Business English Pod e-Books enable you to learn on the go with MP3 audio lessons and the detailed PDF study guides, including a full transcript of each lesson. The revised editions include over 100 online Flash quizzes, exercises and flashcards designed to help you practice and use all the language covered in the course.
Click the launch button below to start the online quizzes for Unit 210 – Managing the Discussion:
This second part of a two-part Business English Podcast series on running and participating in a problem-solving meeting.
In the first part of this meeting (see BEP 126), the team spent time answering the question: “What is the problem?” In today’s episode, we’re going to focus on how to brainstorm solutions to a problem through discussion, how to evaluate and eliminate suggestions and then agree a plan of action.
Kathryn, the head of Human Resources at a medium-sized company, is meeting with department heads to discuss a problem they are having with low staff morale. The team has identified the root cause of the problem as the separation of staff across 3 different office locations.
Kathryn wants everyone to critique the ideas that the group has brought forward, in order to eliminate impractical suggestions. We’ll see how she confirms the best solution and how her team suggests points for action. As the dialog starts, Kathryn closes the brainstorming session and sums up the input that has been received.
Listening Questions
1) How many ideas does the group come up with for solving the staff morale problem?
2) Which idea does the group agree is the best one to try?
3) Name one of the action points suggested near the end of the meeting.
One of the most common reasons for holding a meeting is to solve a problem. A meeting can be a great place to do this, because it is possible for a variety of people with different experiences and perspectives to work together to identify the problem and come up with possible solutions.
But, while we might have the right people at the meeting, the process is often flawed because one question hasn’t clearly been asked and answered: “What is the problem?” So, in today’s episode we’re going to focus on how to define the problem through discussion and then restate the problem as a challenge. In the second part of this series, we’ll look at how to evaluate and eliminate suggestions and then agree on a plan of action.
We’ll be listening to Kathryn, the head of Human Resources at a medium-sized company, who is meeting with department heads to discuss a problem they’re having with low staff morale across all departments of the company. Morale is a word used to describe a general feeling or mood.
Kathryn wants everyone to consider possible hidden reasons for low morale at the company. We’ll see how she helps participants focus on breaking down the morale problem. As the dialog starts, Kathryn calls everyone to attention and begins the meeting.
Listening Questions:
1) What is the surface problem that Kathryn and the others can see?
2) What does the group decide is the true cause of this problem?
3) What is the challenge that the group faces at the end of the dialog?
Meeting Essentials is a comprehensive study guide to the language and skills you need to participate effectively and confidently in business meetings in English. Learn on the go with over 4-hours of audio lessons, review key language and techniques with the detailed 100-page study guide, including a transcript of each podcast lesson, and practice useful phrases with the online activities.
It’s the end of a meeting, and everyone wants to go, but wait! We have one last thing to do: Action points. That means: Tell everyone who is going to do what, and when. Having no clear action points is a number one reason meetings are unproductive.
So in this episode, we’ll study language we can use to assign work to people, and also some English phrases to finish off the meeting.
We’ll be listening in to a group of bank managers discuss how to deal with credit risk problems before a major year-end report to top management. They have already discussed and decided what to do, and now they need to finish the meeting. As you listen, pay attention to how the boss, Lisa, gives action points to her team, that is, reminds them of what they need to do.
This is the first in a three-part Business English Pod series that explores the use of many different language techniques in the context of a merger. Today’s episode focuses on vague, diplomatic language and probing questions. Vague and diplomatic language was introduced in podcasts BEP 24, BEP 51 and BEP 52, so you might wish to review those to refresh your memory.
In addition, we’ll be covering probing questions, which we first looked at in BEP 64. To probe is to explore or investigate, so probing questions are used to gather more detailed and targeted information. And I should also point out that there are two speaking practices at the end of this podcast – an action packed episode indeed.
For this series, we again visit our U.S.-based guitar manufacturer, which has a production plant in Costa Rica. In this episode, we find out that the company is merging with a larger guitar manufacturer. To merge is to join together. When two companies join together, we call this a “merger.”
The new owners want to cut costs, which might mean cutting jobs. So, an important question in the mind of our old friend Jack is – who is going to be fired? We join Jack and his boss Jim, who meets Jack by chance in the hallway of the company headquarters.
Listening Questions:
1. Who will Jack be meeting with after his chat with Jim?
2. What city might the Costa Rican plant move to?
3. Why do the new owners want to move the factory out of Costa Rica?
This is a preview of our revised e-Book for business meetings: Meeting Essentials for Business English.
