characterize project management.

PMBOK stands for the Project Management Body of Knowledge and is a set of standard terminology and guidelines for project management. It states that there are five process groups that are prevalent in almost every project. They are;

1. Initiating: Defining the start of a new project or new phase of an existing project.

2. Planning: Where the scope of the project, objectives, and how the objectives will be achieved.

3. Executing: Actually doing the work defined in the project management plan.

4. Monitoring and Controlling: When you need to track, review, and regulate the progress and performance.

5. Closing: Concluding all activities across all Process Groups to formally close the project or phrase.

Along with this, it includes best practices, conventions, and techniques that are considered the industry standard. Regularly updating their guide to ensure that they echo the most up-to-date project management practices, the PMBOK is currently up to its sixth edition which was published in print and online in 2017.

Best suited for: Because it's more of a reference guide than an actual project management methodology, you can't implement PMI/PMBOK to a project. However, it can be used for when you want to weigh in on the best practices for your project.

You may find that more than one of the aforementioned project management methodologies seem ideal for your project, or hey, none of them would work. What we've provided is a simplified guideline to help you take the first steps of selecting the best methodology for your upcoming project. The next step to take is to do further research and then once you find the best match, pair it up with a great project management tool (ahem, like Zenkit), and you're all set.

Don't forget to let us know which project management methodology worked best for you!

Cheers,
Dinnie and the Zenkit Team

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7 Popular Project Management Methodologies And What They're Best Suited For

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Every project manager knows that selecting the right methodology is crucial to getting the job right. While there are project management methodologies a-plenty, we've narrowed it down to seven popular ones and what they're best suited for.

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QUESTIONS FOR GETTING TO KNOW EACH OTHER 

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QUESTIONS FOR GETTING TO KNOW EACH OTHER 

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You're standing at a party where you only know the host or maybe that one friend who always ends up running "just a few minutes late," and you can't think of a single thing to say to the people near you. Or maybe you're working with a new group on a project at work, or you've matched with someone on Bumble and now you're staring at a blank message screen.

Let's face it-it can be tough to think of a conversation starter that goes beyond, "What'd you do this weekend?" or, "It's a little cold today, isn't it?"

So we've put together a list of get-to-know-you questions that dig a little deeper and will actually teach you something about people-or at least get a conversation going. After all, does anybody really care about your packing preferences for that hypothetical desert island?

Throw out a couple of these prompts (many of which we actually use right here at The Muse) at a team meeting or party when the small talk lulls and get ready to bond on a whole new level.

Best basic get-to-know-you questions

Here are a few queries that'll work in almost any setting where you might meet someone new (just introduce yourself first!). They'll help you quickly learn some basic info about a person and their interests-and hopefully kick-start some good conversations.

1. How do you like to spend your time outside of work or school?

2. Do you have any hobbies?

3. Do you collect anything?

4. Are you an early bird or a night owl?

5. How do you like to start your day?

6. How do you like to end your day?

7. What kinds of activities drain you?

8. What kinds of activities energize you?

9. What's one thing you're learning now or learned recently?

10. What's something you saw recently that made you smile?

11. What's something you saw recently that made you laugh?

12. What's something you've done, but you'll never do again?

13. What are you passionate about?

14. What's your guilty pleasure?

15. When you were a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up?

16. What's your ideal way to spend your weekends?

17. Are you reading anything interesting right now?

18. Are you bingeing any shows?

19. Do you have any pets? (Of course, followed by: Do you have any pictures?)

Best get-to-know-you questions about favorites

Asking about someone's favorites can be a great gateway to getting to know them. After all, most people enjoy talking about things they're passionate about-just make sure you ask follow-up questions or share your own experiences.

1. Are you a dog person or a cat person (or neither)?

2. What's your favorite place to eat around here?

3. What's your favorite snack?

4. What's your favorite TV show or one you'd never get tired of rewatching?

5. Which season is your favorite?

6. Who's your favorite musical artist?

7. What's your favorite tradition (holiday or otherwise)?

8. What's your favorite comfort media (book, show, movie, music, or anything else)?

9. What's your favorite sport to watch? How about to play?

10. What's your favorite game to play?

Best get-to-know-you questions for work

Work can be one of the most common contexts in which you'll need to get to know someone-if you're having lunch or a one-on-one meeting with a colleague, for example, or you're at a professional networking event. Well, these questions cover nearly every possible work-related topic.

Best get-to-know-you questions for students

Here are a few questions you can ask people in school-whether you're a student yourself, a teacher, or someone interacting with students. Just make sure the questions you choose account for what kind of school you're in (i.e., elementary school students don't have majors and college students, unfortunately, don't have recess).

1. What's your favorite subject?

2. What do you like to do during recess?

3. What's your favorite class you've ever taken?

4. Who's the best teacher you ever had?

5. What's your favorite topic to learn about?

6. What's your least favorite class?

7. Are you in any extracurricular activities?

8. If you could create any school club you wanted and knew people would join, what would it be?

9. What class do you wish this school had?

10. Why did you choose your major?

11. What drew you to this school?

12. What's your favorite project you ever did for a class?

Best personal get-to-know-you questions

You want to dig a little deeper to understand who a person really is. These questions go beyond lighthearted icebreakers to give you some better insight into what makes that person tick.

Best get-to-know-you questions about hypothetical situations

These "What would you do?" questions can get people talking about some surprising topics-and give you great insight into who they are and what matters to them.

Best fun get-to-know-you questions

If you're looking for a quirky or upbeat way to kick off a team meeting with some bonding or even just get a one-on-one conversation rolling, these fun, unexpected, and low-pressure icebreaker questions should do the trick.

Kat is a Midwest-based freelance writer, covering topics related to careers, productivity, and the freelance life. In addition to The Muse, she's a contributor all over the web and dishes out research-backed advice for places like Atlassian, Trello, Toggl, Wrike, The Everygirl, FlexJobs, and more. She's also an Employment Advisor at a local college, and loves helping students prepare to thrive in careers (and lives!) they love. When she manages to escape from behind her computer screen, she's usually babying her two rescue mutts or continuing her search for the perfect taco. Say hi on Twitter @kat_boogaard or check out her website.

More from Kat Boogaard

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100+ Get-to-Know-You Questions People Actually Want to Answer

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You're standing at a party where you only know the host or maybe that one friend who always ends up running "just a few minutes late," and you can't think of a single thing to say to the people near you.

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Soft skills, such as communication and problem-solving, are essential to succeed and progress in the workplace.

Unlike hard skills-things like computer programming, finance, or web design-soft skills are a little harder to define. Loosely put, soft skills are typically centered around people skills.

This certain set of skills inform, among many other things, how you communicate, whether you pick up on social cues, whether or not you are organized, and how punctual you are on a regular basis.

Developing your soft skills is crucial to both getting a job and advancing your career. Employers actively seek candidates with both hard skills and soft skills, usually weighing them equally. The very best web developer still needs to be a quality communicator and problem-solver.

Today, we are talking about an extremely important soft skill, problem-solving.

What Are Common Problem Solving SkilLs?

Problem-solving skills are a set of soft skills to use in difficult, unexpected, or complicated matters that arise in the workplace. Whether you're an entry-level employee or a C-level executive, problem-solving skills will serve as an attractive asset to any employer.

Equipping yourself with the skills to actually solve problems has another amazing side effect. Problem-solving soft skills usually allow an employee to prepare for problems before they happen. There are preparative techniques to solve for common problems, uncommon problems, and worst-case scenarios. By being prepared, you are far less likely to become flustered or stop work to do damage control.

Let's talk more about how to do just that.

Essential Problem-Solving Skills

Problem-solving skills are sort of an amalgamation of various soft skills. In fact. if I were to suggest one set of soft skills to master today, it would be problem-solving skills. Why? Problem-solving involves aspects of various other soft skill sets. It is sort of the grandmother of all soft skills as it requires elements of communication, creativity, dependability, decision-making, leadership, and comprehensive analysis.

If that sounds like a lot, it's because it is. Don't worry-we're here to dive into the most important elements of problem-solving that can equip you for anything.

Open-Mindedness

Open-mindedness is crucial in relation to problem-solving. When a problem arises, it is human nature to find a scapegoat, blame it on her, and move on. That gets us nowhere.

Identifying the root of a problem is important. Whether it's a missed deadline or a published typo, there is likely going to be a human error to trace back to. But that's often not the entire story.

In the face of a problem, especially in the workplace, it's far more important to identify the why of the problem rather than the who. Why did this problem occur? Was there a breakdown of communication? Is there a workload far too heavy for one person?

Open-mindedness, especially in the face of crisis, is going to solve the actual problem and make any changes necessary to avoid the recurrence of the problem.

Next time a problem arises in your workplace, look for the why instead of the who.

Listening Skills

Do you ever feel like people are waiting for you to stop speaking so that they can start? I feel that way-a lot.

One time, I watched my two coworkers on a conference call together. While one laid out plans for a new initiative, the other continuously said "Yes, yes, exactly, yes" in between every 3 or 4 words. I was completely dumbfounded. This was a person speaking and not listening.

Do not shy away from conversation or participation. It is imperative that your ideas and input are heard. If you find yourself in a room of people volleying for attention, consider constructing your thoughts while paraphrasing the crux of the discussion. Let your coworkers know that you are expressly thoughtful in your input.

Analytic Skills

Analytical skills are crucial when it comes to problem-solving. An employee who has the ability to make analysis-based decisions is going to be extremely helpful in a company's overall success.

Just like we touched on in the open-mindedness section, analytical skills are what stops a person from pointing a finger when a problem occurs. Pointing a finger rarely works. Seriously, look to your history books. Companies are looking, instead, for someone with the ability to investigate a problem and find a solution in a timely manner.

Depending on the problem or challenge at hand, analytical skills can involve detecting patterns, analyzing raw data, listening, creating theories, and making hypotheses based on multiple factors.

When I see the word "analytical", I often picture a genius mathematician working out algorithms with the raw power of her own brain. While that can be true, analytic skills also manifest as deeply creative.

So, creatives rejoice! You are usually innately analytical without even realizing it.

Creativity

It only seems natural that we should glide right into creativity.

Creativity is another essential soft skill that comes into play in many facets. In relation to problem-solving skills, creativity is a crucial element.

As I mentioned above, not all problems are black and white. Actually, most problems are inherently not black and white, which means they call for creative solutions. Warning: creative solutions should not be mistaken for easy solutions.

Creative thinking is the ability to find a completely new way to solve the problem. Creative people bring unique perspectives, alternative solutions, and productive new directions to departments and companies.

Research Skills

Research is an essential sub-skill to have in order to be an effective problem-solver.

Remember way back when we were talking about identifying the why of the problem? Great research skills will allow you to do just that. Researching allows you to get deeper into the daily processes.

Research allows you to identify what works, what could work better, and what doesn't work at all.

The ability to research allows an employee to diagnose the actual problem, not just the symptoms. For example, a missed deadline might seem to be the problem. In actuality, it may be that poor communication or work overload is the actual problem.

Next time you think you have identified a problem, ask yourself, Is this really the problem or a symptom of a bigger ailment?

Communication Skills

So, you've listened and learned. You've identified a huge problem. You even devised a creative and thoughtful plan of action. You are a soft skill triple threat already. Let's become a quadruple threat by enacting some communication skills.

Once you have your plan of action in place, you'll need to effectively communicate it to the team. Communication skills are of the highest importance when detailing processes to others. Think about how to communicate a solution to your coworkers.

Is there negative feedback that can be reframed as a positive opportunity to change?

Are there hard-to-swallow items in your presentation that require a gentle presentation?

Have things gone so haywire that you need to communicate in a stern, unrelenting manner?

How you communicate the solution is almost as important as the solution itself, especially when you need sign-off from others to get the job done. Make sure to consider the best way to communicate, delegate, and solve problems.

Dependability

Dependability is extremely important in the modern workplace. Someone who is dependable can usually be counted on to deliver through to the end. When a problem arises, there might be a few heroes at the front line waiting to fix it. As time goes by and things calm down, the heroes dwindle in number.

Someone who is a truly excellent problem-solver is basically wearing the cape at all times. She can be counted on to pay attention to details, identify problems, research solutions, and present an actionable guide to fix them. If that wasn't enough, a truly dependable problem-solver will see the solution to the very end.

Dependability, as it relates to problem-solving, is not found in the person who runs in, applies a bandage, and runs back out. A dependable person will take the time to seek long-term solutions and follow through on them.

Teamwork Skills

Ultimately, it takes a team to fix a large problem in the workplace. Whether the problem is organizational or personal, it likely will take more than one person to implement a long-term solution. This is where teamwork comes into play.

A good problem-solver at work will also be a team player. Great teamwork requires just about every other element we have listed above. Good teamwork absolutely requires an open mind and apt listening skills. To work as a part of a team, you must be able to communicate effectively and follow directions.

In addition, a great team member will be able to motivate others without being overbearing or domineering. She will be adept at both giving and receiving feedback throughout any process. She will also know when to praise and to point out forward areas of progress.

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The Problem-Solving Soft Skills You Need at Work + How to Use Them | Career Contessa

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Soft skills, such as communication and problem-solving, are essential to succeed and progress in the workplace. Unlike hard skills-things like computer programming, finance, or web design-soft skills are a little harder to define. Loosely put, soft skills are typically centered around people skills.

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Think Small to Solve Big Problems, with Stephen Dubner | Big Think

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TOP 10 BUSINESS ENGLISH ACTIVITIES FOR STUDENTS

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TOP 10 BUSINESS ENGLISH ACTIVITIES FOR STUDENTS

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Top 10 Business English Activities for Students

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Are you ready to master your business English? Students worldwide learn Business English, and the reasons are obvious. In today’s globalized world, knowing English is a competitive advantage which can increase your chances of success in the tough corporate world. Today, we’re going to show you 10 pr…

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The secret to giving great feedback | The Way We Work, a TED series

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I spent weeks sifting through the data, modeling different scenarios, and perfecting my plan. I knew it was awesome -- but just to be sure, I asked a key employee for input. (OK, maybe I wasn't trying to be sure. In retrospect, I see I was hoping he would be impressed by how smart I was.)

"I'm thinking of moving two crews to a different shift rotation to get a better process flow," I told him. "I've run the numbers and overall productivity should go up by at least 10 percent. What do you think?"

He stood quietly for a moment. "I suppose it could work," he finally said.

Bingo! Just what I wanted to hear.

So I moved the crews.

My new shift rotation worked on paper. It even worked in practice. But it screwed up the personal lives of a bunch of great employees. (Luckily, I pulled my head out of my rear and moved everyone back to their old rotations.)

What happened? Sure, I asked the right question.

But I asked the wrong way.

You probably have, too. Maybe you asked a leading question. Or a limiting question. Or a question that presumed a certain answer. You asked the right question, but you asked it the wrong way.

Here are some ways to ask much better questions and as a result, get much better answers -- which is the point of asking questions in the first place.

Start asking one sentence questions.

Feel free to state the problem or issue in detail, but limit your question to one sentence. "How can we increase productivity?" "How can we improve quality?" "What would you do if you were me?"

Sticking to one sentence helps ensure your questions will be open-ended.

Stop asking either/or questions.

Say you have a quality problem and have come up with two possible solutions. Each has positives and negatives. So you seek input from an employee. "Should we just scrap everything and rework the whole job," you ask, "or should we ship everything and hope the customer doesn't notice?" Most of the time, she'll pick one of the two answers you proposed.

But what if there's a better option you haven't considered?

Here's a better way to ask that question:
"There are defects throughout the whole order. What do you think we should do?"
Maybe she'll say scrap it. Maybe she'll say ship and hope.

Or maybe she'll say, "What if we tell the customer up front there is a problem, ship everything to them, and take a crew to their warehouse to sort product? That reduces the impact on the customer. They can use whatever is good and won't have to wait for the entire job to be rerun."

Either/or questions assume an answer and therefore limit the possibility of different ideas.

Instead of sharing options, just state the problem. Then ask, "What do you think?" Or, "What would you do?" Or, "How should we handle this?"

Then be quiet. Let people think.

They'll respond much more thoughtfully -- and often will come up with ideas you never considered.

Start asking humble clarifying questions.

As a leader, you're supposed to have all the answers, which means asking certain questions might make you feel vulnerable.

But it shouldn't. When you ask questions, you show respect. You show trust. You show you're willing to listen and learn. Win, win, win.

Plus, asking for clarification is easy. Just say:

"I'm impressed. Now pretend I don't know anything about how that works. How would you explain it to me?"

"That sounds really good. Let me make sure I didn't miss anything, though. Can you walk me through it one more time?"

Or, best of all: "I have to be honest: I'm not sure I understand what you're saying, but I really want to." (A little humility goes a long way.)

Above all, don't pretend you understand when you don't.

If only because that's a behavior you never want to model for your employees.

Stop asking leading questions.

Asking a question that assumes a particular answer is easy to do when you already think you're right and just want people to say you're right. (Which is exactly what I did when I asked an employee about my fancy shift rotation.)

"Do you think we should wait any longer than we already have for an answer?"

"Don't you think we should go ahead and release that order?"

"Do you think it's time we turned that project over to someone else?"

Each question assumes an answer: You clearly think you should stop waiting for feedback, release the order, and replace a project leader. Though a few people may disagree, most won't, because the answer you want to hear is obvious.

Here are better ways to ask those questions:

"The customer hasn't signed off on the prototype. What do you think we should do?"

"What do you think we should do about that order?"

"What do you think is the best way to handle that struggling project team?"

None of those questions imply a particular answer. And each also leaves room for a variety of options.

Start talking as little as possible.

You already know what you know. Great questions are designed to find out what the other person knows.

So stay quiet and listen.

You never know what you might learn.

And if you don't stay quiet and listen, you'll never know what you could have learned.

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How Smart People Ask Great Questions (and Get Better Answers)

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I spent weeks sifting through the data, modeling different scenarios, and perfecting my plan. I knew it was awesome -- but just to be sure, I asked a key employee for input. (OK, maybe I wasn't trying to be sure. In retrospect, I see I was hoping he would be impressed by how smart I was.)

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Simon Sinek: How to Build a Company That People Want to Work For | Inc. Magazine

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10 QUESTIONS TO CREATE A WORKPLACE CULTURE EMPLOYEES LOVE

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10 QUESTIONS TO CREATE A WORKPLACE CULTURE EMPLOYEES LOVE

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What exactly is workplace culture? The definitions vary greatly depending on who you ask.

This Harvard Business Review piece entitled, How Company Culture Shapes Employee Motivation, defines culture as "the set of processes in an organization that affects the total motivation of its people". The authors, Lindsay McGregor and Neil Doshi, ask three questions to demystify this nebulous phenomenon:

1) How does culture drive performance?

2) What is culture worth?

3) What processes in an organization affect culture?

And according to Robert Richman, author of The Culture Blueprint, culture is designed by who you hire and by establishing what behaviors are allowed. It exists in language, and whoever has a repeatable protocol of language can institutionalize it and scale the culture.

I believe that workplace culture is the foundation upon which great companies are built. It all begins with developing a strong company purpose and the values that guide your people towards fulfilling that purpose. Of course, that's not just what you write on the wall. Culture lives and breathes through the words and actions of your employees.

All of the questions below are excerpts from the Great eBook of Employee Questions, which contains 70 questions and detailed explanations of why you should ask them. We cover topics ranging from productivity-hacks, managing introverts, and of course culture-building:

1) Of your accomplishments this week, which one are you most proud of and why?

Taking pride in one's work used to be far more ubiquitous than it is today. A faster paced world means that we often optimize for quantity over quality. This question reminds employees of that great feeling of pride in a job well done.

2) What would an even more joyful workplace culture look like to you?

The concept of joy at work may seem foreign to some, especially those who constantly glorify "busy". But joy can and should go hand-in-hand with quality, focused productivity.

3) What is one quality you see in a team member that you'd like to cultivate in your own habits and actions?

This question provides management with insights into desired qualities of employees who may be undercover heroes. It also creates more team awareness and connection.

This one will probably be the toughest on your team, but the responses will also be incredibly worthwhile. You will learn what your employees perceive are core leadership values, and determine if they are in sync with the values of management and the company as a whole.

5) Wouldn't it be amazing if...

We created a Dare to Dream board and collected some of our biggest, wildest and bold dreams about what we can accomplish as a company and put them up on a white board for all to see. Try it on your team!

6) How are you impacting the people around you?

Why is it that the people with the least self-awareness are usually the most difficult to be around? This question invites people to be aware of their co-workers' reactions and perceptions, and ponder how they're being experienced by others.

7) What opportunities for learning and growth have you recently found or created for yourself? What such opportunities do you see for your colleagues?

Co-workers engage with one another during lunches and happy-hours, and sometimes those conversations are about life-goals and learning experiences. Help out a colleague by shining a light on something they want for their personal and professional development.

8) If you could choose a colleague, team member, or exemplary professional to coach you on a particular topic, who would it be and why?

Have you ever reached out to someone in your field and offered to take them to lunch for some advice? That hour could be the most valuable time you spend away from your desk. Workplace cultures that support growth on this level encourage loyalty in their employees.

9) What would you change about our product if you had a magic wand?

Let people know that their innovative ideas are valued. Sure, we don't always have to know how we can make things happen. Who knows, maybe someone else on the team can work their magic and pull that rabbit out of the hat.

10)Which company value would you like to have a new high mark in? (as in, which do you feel you aren't living to its potential?)

Company values are the compass by which autonomous employees steer, and this question keeps the values top of mind. Some of our values are Keep Things Simple and Commit to Customer Success and Delight. So when any employees face a decision they can ask, "Am I over-complicating this? How would this impact our customers?"

However you define culture, one thing is certain - you can be intentional about creating it, or you can let it create itself. For example, the company may declare transparency as a value. But if you don't foster open dialogue, will people choose candid communication over gossip?

One way to assess how aligned employees are with the culture, is to measure the difference between the values you created and what people truly value. How and why people interact with each other is your culture, no matter what else you think it might be.

Image Credits: Dave McKeague, Kumar's Edit

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10 Questions To Create A Workplace Culture Employees Love

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What exactly is workplace culture? The definitions vary greatly depending on who you ask. This Harvard Business Review piece entitled, How Company Culture Shapes Employee Motivation, defines culture as "the set of processes in an organization that affects the total motivation of its people".

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In the following, we present dialogues and key phrases for English business small talk. You will also find lists with useful phrases from these examples that will help you in future conversations.

Introducing yourself and others in English

In the first two conversations, you will find useful phrases for introductions and situations in which you meet people again.

This is the setting for our fictional English business small talk: Jason, Susan, Gesine, Fridtjov and Ben are all at a conference, where they are making new contacts and reconnecting with old ones.

1. Starting a conversation: introducing yourself

Jason: I don't think we've been introduced. I'm Jason. Jason Horn.
Susan: Nice to meet you. I'm Susan.
Jason: Pleased to meet you, Susan. How are you enjoying the conference so far?
Susan: It's been great. I've met so many interesting people. And it's a nice break from the office, to be honest.
Jason: I know what you mean. Have you been to one of these conferences before?
Susan: Yes, I was at the one in Glasgow a couple of years ago. What about you?
Jason: That's funny, I was there, too.

Phrases to introduce yourself in English

I don't think we've been introduced.

I'm ... .

You must be ... . I'm ... .

Nice to meet you. I'm ... .

Pleased/Good to meet you.

Could you say your name again for me?

... . Is that how you say it?

Business small talk tip: What's in a name?

People from English speaking countries usually use their first names at work and in business situations. If someone says their last name first, however, they probably expect you to use it. Ask the person to say their name again if it's unclear. It's important to get it right.

2. Introducing someone else in English

Jason: Susan, this is my Norwegian colleague, Fridtjov. We work in the same department. Fridtjov, this is Susan.
Fridtjov: Good to meet you.
Susan: It's nice to meet you, too. Em, could you say your name again for me?
Fridtjov: It's Fridtjov. Don't worry. Everyone has difficulty pronouncing my name.
Susan: Fridtjov. Is that how you say it?
Fridtjov: Yes. Perfect!

EngIish phrases to introduce others in business small talk situations

Susan, this is my colleague, ... .

I'll introduce you to my colleagues.

Starting a conversation with someone you already know

If you already know the other person, you wouldn't start the conversation by introducing yourself. The following dialogues represent business small talk situations in which people meet again, speak for the first time in person or remind somebody that they have met before.

3. Reconnecting with someone

Susan: Gesine? Hi, it's Susan. Susan Christie.
Gesine: Oh, hi, Susan! I thought I recognized you. How are you?
Susan: I'm great, thanks. And you?
Gesine: I'm fine. Fancy meeting you here! What are the chances?
Susan: [laughs] I know. You wouldn't have time for a quick coffee, would you?
Gesine: Sure. That would be lovely.

4. Starting a conversation: Meeting in person

Jason: You must be Gesine. I'm Jason. It's good to meet you at long last.
Gesine: Ah, Jason. It's great to meet you. We've been talking on the phone for years - it's funny that this is the first time we've actually met.
Jason: I know! Come on, I'll introduce you to my colleagues.

5. You don't remember me

Jason: Ben? Hi, I'm Jason. You don't remember me, do you?
Ben: I'm sorry. Can you jog my memory?
Jason: Jason Horn. We met last year in Bristol. At the conference.
Ben: Oh, right. I remember now. We met at one of the evening events, right? Was it the one in the town hall?
Jason: Yes, that's the one.
Ben: Goodness, I'm so sorry. It's good to see you!
Jason: No worries.

EngIish phrases to reconnect with people in business small talk situations

I thought I recognized you.

So, are you still with the same company?

You don't remember me, do you?

I'm sorry. Can you jog my memory? (if you don't remember someone)

It's good to meet you at long last. (if you meet someone for the first time in person)

In professional situations that involve some sort of travel, this is usually a good topic for business small talk.

Breaking the ice in small talk situations

After you have started the conversations, you'll want the small talk to go on for some time and avoid awkward pauses.

It's never wrong to ask your conversational partner how they are. The answer to this question, however, is usually very short in English conversations. Detailed recountings of your health issues or marital problems are not the best small talk topics. It's a lot more innocuous to ask how your conversational partner likes the event at which you've met. Other quite universal small talk topics are the weather, travel, accomodation or your background. In the following dialogue extracts, you'll find how you can get a conversation with a business partner going using these small talk topics.

6. Travel small talk

Jason: How was your trip, Gesine? Not too arduous, I hope.
Gesine: [laughs] No, it wasn't arduous at all. The plane was almost empty, so I had three seats all to myself. And I took the tram here. The venue is very central, isn't it?
Jason: You can say that again! Now, how about we grab a coffee before we get down to business?
Gesine: That would be great. Thanks.

English phrases to talk about business travel

How was your trip?

The venue is very central, isn't it?

7. Small talk about your background

Susan: Jason said you're from Norway. How long have you lived here?
Fridtjov: I moved here in 2007.
Susan: Oh, that's quite a while. I've always wanted to go to Norway. Whereabouts are you from?
Fridtjov: I'm from Trondheim. Have you heard of it?
Susan: Yes, I have. A friend of mine lived there, actually. The world's biggest sundial is in Trondheim, isn't it?
Fridtjov: [laughs] Yes, that's right! The Trondheim Torg. That's funny that you know about that.

Business small talk tip: Things in common

Small talk is about finding a connection with the person you are talking to. Listen carefully to the information people share with you in a conversation and try to follow with a question to find out more. When someone asks a question, offer a little more information than they asked for. As soon as you find a topic on which you both have plenty to say, you'll be off to a good start.

8. Asking someone where they come from

Fridtjov: And what about you, Susan? Where are you from? I can't quite place your accent.
Susan: I'm from Northern Ireland. But I moved here when I was a teenager, so my accent isn't as strong as it used to be.
Fridtjov: Oh, right. I've never been to Northern Ireland before. Are you from Belfast?
Susan: No, I'm from Portstewart. It's about 60 miles north of Belfast.

English phrases to talk about where you or someone else is from

Whereabouts are you from?

Are you from ... ?

I'm from ... . Have you heard of it?

It's about ... miles north/west/south/east of ... .

How long have you lived here?

9. Small talk about your accommodation

Susan: So, where are you staying while you're here?
Gesine: At the inn by the park. Do you know it?
Susan: I've never stayed there, but I've only heard good things about it. It's very handy for the conference venue.
Gesine: It is, and it's very comfortable. I don't travel much in my job, so it's a bit of a treat to stay in a nice hotel and not to have to worry about my kids and so on.
Susan: [laughs] I bet.

English phrases to talk about accommodation

So, where are you staying while you're here?

I've never stayed there.

It's very handy for the conference venue.

10. Small talk about the weather

Ben: I can't believe the weather we've been having - rain, rain, rain. It's so depressing.
Jason: Yeah, I know. I heard that it's supposed to get better by the end of the week.
Ben: Really? Isn't that what they said last week?
Jason: Yeah, well, you can't really trust the weather forecast. It's the time of year, though, isn't it? It's always miserable in January.

English phrases to talk about the weather

I can't believe the weather we've been having.

I heard that it's supposed to get better by the end of the week.

Being able to tell entertaining stories is a great small talk skill

Keeping the conversation going

Let's keep the conversation going. Once you've started off with a general and rather unpersonal topic, you might want to lead over to a somewhat more personal topic. Small talk is all about finding out what you have in common with other people. If you can find a topic that you are both interested in, conversation should flow quite easily.

11. Small talk about your family

Susan: I think I remember you said you had three kids. Is that right?
Gesine: Yes, just the three.
Susan: Just three? Sounds like a bit of a handful to me.
Gesine: It's getting easier, now that they're older. They can even be quite good company sometimes.
Susan: And you have a dog, too, don't you?
Gesine: Well, we did. He passed away last year, unfortunately.
Susan: Oh, dear. I'm so sorry. Losing a pet is awful.
Gesine: Yeah, it is. Anyway, let's talk about something cheerier.

Business small talk tip: Changing the subject

You may want to change the subject because you find the current small talk topic awkward, or because you would like to start talking about business. Using the following English expressions can help make the transition smooth:

12. Telling a story

Gesine: You'll never guess what happened to my daughter the other day.
Susan: What?
Gesine: Well, she's 15 and loves entering competitions. But sometimes, you have to be 18 to enter, so I let her use my name. Well, she won. Or rather, I did.
Susan: Cool! What did you win?
Gesine: A luxury holiday for two in the Maldives!
Susan: That's amazing! Are you taking your daughter or your husband?
Gesine: My daughter, of course.

English phrases to tell or respond to a story

You'll never guess what happened.

That's amazing!

13. Small talk about work

Jason: So, are you still with the same company?
Ben: Yeah, I am, actually. It'll be ten years next year.
Jason: And everything's going well?
Ben: Things have noticeably picked up, so that's a relief. What about you? Have you been promoted yet?
Jason:[laughs] I have, actually. I remember telling you about that.
Ben: Good for you! What's your official title these days, then?
Jason: Principal planning consultant.

English phrases to talk about your job

And everything's going well?

What's your official title these days, then?

Things have picked up noticeably, so that's a relief.

Inviting somebody along

Especially if you meet at an event, you might want to ask the other person to join you for a cup of coffee or some other activity. Here is how you can do that:

14. An invitation to the pub

Jason: A few of us are going to the pub. Would you like to join us?
Ben: I'd love to. Thanks. What time are you going?
Jason: Around 7.30 this evening.
Ben: Oh, I forgot. I've got to call the New York office at eight. I'm not going to be able to make it.
Jason: Why don't you come along after your call?
Ben: OK, I could do that. Where are you going to be?
Jason: At the Prince of Wales on Market Wynd.

English phrases to invite someone to something

You wouldn't have time for a quick coffee, would you?

How about we grab a coffee before we get down to business?

A few of us are going to the pub. Would you like to join us?

Why don't you come along after your call?

Accepting or declining an invitation in English

I'd love to, thanks.

I'm not going to be able to make it.

Ending a conversation

Ending small talk can feel as awkward as starting the conversation. However, especially at professional events, it is important that you don't spend the whole time talking to the same person. It's therefore important that you know how to end a conversation politely in English.

15. Saying Goodbye

Susan: Is that the time? I'd better get back to work. Listen, it was lovely catching up. I'm so glad I bumped into you.
Gesine: It was great to see you, too, Susan. It made my day.
Susan: Give me a call next time you're in London.
Gesine: I will, for sure.
Susan: Have a safe trip back home and a great time in the Maldives!
Gesine: Thanks, I will! Take care.

English phrases to close the conversation

Is that the time? I'd better get back to work.

Listen, it was lovely catching up.

I'm so glad I bumped into you.

It was great to see you, too, ... .

Give me a call next time you're in ... .

Have a safe trip back home.

Take care.

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Business small talk: examples and useful phrases

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Manouvering small talk situations is an important skill - especially in the business context. To help you improve it, we have put together some examples of English business small talk. Along with these dialogues, we provide you with handy lists of English small talk phrases.

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Tips for Business English small talk

At meetings and events, we need a good level of business English to listen to or make presentations and take part in discussions. You may also need to speak to colleagues or clients in the breaks before and after the official talks. This usually involves small talk and here are some ideas to make it more natural.

We provide prompt cards for eight different topics to help you with small talk conversations in English at business events or at work.

You can also use these cards to practise speaking English with colleagues or an take an English course with an English trainer in Munich (or online) to prepare for your next business event.

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We provide Business English small talk expressions and phrases for business events. This includes five-stage conversation cards with 8 topics and examples.

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You're at a trade show, conference, cocktail party, or networking event. You find yourself face to face with someone you know is a potential customer for your company's product or service. You want to make the sale and you know the only way to do that is to get that person talking with you. Only you can't think what to say to make that happen.

Here's what you don't want to say: "Let me tell you about our wonderful product." Say something like that and your prospective customer will want to escape the way you would from an overly aggressive cosmetics salesperson at the mall. Smart sellers know that you first have to create a relationship with a prospective customer, whether for a few minutes or over a longer period of time, and only then try pitching whatever you have to sell.

To get started, try any of these conversational openings:

1. Ask a question (not related to the sale).

Prospects who have been exposed to a lot of other people selling stuff--for instance at a trade show--are likely bracing themselves for a spiel about the wonderful whatever-it-is you're selling. You can use that dynamic to your advantage by surprising them with a question about almost anything else, from "Do you know what time the keynote starts?" to "Where's the best place around here to get a pizza?"

2. Say something about the weather.

The reason people talk so much about the weather is that it's the safest topic there is. And there's almost always something to say, whether it's "Gee, what a beautiful day!" or "When will this rain ever stop?"

3. Ask if they are enjoying the event.

"Are you having a good day so far?" is a safe way to start a conversation in nearly any circumstance.

4. Ask about their work.

This too is a pretty safe conversation starter as most people like to talk about their jobs. Name badges can be a really big help. If the badge mentions a title and it's an uncommon one, ask what kind of work they do. If the badge mentions a company you're not familiar with, ask about what the company does. If it's a household name, you can always ask what it's like to work there.

5. Comment on the venue.

Unless the event is taking place in a completely generic hotel or convention venue, there's always something to say about where you're meeting. If it's your first time there, you can say so and say what your first impressions are (especially if they're positive). If the event is in your home town, you can ask what they think of the place.

6. Praise something they did.

If you know prospective customers by reputation, know about their companies, don't pass up the opportunity to say something nice about anything they or their company have done. "I really thought your last advertising campaign was very effective." Or: "I really enjoyed your blog post." It could even be, "I thought you asked a really great question in this morning's session."

Any of these tells your prospects that you are actually paying attention and listening to what they have to say. That's a very powerful opener indeed.

7. Compliment them on their clothing.

"Where did you get that tie?" or "What a lovely necklace!" are almost always good ways to start a conversation with someone. You're praising them, making them feel good about themselves, proving that you're paying attention, and putting the focus away from you.

8. Ask for help.

It almost doesn't matter what kind of help. Anything from, "Can you help me lift this?" to "Can you help me figure out how my monitor plugs in," will get someone engaged and connected with you, and owing someone a favor is one of the strongest ways you can build a bond. Just make sure your prospective customer isn't in a hurry to be someplace else before you ask for his or her time to help you.

9. Offer something.

This is one reason so many vendors bring bowls of candy, pens, and other schwag to trade shows. Ask prospective customers if they would like a free item, especially if it's an unusual item, or something timely such as a mid-afternoon cup of coffee.whether they say yes or no thank you, you've established a connection in a positive way.

10. Ask what they are looking for.

If you just can't start a conversation that's not related to selling, then put the focus on them, rather than you, by asking a question about what they want or need. You may encounter resistance if they assume your question is just intended as a segue toward your sales pitch. But if you genuinely listen to what they need or desire and resist the temptation to break in with information about your product, you will likely win them over.

11. Ask about their plans.

This could be short term as in, "Are you coming to the conference tomorrow?" Or long term as in, "Is your company planning on expanding into this region?" Once again, you've put the focus on them, and you've taken an interest in their future. Which is a pretty good way to start a new relationship.

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11 Foolproof Ways to Start a Conversation With a Potential Customer

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You're at a trade show, conference, cocktail party, or networking event. You find yourself face to face with someone you know is a potential customer for your company's product or service. You want to make the sale and you know the only way to do that is to get that person talking with you.

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HOW TO MAKE AN IMPACT   One of the Best Speeches EVER For Young People  Simon Sinek

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WHY DATA CAPTURE FROM EMPLOYEES NEEDS TO BE ETHICAL

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WHY DATA CAPTURE FROM EMPLOYEES NEEDS TO BE ETHICAL

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Organisations collect more data than ever on employees, and emerging technologies such as virtual reality add to the richness of that data. But how can HR professionals ensure data is gathered and used in an ethical way, asks Tom Symonds?
Today's workplaces are full of data capture opportunities, from cloud-based messaging platforms to virtual reality (VR) headsets for corporate training.

Businesses that are smart about employee and workplace data hold an ace card. By processing and analysing this data, they can identify patterns and trends, deepening their understanding of what is driving their successes and failures, and making informed adjustments.

Businesses that pursue data-led decision making and continuous improvement are likely to have a commercial edge. This is particularly important today, as businesses struggle with slow global growth, stagnant productivity levels and low levels of employee engagement.

But although many companies are rightly excited about the promise that this approach holds, it also raises a complex host of ethical questions, especially when biometric data like facial recognition and eye-tracking software are introduced.

While the value of workplace data cannot be underestimated, companies must ensure they have processes in place to handle it correctly, and principles that ensure it is being used to serve the interests of the employees as well as the organisation.

Next-level data

Most modern workplaces use a plethora of digital tools and platforms, providing opportunities to capture thousands of data points every day.

VR training can be a particularly rich source of employee data. The technology has been around for a while, but it's now becoming more widely used for corporate training, as the hardware becomes more affordable and the software becomes both more sophisticated and more accessible.

When an employee takes part in VR training, they put on a headset and are immersed in a digitally rendered environment. Within the simulated environment, they can interact with their surroundings and practise processes without any risk.

Compared with more traditional training approaches, vendors argue that VR can reduce costs, increase the absorption and retention of information, and result in higher levels of employee engagement. But importantly, it also generates a wealth of data.

In a VR training environment, every action that an employee takes can be tracked. Some platforms can then produce a dashboard with this data, providing detailed, actionable information on both an individual and an aggregate level.

Not only does this mean that trainers can play the data back to review performance, but employers can also create a picture of their workforce's capabilities. This can help businesses identify areas of weakness - both in terms of individual employees and the whole workforce - and arrange appropriate follow-up action, such as further training.

Furthermore, the benefits can extend far beyond training improvements; they can improve the organisation itself.

Patterns in the data may highlight an organisational or structural issue that needs to be addressed in the company. For example, the data may reveal that a particular skill set or personality type is missing from the workforce entirely, which may affect the company's approach to recruitment. Or it could even help a company design a new plant or production line, as possible versions could be tested by trainees in the VR environment before the assets are actually built in real life.

As data analysis becomes more sophisticated in business and big data is commonly used across sectors, not just individual enterprises, companies can refine and adapt training programmes, too.

Ethical data capture

However, as organisations begin on this journey, they need to put legal and ethical considerations front-and-centre, and put in place robust procedures around data capture and processing.

It is critical that different parts of the businesses work closely together to make this happen, with legal and HR teams working closely alongside technology, IT and L&D teams. These are some of the key considerations.
Thinking through the purpose
Business leaders should think carefully about why they're capturing data, and how they will use it in a positive way.

Corporate data should be about enabling employees rather than monitoring them; the goal should be that data is only used in the best interests of the employee as well as the business. It may be a good idea to create a vision statement that clearly articulates what the company intends to do - and what it won't do - with corporate data.
Internal messaging
Employees can understandably feel very uneasy about their employer collecting large amounts of data on them, and can feel defensive if they think they're being constantly observed and assessed.

It's therefore very important for business leaders to clearly and honestly communicate the purpose to employees, and spend time building positive messaging around new platforms, explaining the benefits, and addressing any concerns. If handled in the right way, employees should be excited about the concept and want to buy into it.
Legal compliance
There are strict rules around collecting and processing data, especially since the EU's General Data Protection (GDPR) legislation came into force in 2018.

One of the key principles of GDPR is that a data subject (an employee in this case) must consent to the processing of their data. HR and legal teams need to work closely with tech teams to ensure new platforms or data collection methods are compliant with the legislation.

An increasing number of businesses are realising the potential of VR training, including the wealth of data that this technology can generate and the power this data has to improve the workplace.

As long as companies move forward with this in a thoughtful way and put appropriate measures in place to ensure that data is handled legally and ethically, the opportunities are immense, and employees and employers stand to benefit.

People analytics opportunities on Personnel Today

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Why data capture from employees needs to be ethical - Personnel Today

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Organisations collect more data than ever on employees, and emerging technologies such as virtual reality add to the richness of that data. But how can HR professionals ensure data is gathered and used in an ethical way, asks Tom Symonds? Today's workplaces are full of data capture opportunities, from cloud-based messaging platforms to virtual reality (VR) headsets for corporate training.

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How The Economic Machine Works by Ray Dalio

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15 ESSENTIAL SALES SKILLS YOU NEED TO MASTER

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15 ESSENTIAL SALES SKILLS YOU NEED TO MASTER

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The sales profession has undergone some pretty radical changes in the past few years. The recent economic crisis has changed the way customers spend money, and because of the Internet, sales reps aren't brought into the selling process until much later. Phone calls are pretty much dead, which makes contacting potential prospects harder.

These factors create a need for salespeople to improve their sales representative skills. But what skills specifically do you need to be a successful sales rep? Take a look at the 16 selling skills you need to be a successful salesperson:

1. Educate prospects with new ideas

Before you meet with your prospect, it's likely that they'll have already done some research on your product or service. When you do meet or speak, they'll already have an idea of your services and pricing. Focus on educating your prospects. Show them new ideas and perspectives they haven't seen before. Introducing new ideas will cause your prospects to view you as a valuable source of knowledge. This will help you in winning them over.

2. Collaborate, collaborate, collaborate

One of the biggest causes of failing to sell is not collaborating enough with prospects. In today's sales world, buyers want to be a part of the selling process. They want to collaborate to ensure they get the best solution for their organization. Collaboration is one of the key selling skills you need to develop in order to be successful with buyers.

You can use account maps to determine which buyers at an organization you should be collaborating with in order to close the deal.

Basic account map (Click on image to get started with a Lucidchart template)

3. Know everything about your product

A sales rep who doesn't know the ins and outs of their product is completely ineffective. Having strong selling skills means being able to explain how your product works, what value it provides, and why your prospects need it. Knowing everything about your product also helps you develop credibility with your prospects-they'll know they can trust you when you easily answer any question they throw at you. Leadership should set up product training for sales reps to ensure that reps build out this skill.

4. Become a really good listener

The sales process isn't about you-it's about your prospects. Spending your entire meeting lecturing your prospect almost always results in failure. Instead, learn how to actively listen to your prospects so you can better understand their pain points and find them the perfect solution.

5. Understand your prospect's needs

This selling skill goes hand-in-hand with being a good listener. As you're talking with your prospect, you need to get an understanding of what their needs are, whether it be reducing costs, streamlining a process, or increasing revenue. Ask questions that will help you quickly uncover their goals and pain points.

6. Help prospects avoid obstacles

By researching your product, your prospect might get an idea of some of the potential obstacles. One of the basic sales skills you need to develop is turning an objection into an opportunity. Someone with strong selling skills can empathize with a prospect's objections, ask questions, and offer clarity to help the prospect overcome their hesitations.

7. Show your value

Demonstrate how your product is the best solution to your prospect's problems. There's no faster way to lose a customer than by only focusing on your product's features and capabilities. While it's important to touch on these factors, you should spend more time discussing the value your product provides and how it helps the customer meet their goals.

At some point during the selling process, your customers are going to want to see some numbers. You should be able to clearly show prospects the return they can expect when using their product. And when you communicate ROI to your customers, chances are they'll be more willing to listen to you.

Visuals are a powerful way to demonstrate value and ROI to a customer. For example, you can diagram the current state of a customer's process and then demonstrate what the future state will look like if they adopt your product.

8. Connect on a personal level

People buy from people they like. Form personal connections with the prospect, and make sure you are sincere-you don't want your small talk to seem rehearsed or uninterested. Developing a personal relationship increases a prospect's trust in you and makes them more eager to do business with you.

9. Ask for commitment

Your entire sales pitch is pointless if you don't-at some point-ask your prospect to commit. However, you want to make sure you do this in the right way. Typically, you should ask for commitment after you've developed a relationship with your prospect. Asking for commitment too early makes you appear pushy.

10. Set minimums

Many sales reps ask too much of their prospects during the first sales pitch. One of the key selling skills you need to learn is focusing on the minimum action needed to keep the sale moving forward. This can be as simple as getting prospects to respond to an email, subscribe for a free trial, or set up another training. Let your prospect know what is required to move forward to encourage them to take action.

11. Be tenacious

Tenacity is an essential sales skill needed to survive in this new environment. However, someone with good selling skills knows when to draw the line between pursuing a potential sale and pestering a prospect. It may take a few tries to close a deal, which means you might need to send an email or a make a phone call. But you should never call or email so many times that your prospect asks you not to contact them again.

12. Develop a positive, motivated attitude

One of the best selling skills you can learn is to be optimistic and focused. Successful sales reps show a lot of initiative and don't need a lot of reminders to keep working. They also view setbacks and failures as opportunities to learn and refine their basic sales skills.

13. Create an engaging presentation style

You want to ensure that your prospects leave your presentations feeling excited and invigorated. Learning how to engage your audience and keep things interesting is an essential sales skill-especially since it can help you in other parts of the selling process.

14. Always be helping

Scott Albro, founder and CEO of TOPO, says, "Always be helping is the new always be closing." Buyers don't want to be just another closed deal, they want help. A key selling skill is knowing exactly how to assist customers. This goes beyond marketing your product-you need to show how your product helps your customers achieve a desired result.

15. Develop a knack for storytelling

One of the basic sales skills you need to master is storytelling. Good sales reps know that prospects don't want to sit and listen to a pitch about how great your product is. Instead, you should weave your product or service into a bigger story that ends with the customer finding the solution they need.

For example, if a business is looking to buy a phone system, they don't actually want to buy a phone system. They have a bigger goal of expanding their revenue and realize that phone calls are a good way to do so. As a sales rep, you need to tell a story about how your phone system can help them achieve that goal.

Develop your selling skills now

Above are some of the essential sales skills you need to be successful in the new sales world. Take a look at your own selling skills and figure out where you can make some improvements.

No matter what level your selling skills are on, Lucidchart has plenty of tools available to help you refine your selling process and close more deals. Sign up for your free account today!

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15 Essential Sales Skills You Need to Master

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The sales profession has undergone some pretty radical changes in the past few years, which has created a need for salespeople to improve their sales representative skills. Take a look at the 15 selling skills you need to be a successful salesperson.

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Simon Sinek: If You Don't Understand People, You Don't Understand Business

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Unique 'killer' questions to ask at interviews - for employers and applicants - CIPHR

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Asking the right questions at interview is crucial to ensuring both hiring managers and candidates have the best-possible experience

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Time is one of the few things you can never get back once it's gone; that's what makes it one of your most precious resources.

Wasted minutes can turn into wasted hours if you're not paying attention. And while it's nice to lose an entire afternoon watching Netflix every once in a while, you shouldn't make a habit of it.

Time management is one of those things that some people just seem to have a knack for. The good news is that with the right skills and dedication, you can become a master of time management.

What is time management?

Time management refers to the method of managing your time most effectively. A better time management strategy can help you get more done in a single day, improve your professional life, and feel as though you're in charge of your schedule.

People often mistake time management with meticulous minute-by-minute planning. That's not what this article is about. Instead of becoming hyper-focused on optimizing every moment of your life, the goal is to find a schedule that works best for you.

Why is time management important?

Time management is important for a number of reasons. Often, time management issues stem from more complicated problems. Procrastination, issues with delegating tasks, and issues with focusing all converge to create roadblocks with staying on task.

Time management doesn't discriminate between your personal and professional life; it encompasses everything you do with your day. It's not about forcing more time into your day - it's about holistically making the most of the time you already have.

If you're not a morning person now, you're certainly not going to start waking up at 5 a.m. to go to the gym. Time management works within your schedule and with your goals to create the best version of your day-to-day.

Who uses time management?

Everyone from a stay-at-home parent to a project manager uses time management. Time doesn't discriminate, and everyone can afford to use their time better.

Whether your day-to-day includes going to school or jet-setting around the world for business, we all only have 24-hours in the day. Even people like Beyoncé have a limited amount of time each day to accomplish their goals (and sell over 118 million records, just saying!)

The longer you wait to create better strategies for managing your time the harder it will be to break those habits later on.

Signs you have a time management problem

You might be asking yourself, how can I tell if I have a time management problem?

That's a fair question! Most people don't realize they have a time management problem at first. The thing to remember is that time management problems often disguise themselves as other problems. If you have issues focusing at work or you consistently miss deadlines, you might have a problem with managing your time.

Even if you don't identify with any of the problems above, you could likely be managing your time better. You don't have to be floundering to adopt better time management strategies. The work of time management is never truly done. There's always something you can plan better or work on improving.

Time management methods

Time management is such a popular concept that it has produced many specific methodologies over the years. While some have come and gone, there are three popular ones that many consider the "Holy Trinity" of time management.

The Eisenhower Decision Matrix

The Eisenhower Decision Matrix, more commonly known as the 4 Ds of time management, can be broken down into four simple components: do, defer, delegate, and delete. This method revolves around the idea that everything you spend your time doing falls into two main categories: urgent/not urgent and important/unimportant.

Under the Eisenhower method, tasks that are considered important and urgent should be at the top of your to-do list while tasks that are neither urgent nor important can probably be done away with altogether.

That table might seem a bit confusing but in reality, it's simple.

Once you understand how to categorize your tasks using the Eisenhower Matrix, you can decide how to schedule your day. The most important and urgent tasks can be completed first while the least urgent and important can be left for later if you have time.

Pareto principle

The Pareto principle, also known as the 80/20 rule, was crafted with the idea that 80% of your results come from 20% of your efforts. This method focuses on the 20% of efforts that impact the largest portion of your outcomes. It's about taking a full assessment of your workflows and creating maximum efficiencies by going all in on your best assets.

Let's say you have a website and you're looking to optimize your content to boost your organic website visits. The Pareto principle would suggest you find the articles driving the most visits to your website and focus on those as opposed to optimizing everything.

By focusing on your top-performing articles (20%) that drive the most traffic (80%), you can drive more actionable results with less effort. Does that mean those other articles on your website are worthless? No. It just means they aren't a priority for this specific project.

POSEC method

The POSEC method is a five-step process designed to help you manage your time better. This method was modeled after Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs. Basically, you complete tasks in the order that are more important to finish and put the least important tasks at the end.

POSEC stands for Prioritizing by Organizing, Streamlining, Economizing, and C ontributing.

Prioritizing simply means you put the most important things first. That could be as simple as creating a list and ranking your tasks from most to least important, then completing them in that order.

Organizing means you lay out a strategy for how you're going to complete these tasks. This helps your goals feel more attainable and it makes tasks easier to complete. When you have a strategy for how things get done, they get done faster.

Streamlining focuses on the tasks that you don't want to do, but need to get done. Cleaning your dishes, folding your laundry, and so on. These are the mundane tasks that can't be ignored. Streamlining is designed to get them done quicker and more effectively so you can focus on the important tasks at hand.

Economizing refers to tasks that you enjoy doing. These are your hobbies and your leisure activities. While these might be the most fun to do, they're not needed. You should place these tasks at the bottom of your to-do list.

Contributing includes your social obligations. This can include attending a friend's party or volunteering at an animal shelter. These tasks include other people relying on you, so they tend to be placed higher on the list than solo projects.

Choosing the right method: Ultimately, you'll probably need to try more than one of these methods before finding one that works for you. Don't be afraid to mix and match strategies from all of them and create your own!

Time management skills

People who excel at time management all have one thing in common. It's not that they're smarter or naturally gifted, it's that they've created a system that works for them.

There's no uniform time management strategy that works for everyone. But with the right skills, you can find a way to manage time that works best for you.

Organization

Staying organized is the most important skill to have when utilizing time management. This means organizing your schedule, your priorities, your obligations, and more. Find a way to organize all of your most important information in one place.

Prioritization

Once you've organized everything it's time to prioritize your tasks. The most important things should be at the top of your to-do list. Try creating a short-list of three "must-dos" every morning before you leave your house. No matter how hectic things get you can refer to those most vital tasks as your source of what needs to get done.

Delegation

You're likely going to run into tasks that need to get done but aren't a priority - this is where delegation comes in. Whether at work or home, you can delegate these less important tasks to other people. If nobody else is available to do them you can always defer these tasks for later.

Destressing

Forgetting to schedule downtime for yourself is a huge mistake. Time management encompasses every part of your life, including your Monday night Bachelor watching session! Don't feel guilty about allowing yourself time to decompress and just chill every once in awhile.

Communication

You're not the only person who needs to be aware of your time management. Your partner, your children, your coworkers, and your friends need to be aware of your strategy. Communicate your boundaries with people and stick firm to them. Don't let others pressure you into breaking a good habit.

Goal setting

Setting goals for yourself helps you stay accountable. Try starting small by scheduling a few key things to get done each week. Once you've got the hang on that, you can focus on longer term goals for yourself. Maybe you want to spend more time reading? Or get more done at work? These are all goals that time management can help you achieve.

Benefits of time management

The obvious benefit of time management is that you'll have more time in your day to get things done. But there are other more subtle advantages to managing your time better. These perks can help you immensely in both your personal and professional life.

Less stress

This one is a no-brainer. When you spend less time focusing on how you're going to get everything done, your stress levels decrease significantly. Planning and executing your schedule without procrastination gives you more time to do the things you love doing, instead of worrying about how you're going to do all the things you need to do.

More effective work

Creating a schedule and executing tasks on a timeline will improve the quality of your work. Knowing what you're getting done allows you to be fully present in the moment. You don't have to worry about pre-planning and can focus on completing your work instead.

More opportunities

When you use your time more effectively, you actually get more time back. Those wasted minutes you used to spend checking your phone or avoiding work add up. This means you can take on more projects, new hobbies, or even time to just relax. The world opens up once you take control of your time.

Better work-life balance

One of the biggest side-effects of poor time management is an unbalanced work and home life. If you find yourself taking work home with you every night there's a chance you have a problem with wasting time at work.

Better time management at work will free up your personal life. When you stop taking work home with you it can give you more time for your hobbies, your spouse, your children, or your pets. It's a win-win for every aspect of your life!

12 time management tips

Making the most of your time is tricky. There will always be things in your life that you absolutely have to do. Picking your kids up from school, making dinner, and showering are things that take up time that you can't just stop doing. Making the most of your time is an invaluable skill that can benefit every aspect of your life.

1. Utilize time blocking

Time blocking is a popular project management strategy where you block off large sections of your calendar every day for a specific activity. Time blocking encourages you to focus on what needs to get done and sets an expectation for when these tasks will be completed. It can be done in your online calendar or even a personal planner.

Here's an example of what a time blocked schedule looks like compared to an open calendar:

Notice how there are scheduled breaks in-between these large blocks of time? This allows you space to do other things as they come up throughout the day. What makes time blocking great is that it also communicates to other people when you are busy, which lessens the chance for distractions during the day.

2. Avoid multitasking

You might be shocked to learn this, but multitasking is actually making your time management worse. Some studies report that multitasking can cause projects to take as much as 40% more time to complete than if you'd just focused on a singular task.

Those same studies suggest that only 2.5% of the entire population falls under the category of "supertaskers" who are able to multitask effectively.

If you think you might be one of those supertaskers, you're probably not. Once again, studies show that people who think they're great at multitasking are often the worst of us all. You're better off sticking to one task at a time and finishing it to completion.

3. Conquer your procrastination

Procrastination is one of the toughest parts of time management. It's very easy to fall into the mindset of "doing things later". We all know what can happen when you push everything off to do later. You'll need to face your procrastination head-on if you want to get better at managing your time.

Here are four steps to help you kick your procrastination habit:

1. Acknowledge that you're procrastinating and figure out why you're doing it

2. Don't beat yourself up for procrastinating; focus on fixing it

3. Unplug from tech and any distractions pulling your focus away

4. Pinpoint when you're most productive and complete tasks then

Don't let yourself get into a shame spiral over procrastination. We all do it from time to time. Focus on what you're doing to overcome the urge to push things off. Create a plan and stick to it. You might be surprised how easy it is to beat procrastination with a little mindfulness!

4. Use technology to your advantage

For many of us, technology falls into the category of distractions. But in some cases, it can actually help you manage your time better.

If you're looking to manage your personal life better there are tons of time management apps that you can download directly to your phone. These apps range from calendar apps to scheduling tools and more!

For professionals looking to manage their time better there are more than 750 project management software options available on the market. These tools allow you to create workflows, tag teammates in new projects, and track your time more effectively.

Find the best project management software on the market based on real user reviews from people like you.

5. Track your time

It's impossible to manage your time better if you don't know what you're using your time for. Spend a full week tracking your day-to-day in a planner or calendar. Write down what you're doing throughout the day whether it's eating, napping, or working. Once you have the full picture of how you spend your time, it's easier to decide what can stay and what can go.

6. Be frugal with your time

Learning how to say no will save you a lot of trouble. As we mentioned earlier in the Eisenhower Decision Matrix, not everything is worth your time! Be choosier about what projects you commit your time to and which ones you let fall away. Learning to value your time will make managing your schedule much easier.

7. Set a time limit for tasks

Perfectionism can be a double-edged sword. Time is often wasted on trying to get the details of a project exactly right, losing valuable time you could use doing something else. You can counteract this by setting a predetermined amount of time to complete a task. If you know you only have an hour to get something done, you're less likely to waste time on other things.

8. Plan your schedule ahead of time

You know how some people meal prep their entire week of meals on Sunday? You can do the same thing with your time.

Sit down and time block each day of your week every Sunday evening. This sets a schedule you can stick to and frees up time in your schedule. Then, you can spend the first 15 minutes of each day reviewing your time blocks and adjusting for anything that came up since you scheduled things. Planning ahead and adjusting daily will add up to hours saved over time.

9. Don't underestimate the power of a planner

Nothing beats a good old-fashioned planner. It's your lifeline for what's happening when. Some people prefer to use a physical planner while others go the digital route. No matter which option you choose, a planner will keep you accountable for sticking to the schedule you create for yourself.

10. Complete demanding tasks first

One of the biggest reasons people procrastinate is they dread doing a difficult or time-consuming task. You can break this habit by getting those demanding tasks out of the way first.

Once you're over the hill of your most difficult projects, everything else will seem like a breeze! Plus, it gives you a sense of accomplishment that can boost your energy for the rest of the day.

11. Give yourself a break

You don't have to spend every second of every day on a schedule. It's important to pencil in time to relax with your family or watch your favorite Netflix show. Try giving yourself one day a week where you don't schedule anything to do. Let the day take you where it will and just go with the flow. This helps you recharge your batteries and prevent burnout.

12. Hold others accountable

There's a good chance that you'll encounter someone who tries to derail your time management habits. Whether that's a coworker or family member, you need to establish firm boundaries with them. This could mean saying no to ineffective or bad meetings, or reminding your spouse that you need time to complete certain tasks. Staying firm in your plan is crucial to your success.

No need for a time machine!

Once you've mastered the art of time management, your days of yearning for a time machine will be a thing of the past. You're in charge of your time. It might take some serious adjusting at first but utilize these tools and you'll reclaim your time before you know it!
Interested in just how impactful proper time management can be? Read our productivity statistics roundup and discover how much easier your life can be with a little organization.

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Reclaim Your Time With These 12 Time Management Tips

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Wasted time is a thing of the past! These time management tips and tricks will help you achieve your goals, create better schedules, and work more thoughtfully. Learn how to become the master of your time with these time management strategies.

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THE SPEECH THAT MADE OBAMA PRESIDENT

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The 110 techniques of communication and public speaking | David JP Phillips | TEDxZagreb

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How to avoid death By PowerPoint | David JP Phillips | TEDxStockholmSalon

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7 TIPS FROM THE EXPERTS

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It's 2am.

You've got a huge presentation tomorrow, but you're afraid to go to bed for fear of having an on-the-stage-in-my-skivvies level nightmare about the big day. We've all been there. Learning how to make a presentation (without breaking out into a cold sweat) takes practice.

In our experience, a serious case of the jitters is best fixed by a serious injection of expert wisdom.

We've gathered the best advice from experts like Tony Robbins, Steve Jobs, and Guy Kawasaki on how to make a good presentation great, along with insider knowledge on both designing and delivering a presentation.

Plus, as a bonus, we included our best practices for adding video to your next presentation. We also threw in a few of our favorite video presentation templates from Biteable. With Biteable's online video making software, creating a video presentation is as simple as making a PowerPoint (and far more effective).

Content & Design

How to make a good presentation

Making a good presentation starts with crafting the content. No matter how compelling your message is, if you don't get it out of your brain and on to the screen in a simple way, you'll be met with a sea of blank faces. So, where to begin?

1. Create an easy-to-follow structure

When it comes to what you have to say, break it down into three simple sections: your presentation needs an introduction, body, and conclusion.

A compelling introduction. Your introduction needs to briefly sum up what you're going to talk about and why it's useful or relevant to your audience.

Offer a body of evidence. The body of your presentation is where you hit 'em with the facts, quotes, and evidence to back up your main points.

Sum up with key takeaways. The conclusion is where you loop back to your original statement and give the audience some key takeaways on how they can put into practice what they've learned.

No more than 10 slides in total. Who wants to sit through pages and pages of slides? No one, that's who. By keeping your slide deck to 10 slides, even if your presentation is 30 minutes long, you'll give the audience a chance to digest the on-screen messages in line with your talk. Using concept maps before structuring your slides can help keep to the point.

2. Limit the amount of copy on each slide

Less really is more, especially when it comes to making a good presentation. Too much text and the audience will just be reading the screen instead of looking at you and feeling the emotional impact of your message.

3. Be savvy with design details

A well-thought-out design can make all the difference between a good presentation and one that falls flat. Consider these design standards as you make your presentation.

Use color sparingly. Bright colors can dazzle, but too many can be off-putting. Use the colors most relevant to your message. We'd recommend sticking with one or two (not counting black and white) for your palette so it has a consistent look and feel.

Be consistent with your font. Consistent design makes you look more professional. Don't switch between caps and lower case, Times New Roman and Comic Sans, or 8 and 30 point text size. Stick with one font and one size throughout. You can vary the emphasis with your words later, but keep your on-screen text uniform for a more cohesive message.

Format for perfection. A wonky line on a slide or a badly pixelated graphic will put some people off, as it will look like you haven't tried very hard (or worse, that you just aren't very good). Make sure your text is aligned and neat like in the example below.

4. Polish several times

Just like a pair of well-worn shoes, a good presentation often needs a few rounds of dusting before it's shiny and sparkly.

Start Messy. Don't be afraid to start messy. Using a non-linear writing tool like Milanote allows you to explore and outline your initial ideas in a flexible way before you even open up PowerPoint or Keynote. Arrange your ideas side-by-side and discover new connections that you didn't see before.

Edit ruthlessly. At first you might have a huge amount of information and will wonder how you're ever going get it down to six words per slide. That's OK. Keep editing ruthlessly until you've pared your message down to the bare essentials.

Get someone else to look at it. A fresh pair of eyes can work miracles when it comes to refining your presentation. Get a trusted mentor or colleague to review your work. If you don't know anyone who can help, an online writing assistant like ProWritingAid or Grammarly can help you weed out a lot of problems.

Delivery

How to give a good presentation

How you deliver your slides is as important as their content and design. Here are some quick pointers to help you get your message across with impact.

5. Have a strong opening

How you start and finish your presentation is extremely important. Audiences usually make up their minds about someone in the first seven seconds, so make those first moments count.

Be different. You're doing a presentation about saving tree frogs in Costa Rica. You open with an amusing story about one that escaped on a bunch of bananas to the UK. A story like this is different and unexpected for your audience, so they'll sit up and take notice.

Ask a question. Rhetorical questions are a great way to frame a topic and introduce ideas. Martin Luther King Jr. said: "There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, 'When will you be satisfied?'"

Tailor it to your audience. How much do you know about your audience? The more you know, the better. Especially if you know their likes and dislikes. Inserting a relevant metaphor or popular culture reference. Oprah Winfrey's Stanford commencement address spoke to the graduates about her lessons learned and how they were entering 'the classroom of life.'

6. Be genuine

Oscar Wilde said "Be yourself; everyone else is already taken." A lack of authenticity will be spotted a mile away. Whatever you're saying, speak from the heart and don't try to impress - there's no need to prove yourself, just to get the point across as you see it. After all, that's why you're there, and you can't do more than that.

Use humor. Humor can be great for giving a presentation, but cut it out if it feels like a stretch. Telling a humorous story can break down any barriers, make you more likeable, and make your message more memorable (and people are surprisingly generous with laughter) but the faintest whiff of desperation will kill a funny vibe.

Don't be afraid to mess up. The fear of making a mistake can make you inordinately nervous. Relax, even the best speakers mess up or have bad luck. Theresa May, ex-Prime Minister of England, once stumbled and coughed her way through a presentation, with someone even handing her a resignation letter. She battled through like a pro, though, and simply acknowledged it and moved on. No big deal.

Open up and be vulnerable. Brene Brown, a researcher whose presentations have amassed over ten million views, says that "Sometimes the bravest and most important thing you can do is just show up." This means speaking your truth and daring to feel a little uncomfortable as you share a meaningful story. It will connect your audience to you like never before.

7. Have a plan for a smooth delivery

With all the prep you're doing on the content and design of your presentation, it can be easy to overlook other variables that are within your control for a stress-free delivery.

Have a practice run-through. There's nothing like reading it out loud to ensure your message makes sense before you actually deliver it. Try recording your presentation on video - this way you'll be able to review with an accurate eye and notice whether your speech matches up with your slides. It'll also help you sort out your run time.

Use a remote. A clicker or remote will help you face the audience and not have to keep turning back to your laptop. Sought-after public speaker Garr Reynolds says a remote is essential in order to pause and advance your presentation so you have time to be spontaneous and control the flow of your delivery.

Have backup material. Not everything you say is going to resonate with your audience. It's best to be flexible enough to change the game as and when needed. Steve Jobs had standby anecdotes prepared to fill time when the technology he was using to give the presentation failed. Preparing for every eventuality will help soothe your nerves and allow you to feel more in control.

Use a timer. When you get into the flow of your message, it's easy to go off on a tangent or even spend too long on audience questions. Put your phone on airplane mode and set the stopwatch just as you begin speaking. A quick glance down at the table during a pause will allow you to make sure you're not going overtime.

8: To conclude, focus on audience value

You're coming to the end of your presentation. How do you wrap it up in a way that will be everlasting in their memories? The experts recommend you focus on the feeling you want the audience to take home.

Leave your audience with an emotional impression."They might forget what you said, but they'll never forget the way they made you feel" said the poet Maya Angelou. By leaving them with an emotional impression, from a piece of video with moving music to a line from a song or poem, you'll strike that resonant chord and end on a high.

Use a pause for key takeaways. Want the audience to remember something specific? Say it slowly and leave a pause at the end. The silence will emphasize what you said and make it meaningful.

Make your core message sing. A call-to-action is the best way to wrap up your presentation with strength and impact. What do you want your audience to do next? Tony Robbins tells a great story at the end of this presentation, moving his audience emotionally towards change.

Make your next presentation shine with one of these video templates

You've learned from the pros and you feel much more confident about how to make a presentation that stands out. But to really make your presentation one to remember, consider adding video into the mix.

Create a nice change of pace by embedding a video in your PowerPoint presentation or go out on a limb and turn your entire presentation into an engaging, thoughtful video.

Either way, make it great with one of these professionally designed video presentation templates.

Make a video presentation with Biteable

With Biteable, making a video presentation has never been easier.

Biteable's online video making software gives you access to hundreds of brandable templates and video scenes, plus over 24 million stock clips, images, and animations all in an easy-to-use platform.

Add text to your video, include a voice over, and even record your screen without ever leaving the app. Once you're done making video presentation magic, automatically apply your company colors and logo to your entire video with Biteable's innovative brand builder feature.

Anyone can make an impactful video with Biteable. Are you ready to try?

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How to Make a Good Presentation Great: 8 Pro Tips I Biteable

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It's 2am. You've got a huge presentation tomorrow, but you're afraid to go to bed for fear of having an on-the-stage-in-my-skivvies level nightmare about the big day. We've all been there. Learning how to make a presentation (without breaking out into a cold sweat) takes practice.

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SKILLS EMPLOYERS ARE LOOKING FOR

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What will get you hired? What skills will make you a valuable employee? Which character traits will contribute to a long term career? Do you want to be a top talent that needs to be retained at all costs?
Go through our checklist and score yourself.
Do you have what it takes?

#1. COMMUNICATION

According to Forbes:

'Sixty-five percent of recruiters and hiring managers say strong written or spoken communication skills is more important in an entry-level job applicant than their college major.'

Does it surprise you? Talking a little, saying a lot. On your interview, your communication skills will impress your recruiters. During your work, they will help you get your ideas across, clearly.

Communication skills come in handy with conflict resolution, interpersonal relationships, negotiation, sales...

As educated as you are you will never reach your full potential without developing your communication skills.

#2. TEAM WORK

In every team project there is the slackers, the stressors and the stars. The secret of the successful team project hides in that balance.

According to a research, published by Eurofound, there is a correlation between working in team and job satisfaction.

To be a good team member:

Take on responsibilities

Do your research

Keep eye on the big picture and how others fit in the project

Identify holes in your plans

Observe deadlines

Support your team members

#3. PROBLEM SOLVING

Problem solving is a very common buzzword recruiters see on CVs. Once the employees who so proudly flaunted that word enter the company, though, they often become something else.

Problem creators are the employees who always manage to get themselves into a mess and then need resources and time from others to resolve their issue.

Problem identifiers are the people who always complain but are not willing to become a part of the solution.

True problem solvers gather information, analyze, cross-analyze, identify and then find solutions with minimum effort and time spent in the process.

For problem solvers a challenge is not a burden. It is a part of the job. And they are constantly on the lookup for things to fix.

#4. INITIATIVE

There is nothing worse than a room full of passive employees. Being able to take the initiative is not only relevant to starting projects.

It is indicative of:

Being able to identify and plan action points when others aren't

Being confident with your opinion and your vision

Feeling responsibility to act

Willingness to take on responsibility for the result of your actions

#5. PLANNING AND ORGANIZING

A few important aspects of organization:

Personal space organization - always keep things easy to find (and pleasing on the eye)

Keep your thought process organized, be clear when trying to convey your thoughts

Scheduling - keep up with your deadlines

Always have a plan B if things don't go as planned

Test your skills in organization here via PsychologyToday.

#6. SELF-MANAGEMENT

Self-management is the ability to take on responsibilities, to plan and execute on projects and being accountable for your actions.

Employees with good self-management are valuable because:

They are highly motivated

They need limited assistance or follow-up with their initiatives

They are organized

They adapt if the circumstances call for that

They respond well to constructive criticism

They are willing to accept blame if a project fails and work to minimize any negative effects on the organization.

#7. LEARNING

There is a reason why companies such as Booking.com, Dropbox, Unilever and Philips value learning as a virtue their employees are committed to.

Staff is constantly encouraged and supported to broaden their horizon and develop new hard skills.

The ability to learn fast is the key to finding a way to fit in the company, to find a way around rejection and failure, to develop new abilities, and, ultimately, to the success of the organization.

Watch this TED video on learning:

#8. IT SKILLS

Technology is penetrating the labor market. With the progress in the industry, not only the amount of specialists in demand is growing, but the diversity of IT skills in non-IT professions is raising.

Being able to 'speak' to technology, to adapt to new methods and devices that are introduced to the workplace is crucial.

What is a novelty today will be a part of our everyday work life tomorrow. Artificial intelligence, augmented reality, data science, and machine learning are coming to your workplace.

#9. RESOURCEFULNESS

Doing more with less. Thinking out of the box. Turing ideas into matter.

Resourcefulness is about optimization. Take a minimum amount of resources and bringing the best possible outcome. Surpassing the competition with minimum effort and investments.

Resourcefulness is about not wasting any money, time or effort. It is not just about being able to decide how to make a return on investment, it is about figuring out how much needs to be invested, what and from where.

#10. CURIOSITY

Showing natural curiosity in the job and the organization is a sure way to make an impression on your interview.

Why? Because curiosity is a great indicator of the future progress of the employee.

Naturally curious employees:

Go faster through their training

Develop their skills further than the average

Keep an eye on the big picture in the organization

Are better at research

Are more informed during negotiations

#11. FLEXIBILITY

Organizations always strive forward. Planning, predicting and projecting. But surprises always happen. And then companies look to their employees to show flexibility and adaptability towards new conditions.

Changes in the working hours, in the tasks, the deadlines and the workflow can be a challenge for workers.

Managers are always appreciative when there is an open communication in those cases about the concerns of their staff. Employees, loyal to the cause will always be compensated fairly and will be considered a talent to retain.

#12. NEGOTIATION

Negotiation is nothing more than the process to get the most of every situation. It is no wonder negotiation is a valued skill in an organization's employees. And just because it is simple, does not mean it is easy.

It is a matter of skill, confidence, communication power and gravitas. Good negotiators are talents. They have high intelligence, a natural understanding of boundaries, they show high level of non-verbal communication. And most importantly, they get results.

#13. INTEGRITY

Strong moral principles and honesty are winning over the shark mentality of hard businessmen.

An employee that can show proof of integrity in the workplace, whether the push towards the wrong direction was coming from the company or from the customers, will always find appreciation and success at the interview table.

Employees with integrity are committed to the company values and to the company cause equally. They manage to get a win-win result of any situation.

#14. LOYALTY

There is nothing more off-putting on a CV than job-hopping. When the work history of a job candidate is long and scattered, the recruiter knows immediately they have no regards to the organization they work for.

An employer-employee relationship is, among other things, an investment on the side of the organization. The training, developing a relationship, opening up company secrets for the employee - those are company resources.

Only via commitment and loyalty an employee and an employer can establish a long-term relationship and return on their investment.

But that is only one side of it. An employee is also investing with their work for the company. Being unable to stay loyal to the same employer for a long period of time shows something is wrong with that employees habits, or way of thinking.

#15. CREATIVITY

According to the report of the World Economic Forum, The Future of Jobs, creativity is projected to become the third most important jobs skill by 2020.

It is defined as 'the ability to come up with unusual or clever ideas about a given topic or situation, or to develop creative ways to solve a problem.'

Creativity is appreciated because it brings up unique solutions to long-term issues.

#16. CONNECTIONS

Have you ever been asked on an interview 'What would your friends tell me about you'?

Employers are interested to know about your relationships outside of the office. Sometimes it is not sufficient to be a hard working employee.

The ability to make friends and network is a good indicator of your ability to work in team and how well you will get along with your colleagues.

#17. DECISION MAKING

It sounds logical that every human has the ability to take decisions. But is it so simple?

So what does decision making look like, as a skill?

Good decision makers are quick. They never get stunned when presented with multiple choices.

Good decision makers never toss a coin. The decision is carefully weighed for the advantages and disadvantages it can bring along.

Good decision makers are good at organization. They never go for the dream solution, when it will be impossible to follow through by the team.

Good decision makers show accountability. If they fail, they admit their guilt instead of blaming the team, the tough position they were put in, the competition, or the circumstances.

#18. SELF-AWARENESS

It is immediately obvious to the experienced recruiter when an employee is self-aware.

At the interview, the potential employee will not be talking big of themselves, without proof of their achievements. They will be honest of their abilities.

They will only take initiative when they can follow through with the plan.

They will have great relationship with their colleagues.

Self-aware employees will never overestimate their skills or their role for the organization.

#19. CHILL

Valuable employees know how to keep their cool.

They stay calm in shaky situations - during important negotiations, around interpersonal conflict in the office, and whenever their responsibilities are staring to become overwhelming.

Keeping calm is crucial for responding well to constructive criticism, for keeping focus under pressure, and for communicating effectively.

#20. SEEKING OBJECTIVE RECOGNITION

Seeking recognition for your skills is natural. Keeping objectivity in it is a talent.

It is the skill that will compel a programmer to certify themselves to prove they are able to keep up with high standards. It is the urgency that will drive employees to strive towards real achievements.

It is the feeling that will push anyone to seek feedback from their leader and work on improvements.

#21. INTERPERSONAL SENSITIVITY

It is the ability to accurately recognize the feelings and thoughts that go through others' heads and respond to them adequately.

Interpersonal sensitivity contributes to healthier work relationships, more accurate reading and response during conversations with customers, more efficient communication with leadership, a more realistic assessment of a team's abilities.

Interpersonal sensitivity is crucial for any position of power and is a must-have accessory to any skill that has to do with management, recruitment or leadership.

#22. DRIVE

High self-motivation is a must. Yes, it is a leader's job to bring back confidence in employees that have lost it. But when you are lacking drive to do the job, a simple pep talk just won't cut it.

It is not only a matter of how driven you are to succeed. It is also important what drives you.

Money, for example, is rarely a good answer. Success is equally as bad.

An employee with drive will be inspired by the cause of the organization. They will be energized by the mere thought that their place in the company is valuable because of how it plays out in society.

#23. LEADERSHIP

According to Forbes, good leaders:

Value potential over current performance

Show loyalty

Take the initiative

Are committed to learning

Are good decision makers

Are comfortable out of their comfort zone

Communicate openly

Unite the team

#24. LOOKS

Employers will not base their decision of your work based on your looks, but they will take your appearance into account.

The way someone looks contributes a lot to the first impression they leave. The more the first impression is important in their job, the more the employer will objectively have something to say about it.

Surveys tell us that employers will judge you based on your grooming, the strength of your handshake, your attire.

Interestingly enough, a tattoo or a piercing in a visible place is, of diminishing, but still, of some slight importance.

#25. PRESENTATION SKILLS

Being able to present yourself, your skills, your ideas and your work in the right light saves you time and efforts.

Presentation skills have nothing to do with how well you have organized your slides and charts.

It is about gathering the right information, presenting only what needs to be said, but everything that needs to be said, identifying issues, suggesting solutions, and being convincing of your opinions.

#26. RESILIENCE

Employees with thick skin will stay calm in difficult situations because they are confident in their abilities.

They are capable of turning every failure into a lesson. And have every lesson contribute to a future success.

Strong characters persevere out of the comfort zone, when circumstances surprise them and when the world seems against them.

They are always able to focus on the end goal regardless of the challenges on the way.

#27. RESEARCH

Nowadays everyone and their mother will list 'research' among the skills on their CV because they have learned how to google.

Research skills have to do with knowing your sources, comparing conflicting information, distilling facts that are important to your organization.

The result of research should give a competitive edge over the competition - the information must be:

#28. CONSISTENCY

Impulsivity and unpredictability is poison in your working history.

Employers want to see consistency in your actions, your positions, your career steps, your projects.

Hopping from one job to another, from one field to a completely different one, from one career ladder to the other will be a toxic sign in your CV. Maybe you can explain away one impulsive decision, but not all of them.

If you are showing inconsistency in your decisions, your employers will not be considering you a potentially loyal employee. They will not be invested in you or in your career. You will have a lot to prove.

#29. BIG PICTURE

An employee who always sees the big picture is priceless.

They are always aware of:

the economy

the changing demands

the market

the changing labor market

the mood in Management

the abilities of their team

possible changes within the company structure

Big-picture employees always take the best decisions because they factor in so much, it is very difficult to surprise them.

They make the best leaders and experience growth within a small period of time.

#30. CONFIDENCE

Confidence is of great value in loyal and skillful employees.

Confident workers are always open in their communication about their work. They see things realistically and are ready to stand behind their decisions.

They take accountability for their mistakes and do not allow their failures to stop their future success.

#31. CULTURE

Being a good worker may suffice to keep your job, but in order to make the list of top talent, you need to have a personality.

In the workplace, you do not have to be just an employee. You can be a friend, a motivator, a leader. Not just contributing to the company culture. Creating it.

Having strong values, being appreciative of others, having fun, breaking the boundaries, thinking out of the box. It can make you irreplaceable.

#32. AMBITION

In the competitive market, a healthy level of ambition is a must.

Ambition can be scary to recruiters and employers. Will the employee overestimate their skills? Will they go for recognition over actual achievements?

There is a difference between ambition and competitiveness. Competitiveness is what drives people to try and top each other.

Ambition is the need to improve yourself. To set goals, plan and achieve them. To exchange dreams for projects.

#33. HUMILITY

Famously, the company Zappos has the policy to offer unhappy employees 2000 USD to quit - an idea that Amazon decided to copy.

Money cannot be the motivator for working in an organization. An employee must be feeling useful and successful contributing to society together with an organization, completely in line with their values.

Humility is one of the most important values for low level and C-suite executives alike.

#34. HONESTY

Honesty is your best bet since day one in an organization. Concealing information will lead to misunderstanding, wasted efforts, wasted money.

In some cases it could even lead you into legal trouble.

Watch this fun TED talk on Honesty and Humility.

#35. RELIABILITY

The case for reliability is three-fold.

Reliable employees will step in where others fall short. Leading the organization forward regardless of the circumstances.

Reliable employees will suggest working solutions. They will carry every plan towards success.

Reliable employees will discuss openly when they see a failure coming ahead and will deal with the consequences.

#36. REALISM

Being overly positive will stop you from seeing around corners. Being too negative will hinder you from taking the initiative when action is most required. Negativism is not your friend while being under pressure.

Having a realistic assessment of the circumstances will allow you to come prepared, plan well, take the most of your opportunities and bring your projects to fruition.

#37. CREDIBILITY

Credibility is difficult to achieve. It involves high intelligence as the basis. The ability to research, sift through false sources and come up with a pool of information upon which to act.

Being able to plan with high achievability. Always being prepared with plan B and responding adequately to failure.

Credibility is the result of consistency in achievement. It leads to confidence and trust.

#38. PROGRESS

Actions speak louder than words. Showing fast progress through your training, taking on new responsibilities and rarely disappointing. Being promoted from a team member, to a team lead, to a leader.

Progress reads well on your CV, but you can also show progress in your organization. Be flexible, adapt, and always work to improve yourself.

#39. EFFICIENCY

Even if you show some good results, if you combine that with slacking, your employer will attribute your success to nothing other than luck. The work-hard-party-hard mentality is a thing of the past.

Value your company's time and your own effort.

#40. THE X FACTOR

It is not something you can list on your CV. It is that magical ability to just be... likeable.

That may seem vague, but it is a factor in your employer's opinion of you. Our advice is - do not focus on one skill, one virtue, one way of work.

'I am not here to make friends.' Or 'I don't insist that people likes me'. If those thoughts ever crossed your mind, think again. You do not need to bend over backwards to make each and every one of your coworkers fall in love with you, but you have to try and keep a well-rounded profile, stay friendly and keep a good impression.

CONCLUSION

You can never please everyone. Our list of 40 skills can be a valuable check-list for you to score yourself and want to imagine who you are in your employer's eyes.

But do not be discouraged, and do not allow the list to bring your confidence down. Nobody is perfect. Recruiters and managers know that. They will appreciate you for your work. But you can always strive to achieve a little bit more. Start with one list item. And see where that gets you.

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40 Employability Skills for a Successful Long-Term Career | Cleverism

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What will get you hired? What skills will make you a valuable employee? Which character traits will contribute to a long term career? Do you want to be a top talent that needs to be retained at all costs? Go through our checklist and score yourself. Do you have what it takes?

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Urban Ministries of Durham serves over 6000 people every year who struggle with poverty and homelessness. Spent is an interactive game created by McKinney that challenges you to manage your money, raise a child and make it through the month getting paid minimum wage after a stretch of unemployment.

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3 Ways to Express Your Thoughts So That Everyone Will Understand You | Alan Alda | Big Think

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Yuval Noah Harari | 21 Lessons for the 21st Century | Talks at Google

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masterclass "master class" masterclasses "master classes" "online education" "online learning" "online courses" "online lessons" "online tutorials" "online c...

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MasterClass is the streaming platform where anyone can learn from the world's best. With an annual membership, subscribers get unlimited access to instructors and classes across a wide range of subjects. Step into Anna Wintour's office, Ron Finley's garden and Neil Gaiman's writing retreat.

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https://www.businessenglishresources.com/useful-business-nouns-collocations/

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Accountable person

Atskaitingas asmuo

Accounting equation

Apskaitos lygybė

Accounting flow

Apskaitos srautas (rinkinys apskaitos tranzakcijų, turinčių bendrą paskirtį, pvz. pradiniai likučiai, likučių apyvarta, nusidėvėjimas, etc.)

Accounting note

Buhalterinė pažyma

Accounting period

Apskaitos laikotarpis

Accounting policy

Apskaitos politika

Accounting transaction

Operacija, Apskaitos tranzakcija

Accounting transaction journal

Operacijų žurnalas

Accounts (trade) payable

Kreditorinės skolos tiekėjams

Accounts (trade) receivable

Pirkėjų debitorinės skolos

Accrued revenue

Sukauptos gautinos pajamos

Accumulated amortization

Sukaupta amortizacija

Accumulated depreciation

Sukauptas nusidėvėjimas

Acquisition

Įsigijimas

Acquisition costprise

Įsigijimo savikaina

Activity type

Veiklos rūšis

Adjustment

Sureguliavimas, koregavimas

Adjusting (closing) entries

Sąskaitų uždarymo operacijos

Advance, preliminary

Išankstinis

Agreement

Susitarimas, sandoris

Allocated

Paskirstytas

Allowance for doubtful accounts

Abėjotinos skolos

Alienation

Perleidimas

Alienation loss

Perleidimo nuostolis

Alienation profit

Perleidimo pelnas

Amortization

Amortizacija (nematerialaus turto nusidėvėjimas)

Announcement

Skelbimas

Annual depreciation amount

Metinė nusidėvėjimo suma

Annual depreciation rate

Metinė nusidėvėjimo norma

Annulment

Anuliavimas

Application date

Pateikimo data

Approved

Patvirtintas

Approximate price

Apytikslė kaina

ASAP (As soon as possible)

Kuo įmanoma skubiau

Asset depreciation

Turto nusidėvėjimas

Asset depreciation expense

Turto nusidėvėjimo sąnaudos

Asset impairment

Turto vertės sumažėjimas

Asset revaluation

Turto perkainojimas

Assignment

Paskyrimas

Association

Asociacija

Attachment

Priedas, prisegtukas

Authentication

Identifikacija

Authorization

Įgaliojimas

Authorship contract

Autorinė sutartis

Backorder - A customer order that cannot be fulfilled when presented (perhaps because ordered quantity exceeds the quantity in stock), and for which the customer is prepared to wait for some time.

Atidėtas užsakymas - Kliento užsakymas, kuris negalėjo būti išpildytas pateikimo metu (pvz. dėl to, kad reikiamo kiekio nebuvo sandėlyje) ir kurio išpildymo klientas sutinka palaukti.

Bad (uncollectible) debt expense

Abejotinų skolų sąnąudos

Balance Sheet

Balansas

Balance Account

Balanso sąskaita

Bank account

Banko sąskaita

Bank statement

Einamosios sąskaitos išrašas

Bcc

Kam dar siųsti laiško kopiją, kad pagrindiniai adresatai nesužinotų

Beneficiary

Paveldėtojas (naudos gavėjas)

Bilateral

Abipusis, tarpusavio, dvišalis

Bilateral debt write off statement

Tarpusavio užskaitymų aktas, užskaita

Billing, invoicing

Pateikimas apmokėjimui

Billing note

Sąskaitos pastaba

Blocked, frozen

Užblokuotas

Bonus, premium

Bonusas, premija

Book (present, carrying) value

Likutinė vertė

Brand

Firminis ženklas

Breakage

Sugadinimas (prekės)

Brokerage (commissions)

Komisiniai

Brutto weight

Masė bruto (su įpakavimu)

Building

Pastatas arba statinys (subtilus skirtumas - tik lietuvių kalboje)

Bundle

Rinkinys (kartu supakuotos prekės)

Business expense

Veiklos sąnaudos

Business transaction

Verslo tranzakcija

Business type

Veiklos rūšis

Buying rate

Pirkimo kursas

Calculated

Paskaičiuotas

Calculation method

Skaičiavimo būdas

Calendar holiday

Kalendorinė švenčių diena

Calendar year

Kalendoriniai metai

Card holder

Kortelės turėtojas

Card number

Kortelės numeris

Carrying (book, present) value

Likutinė vertė

Casco insurance

Casco draudimas

Cash disbursements

Išmokos (išlaidos)

Cash disbursement journal

Išmokų žurnalas

Cash equivalents

Pinigų ekvivalentai

Cash expense order

Kasos išlaidų orderis

Cash flow

Atsiskaitymai

Cash flow Statement

Pinigų srautų ataskaita

Cash income order

Kasos pajamų orderis

Cash order

Kasos orderis

Cash receipts

Įmokos (įplaukos)

Cash receipt journal

Įmokų žurnalas

Cash register

Kasos aparatas (EKA)

Cash spent (payments, disbursements)

Išmokos (išlaidos)

Cc (Carbon copy)

Kam siųsti laiško kopiją

CEO (Chief Executive Officer)

Administracijos vadovas

CFO (Chief Financial Officer)

Finansų direktorius

CIO (Chief Information Officer)

IT skyriaus vadovas

COO (Chief Operating Officer)

Vykdantysis direktorius

Charge

Mokestis, rinkliava

Chart of accounts

Sąskaitų planas

Civil insurance

Civilinis draudimas

Classifications

Klasifikacija, suskirstymas

Classified balance sheet

Skyriais sugrupuotas ir susumuotas balansas

Clearing (summary) Account

Suvestinė sąskaita

Closing (adjusting) entries

Sąskaitų uždarymo operacijos

Closing balance

Galutinis likutis

Closing the books

Sąskaitų uždarymas

Common stock

Paprastosios akcijos

Commission

Komisiniai arba komisija

Company, enterprise

Įmonė

Compensation

Kompensacija

Complete balance

Pilnas balansas

Completing

Komplektacija

Components

Sudėtinės dalys

Compound journal entry

Operacija su daugiau negu dviem (1D+1K) eilutėmis

Compulsory (mandatory)

Privalomas

Confidential

Konfidencialus

Confirmation

Patvirtinimas

Consignee

Gavėjas (prekių)

Consignment

Konsignacija

Consignor

Siuntėjas (prekių)

Construction in progress

Nebaigta statyba

Consultation

Konsultacija

Contact person

Kontaktinis asmuo

Contract clause

Sutarties punktas

Contractor

Subrangovas

Contrary account

Kontrarinė sąskaita

Control Account

Suminė sąskaita

Correcting entry

Koreguojantis įrašas

Correction

Koregavimas

Cost center

Kaštų centras

COGS (Cost Of Goods Sold)

Pardavimo savaikaina

Coverage amount

Padengimo suma (pvz. draudime)

Credit

Gautinos sumos, kreditas (jis pasitiki)

Credit balance

Kredito apyvarta

Credit certificate

Kredito pažyma

Credit card

Kreditinė kortelė

Credit note

Kreditinė sąskaita-faktūra

Creditor

Skolintojas, kreditorius

Currency rate

Valiutos kursas

Current (liquid) asset

Trumpalaikis turtas

Current liability

Trumpalaikiai įsipareigojimai

Current Year's Retained Earnings

Ataskaitinių metų nepaskirstytas pelnas

Customer deposits

Išankstiniai klientų mokėjimai

Customs check-in

Užmuitinimas (muitinės procedūrų atlikimas prieš sienos kirtimą)

Customs check-out

Išmuitinimas (muitinės procedūrų atlikimas po sienos kirtimo)

Cycle count

Dalinis inventorizavimas

Daily allowance

Dienpinigiai

Declining balance
depreciation method
(can be 125%, 150%, 200% - double)

Mažejančios vertės
nusidėvėjimo metodas
(gali būti 125%, 150%, 200% - dvigubas)

Debit

Mokėtinos sumos, debetas (jis skolingas)

Debit balance

Debeto apyvarta

Debit card

Debetinė kortelė

Debt Statement

Skolų suderinimo aktas

Debt write-off

Skolų užskaitymas

Declaration

Deklaracija

Deductible (accounting term)

Atskaitomas (apskaitos terminas)

Deductible (insurance term)

Išskaita (draudimo terminas)

Deductible business expense

Leidžiami atskaitymai

Deductible purchase VAT

Atskaitomas pirkimo PVM

Default value

Pradinė reikšmė

Deferral (liability of
uncertain timing and uncertain amount)

Atidėjinis (įsipareigojimas sumokėti neaišku kada
ir neaišku kiek, pvz. garantinis įsipareigojimas)

Delivery and Acceptance Certificate

Perdavimo ir priėmimo aktas

Delivery note

Važtaraštis

Depletion

Gamtinių išteklių išnaudojimas

Depreciable Cost (Cost - Salvage value)

Nudėvimoji vertė (Įsigijimo vertė - Likvidacinė vertė)

Depreciation

Nusidėvėjimas

Depreciation expense

Nusidėvėjimo sąnaudos

Depreciation finish date

Nusidėvėjimo pabaigos data

Depreciation method

Nusidėvėjimo būdas

Depreciation periodity

Nusidėvėjimo periodiškumas

Depreciation start date

Nusidėvėjimo pradžios data

Direct payment

Tiesioginis mokėjimas

Disbursements

Išmokos (išlaidos, išmokėjimai)

Discovered overage suspend account

Nustatyto pertekliaus laukimo sąskaita

Discovered shrinkage suspend account

Nustatyto trūkumo laukimo sąskaita

Disposable item

Mažavertis inventorius

Disposal of fixed asset

Materialaus turto perleidimas

Distributor

Distributorius

Documentation

Dokumentacija

Double-declining balance
depreciation method

Dvigubas-mažejančios vertės
nusidėvėjimo metodas

Double entry principle

Dvejibinio įrašo principas

Down payment (good faith deposit made by a buyer to underline his or her commitment to complete the deal)

Išankstinis apmokėjimas (geranoriškas pirkėjo užstatas, siekiant parodyti savo ketinimus sudaryti sandorį)

Down payment invoice

Sąskaita išankstiniam apmokėjimui

Down payment invoice

Išankstinio apmokėjimo sąskaita

Due date

Data apmokėjimui

Due amount

Suma apmokėjimui

Earnings (retained)

Nepaskirstytas pelnas (nuostoliai)

Effect on stock

Įtaka atsargoms

Employee (employer) payable health (social) insurance tax

Darbuotojo (darbdavio) mokamas sveikatos (socialinio) draudimo PSD (VSD) mokestis

Employee social insurance expense

Darbuotojų socialinio draudimo sąnaudos

Employment date

Įsidarbinimo data

Enterprise code

Įmonės kodas

Entry date

Įvedimo data

Escrow account

Sąlyginio indėlio sąskaita

Estimated budget

Numatomas (prognozuojamas) biudžetas

Estimated useful life

Numatomas ilgalaikio turto naudojimo laikas

Excess (insurance term)

Perviršis (draudimo terminas)

Exempt from VAT

PVM neapmokestinamas

Expense recognition

Sąnaudų pripažinimas

Expiration date

Galiojimo data

Expired

Nebegaliojantis

Explanation

Paaiškinimas

Explanatory notes

Aiškinamasis raštas

Exploitation place

Ekslpoatacijos vieta

Field value

Lauko reikšmė

Final entry

Operacija Didžiojoje Knygoje

Financial account

Finansinė sąskaita

Financial asset

Finansinis turtas

Fiscal number

Fiskalinis numeris

Fiscal year

Fiskaliniai metai

Fixed Asset (also known as
property, plant, and equipment, PP&E)

Ilgalaikis turtas

Fixed asset insurance

Ilgalaikio turto draudimas

Fixed asset lease contract

Ilgalaikio turto nuomos sutartis

Fixed cost - A periodic cost that remains more or less stable regardless of output level or sales revenue, such as depreciation, insurance, rent, salaries.

Fiksuotos išlaidos - Periodinės išlaidos, kurios nepriklauso nuo pagamintos produkcijos arba pardavimų apimties.

Fixed rate

Fiksuotas kursas

Flow (žr. Accounting flow)

Srautas (žr. Apskaitos srautas)

Foreign currency

Užsienio valiuta

Franchize

Išskaita (maksimali kliento atsakomybė)

Fuel consumption

Kuro sunaudojimas

Fuel balance

Kuro likutis

Future expense

Busimųjų laikotarpių sąnaudos

Future value

Prognozuojama vertė

Garnish

Išskaityti iš skolininko atlyginimo

Garnishment

Atlyginimo sąskaitos areštas

General Journal

Bendrasis žurnalas

General Ledger

Didžioji Knyga

General Ledger Account

Didžiosios Knygos Sintetinė Sąskaita

Good batch

Prekių partija

Gross profit (Sales price - COGS)

Bendrasis pelnas (Pardavimo kaina - savikaina)

Guarantee fund expense

Įmokų į garantinį fondą sąnaudos

Head office

Pagrindinis biuras

Impairment

Nuvertinimas (vertės sumažėjimas)

Import declaration

Importo deklaracija

Import tax

Importo mokestis

Income (revenue)

Pajamos

Income statement

Pelno (nuostolių) ataskaita

Income tax

Pajamų mokestis

Income tax payable

Mokėtinas GPM

Income tax taxable amount

Pajamų mokesčiu apmokestinama suma

Increment

Padidėjimas

Initial depreciation amount

Pradinio nusidėvėjimo suma

Input tax

Pirkimų apmokestinimas

Input credit (amount of input tax allowed to be set off against output tax)

Atskaitomas PVM (nupirkto PVM suma kurią leidžiama atskaityti iš parduoto PVM sumos)

Insurance price

Draudimo kaina

Insurer's code

Draudėjo kodas

Intangible assets

Nematerialusis turtas

Interest rate

Palūkanų norma

Internal usage

Vidaus sąnaudos

Internal write off

Vidaus nurašymas

Inventory

Atsargos, inventorius

Inventory item variance

Atsargų likučių korekcijos

Inventory number

Inventorinis numeris

Inventory overage

Atsargų padidėjimas

Inventory shrinkage

Atsargų sumažėjimas

Investment

Investicija

Investment expense

Investicijų sąnaudos

Investment revenue

Investicijų pajamos

Invoice

Sąskaita (faktūra)

Invoice amount

Sąskaitos suma

Invoice annulment

Sąskaitos anuliavimas

Invoice date

Sąskaitos data

Invoice item

Sąskaitos eilutė

Invoice number

Sąskaitos numeris

Irretrievable vat accounting method

Negrąžinamo PVM įskaitymo būdas

Issuance information

Išdavimo informacija

Journal entry

Žurnalo įrašas

Legacy system

Iš senų laikų likusi programinė įranga, kurios veikimo būdo pakeisti neįmanoma:)

Legal document

Juridinis dokumentas

Legal party

Juridinis asmuo

Liability

Įsipareigojimai

Liquidation

Likvidacija

Liquidation date

Likvidacijos data

Liquefied

Likviduotas (turtas)

Local currency

Vietinė valiuta

Long-term liability

Ilgalaikiai įsipareigojimai

Loss of quality

Kokybės praradimas

Margin share

Maržos dalis

Merger

Sujungimas (įmonių)

NDA, non-disclosure agreement

Konfidencialumo arba neatskleidimo sutartis

Netto weight

Masė neto (be įpakavimo)

Notes Payable

Kreditorinės finansinės skolos

Notes Receivable

Debitorinės finansinės skolos

Official currency rate

Oficialus valiutos kursas

Opening balance

Pradinis likutis

Operation

Operacija (finansinė tranzakcija)

Operation journal

Operacijų žurnalas

Order date

Užsakymo data

Order number

Užsakymo numeris

Organization

Organizacija

Original document

Dokumentas - originalas

Original entry

Operacija žurnale

Output tax

Pardavimų apmokestinimas

Overtime hours

Viršvalandžiai

Owners equity, Net worth, Net assets

Nuosavas Kapitalas

Ownership cost

Nuosavybės kaina

Pack, packaging

Įpakavimas (reikia skirti outer ir inner pack - išorinis ir vidinis įpakavimas)

Party

Asmuo (fizinis arba juridinis)

Payable

Mokėtinos sumos, debetas

Payable amount

Suma apmokėjimui

Payer code

Mokėtojo kodas

Payments

Mokėjimai, Išlaidos

Payment method

Mokėjimo būdas

Payment order

Mokėjimo pavedimas

Payment purpose

Mokėjimo paskirtis

Payroll sheet

Darbo užmokesčio apskaitos žiniaraštis

Payroll expense

Darbo užmokesčio sąnaudos

Payroll payable

Mokėtinas darbo užmokestis

Payroll related liabilities

Su darbo užmokesčiu susiję įsipareigojimai

Penalties and Fines

Baudos ir delspinigiai

Periodic inventory method

Periodinis inventorizavimo būdas

Periodic payment

Periodinis mokėjimas

Periodity

Periodiškumas

Permanent (real, balance sheet) accounts

Nuolatinės sąskaitos

Perpetual inventory method

Nuolatinis inventorizavimo būdas

Personal code

Asmens kodas

Petty Cash Voucher

Avanso Apyskaita

P&N (sounds like PLN, see Profit and Loss Statement)

PNA, žr. Pelno (nuostolių) ataskaita

Positive currency rate impact

Teigiama valiutos kurso įtaka

Posting

Operacijų perkelimas į Didžiąją knygą

Preferred stock

Priviligijuotos akcijos

Prepaid expense

Busimųjų laikotarpių sąnaudos

Present (carrying, book) value

Likutinė vertė

Pricelist

Kainoraštis

Primary document

Pirminis dokumentas

Prior Year's Retained Earnings

Ankstesnių metų nepaskirstytas pelnas

Private Limited Liability Company (Private LLC)

Uždaroji Akcinė Bendrovė (UAB)

Product

Produktas, prekė

Product return

Prekių grąžinimas

Production summary

Gamybos suvestinė

Profit and Loss Statement

Pelno (nuostolių) ataskaita

Profit margin

Pelno marža

Profit markup

Pelno antkainis

Profit tax

Pelno mokestis

Profit tax expense

Pelno mokesčio sąnaudos

Profit tax payable

Mokėtinas pelno mokestis

Profit tax rate

Pelno mokesčio tarifas

Profitability

Pelningumas

Pro forma invoice (a preliminary invoice for quotation or customs declaration purposes, but not a request for down payment.)

Išankstinė sąskaita (skirta pateikti pasiūlymą arba atlikti muitinės procedūras, bet ne išankstiniam apmokėjimui pareikalauti)

Project finance

Projekto finansavimas

Public Limited Liability Company (Public LLC)

Akcinė Bendrovė (AB)

Purchase VAT

Pirkimo PVM

Purchase invoice

Pirkimo sąskaita

Purchase price

Pirkimo kaina

Purchases Journal

Pirkimų žurnalas

Rate

Įkainis, kursas arba norma

Rate of exchange

Keitimo kursas

Rebate

Permokos grąžinimas

Receipt

Įmoka (įplauka) arba kvitas

Receipt number

Kvito numeris

Receivings, cash receipts

Įmokos (įplaukos)

Receivable

Gautinos sumos, kreditas

Recipient account number

Gavėjo sąskaitos numeris

Recipient bank code

Gavėjo banko kodas

Reconciliation

Suderinimas

Registry institution

Rejestro tarnyba

Registry number

Rejestro numeris

Rendering (delivery) of services in progress

Nebaigtos teikti paslaugos

Requirement

Reikalavimas

Responsibility reduction

Atsakomybės sumažinimas

Responsible person

Atsakingas asmuo

Restricted retained earnings

Nepaskirstytojo pelno dalis,
kurios NEgalima panaudoti dividendams

Retail margin

Realizacijos antkainis

Retained earnings

Nepaskirstytas pelnas (nuostoliai)

Return order

Grąžinimo aktas

Revaluation

Perkainojimas

Revalued amount

Perkainota vertė

Revenue (income)

Pajamos

Revenue and expense summary

Pajamų ir sąnaudų suvestinė

Revenue recognition

Pajamų pripažinimas

Reversing entry

Atvirkštinis įrašas

Salary

Atlyginimas (fiksuotas, mėnesio)

Salary calculation

Atlyginimo skaičiavimas

Salary-related tax burden

Su atlyginimų susijusi mokesčių našta

Salary taxes

Atlyginimo mokesčiai

Sales Journal

Pardavimų žurnalas

Sales VAT

Pardavimo PVM

Sales costprice

Pardavimo savikaina

Sales discounts

Pardavimo nuolaidos

Sales revenue

Pardavimų pajamos

Salvage value (Residual value, Terminal value)

Likvidacinė vertė

Salvage value ratio

Likvidacinės vertės proporcija

Scope

Sfera (įmonės organizacinės struktūros dalis)

Sell by instalments

Parduoti išsimokėtinai

Settlement

Atsiskaitymas

Shared expenses

Bendros išlaidos

Share transaction

Vertybinių popierių tranzakcija

Shipping date

Išsiuntimo data

Shipping price

Pristatymo kaina

Short balance

Trumpas balansas

Short term

Trumpalaikis

Simple journal entry

Operacija su lygiai dviem (1D+1K) eilutėmis

Social insurance card number

Socialinio draudimo pažymėjimo numeris

Social insurance fund

Socialinio draudimo fondas

Social insurance tax

Socialinio draudimo mokestis

Statement number

Akto numeris

Statutory consolidation

Įstatymų nustatytas konsolidavimas

Stock accounting method

Atsargų apskaitos būdas

Stock correction

Likučių korekcija

Stock listing

Likučių apyrašas

Stock taking

Inventorizacija

Straight-line depreciation method

Metų skaičiaus nusidėvėjimo metodas

Sum-of-the-year digits
depreciation method

Metų skaičiaus
nusidėvėjimo metodas

Summary (clearing) Account

Suvestinė sąskaita

Subsidiary Account

Analitinė Sąskaita

Subsidiary Ledger Account

Didžiosios Knygos Analitinė Sąskaita

Suspend Account

Laukimo Sąskaita

Synoptic Journal

Suvestinis žurnalas (visi žurnalai kartu)

Tangible asset

Materialus turtas

Tax Exempt Income

Neapmokestinamas Pajamų Dydis (NPD)

Tax expense

Mokesčių sąnaudos

Tax free

Neapmokestinamas

Tax identification number (TIN)

PVM mokėtojo kodas

Tax inspectorate

Mokesčių inspekcija

Tax invoice (i.e. VAT compliant invoice)

PVM sąskaita-faktūra

Tax payable

Mokėtini mokesčiai

Tax rate

Mokesčio tarifas

Tax receivable

Biudžeto skolos įmonei

Taxable amount

Apmokestinama suma

Taxation

Apmokestinimas

Taxed amount

Apmokestinta suma

Temporary accounts

Laikinos (tranzitinės) sąskaitos

Term deposit

Terminuoti indėliai

Time entry

Sunaudotos darbo valandos

Time sheet

Sunaudotų darbo valandų ataskaita

Total amount

Bendra suma

Trade (accounts) payable

Skolos tiekėjams

Trade (accounts) receivable

Pirkėjų skolos

Transaction currency

Operacijos valiuta

Transfer price

Vidinio perdavimo kaina

Transport cost

Transportavimo kaštai

Travelling cash

Pinigai kelyje

Treasury stock

Savos akcijos

Trial balance

Bandomasis balansas

Unappropriated (regular) retained earnings

Nepaskirstytojo pelno dalis,
kurią galima panaudoti dividendams

Uncollectible (bad) debt expense

Abejotinų skolų sąnąudos

Uncovered debts

Nepadengtos skolos

Undeductible business expense

Neleidžiami atskaitymai

Undeductible purchase VAT

Neatskaitomas pirkimo PVM

Undeductible purchase VAT expense

Neatskaitomo pirkimo PVM sąnaudos

Undeductible VAT

Neatskaitomas PVM

Unearned revenue

Busimųjų laikotarpių pajamos
(gauti išankstiniai klientų mokėjimai)

Unilateral

Vienašališkas

Unit of measure

Matavimo vienetas

Upward revaluation

Vertės padidėjimas

Useful life

Naudojimo trukmė

Utilities payable

Skolos komunalinių paslaugų įmonėms

Variation

Likučių apyvarta

VAT declaration

PVM deklaracija

VAT payable

Mokėtinas PVM

VAT payer code

PVM mokėtojo kodas

VAT refundable

Grąžintinas PVM

VAT receivable

Gautinas PVM

Wage

Atlyginimas (nefiksuotas, už atidirbtas valandas)

Working table

Darbinė lentelė

Write-down

Vertės sumažėjimas

Write-up

Vertės padidėjimas

Written-off assets

Nurašytas turtas

Year-to-date (the cumulative balance total in the current year)

Šių-metų-iki-dabar

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English - Lithuanian Accounting Dictionary

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Accountable person Atskaitingas asmuo Accounting equation Apskaitos lygybė Accounting flow Apskaitos srautas (rinkinys apskaitos tranzakcijų, turinčių bendrą paskirtį, pvz. pradiniai likučiai, likučių apyvarta, nusidėvėjimas, etc.)

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"CAN DO" STATEMENTS FOR B1-C2 LEVELS IN BUSINESS

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"CAN DO" STATEMENTS FOR B1-C2 LEVELS IN BUSINESS

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The Association of Language Testers in Europe (ALTE) has researched what language learners can typically do at each CEFR (Common European Framework of Reference for Languages) level. They have described each level of ability using Can Do statements, with examples taken from everyday life. Cambridge English, as one of the founding members of ALTE, uses this framework to ensure our exams reflect real-life language skills.

Cambridge English: Business Certificates are rigorous and thorough tests of English at CEFR Levels B1, B2 and C1. They cover all four language skills - reading, writing, listening and speaking. The content of the exams is based on everyday work and business tasks, to ensure your employees can use English confidently.
Candidates at B1 level

Reading and Writing

Listening and Speaking

CAN understand the general meaning of non-routine letters within own work area.

CAN follow a simple presentation/demonstration.

CAN understand most short reports of a predictable nature.

CAN deal with predictable requests from a visitor.

CAN make notes on routine matters, such as taking/placing orders.

CAN offer advice to clients within own job area on simple matters.

CAN write straightforward, routine letters of a factual nature.

CAN state routine requirements (e.g. asking for typing to be done).

Candidates at B2 level

Reading and Writing

Listening and Speaking

CAN understand the general meaning of non-routine letters.

CAN ask for factual information and understand the answer.

CAN understand the general meaning of a report even if the topic isn't predictable.

CAN take and pass on most messages during a normal working day.

CAN write a simple report of a factual nature and begin to evaluate, advise, etc.

CAN express own opinion, and present arguments to a limited extent.

CAN write a non-routine letter where this is restricted to matters of fact.

CAN give a simple, prepared presentation on a familiar topic.

Candidates at C1 level

Reading and Writing

Listening and Speaking

CAN understand correspondence expressed in non-standard language.

CAN contribute effectively to meetings and seminars within own area of work and argue for or against a case.

CAN deal with all routine requests for goods and services.

CAN follow discussion with only occasional need for clarification.

CAN write most letters they are likely to be asked to.

CAN engage in an extended conversation with visitors on matters within her/his authority/competence.

CAN, within a reasonably short time, understand most reports that they are likely to come across.

Candidates at C2 level

CAN understand reports and articles likely to be encountered during their work, including complex ideas expressed in complex language.

CAN advise on/handle complex, delicate or contentious issues, such as legal or financial matters (providing they have the necessary specialist knowledge).

CAN handle a wide range of routine and non-routine situations in which professional services are requested from colleagues or external contacts.

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what can my staff do at different cefr levels

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The Association of Language Testers in Europe (ALTE) has researched what language learners can typically do at each CEFR (Common European Framework of Reference for Languages) level. They have described each level of ability using Can Do statements, with examples taken from everyday life.