Imagine you are looking for a job, and you have an interview at a big company. You walk into the interview room and say to the panel of interviewers: “hey there, how’s it going?” Believe me, that’s a bad first impression.
Or what if you go to the bar to meet an old friend and when you see him you extend your hand and say “Good evening, and how do you do?” Chances are your friend is going to ask you whether you’re feeling okay.
In both these situations, the problem is that you used the wrong level of formality or register. You simply can’t use the same expressions, words, and idioms in every situation. You need to gauge the situation and adapt how you speak accordingly.
There are times when you want to impress people with your language abilities. But there are actually far more situations that require the opposite approach – situations where you don’t want to risk confusing people, so you want to make sure you’recommunicating clearly.
In ourlast lesson, I talked about clear pronunciation and word choice. Today I want to look at making clear sentences and organizing your message.
When it comes to sentences, shoot for simple and short. Rather than stringing a bunch of ideas into one long sentence, break it up into several short ones. Use simple words like “but” and “so” instead of words like “nevertheless” and “consequently.”
There’s something else that can add clutter to our sentences: the softening words and phrases we use to be diplomatic, polite, or careful. These expressions can be very important when the situation requires. But not all situations or audiences require such diplomacy. We also have some very confusing ways of asking questions in English. And if you’re trying to be clear, you should avoid some of these. That includes tag questions, such as “you’re quite busy, aren’t you?” And negative questions, like “aren’t you going to read my report?”
The last thing I want to talk about is how we structure our messages. And I mean longer messages, like a set of instructions or something. First off, it’s good to be clear about purpose. Tell people what you’re going to tell them. That’s exactly what I did when I said “the last thing I want to talk about is how we structure our messages.” You see, when you heard that, you knew exactly what I was going to talk about next.
Secondly, it’s a good idea to use words like “secondly.” We call this “signposting.” Signposting is basically giving clear structure and logic to what you’re saying. That means introducing things clearly. It means outlining, using words like “first, second, third” and “last.” But it also means being clear about how your ideas fit together. Signposting makes it a lot easier for people to follow what you’re saying, and to remember it!
Lastly, it’s a good idea to summarize what you’ve said. Just a little recap is good enough. And you can introduce your summary using signposting expressions like “to sum up” or “what I’ve been trying to say is.”
Did you know that most of the conversations in English happening right now are between two non-native speakers? There’s a German doing business in Malaysia, and a Russian talking on the phone with a Korean, and a Brazilian visiting Spain. And they’re most likely usingEnglish to communicatewith each other.
But English is not a simple language. Dla jednej rzeczy, it has more words and idioms than other languages. For another thing, there are many different varieties of English. So the English you hear in Singapore or Miami or London can sound quite different. Given this situation – people around the world using a difficult language at different levels – it’s really important to be able to communicate clearly.
Let’s start with pronunciation. Oczywiście, not everyone will, or should, speak exactly the same. Perfect pronunciation doesn’t exist, since there are so many different accents. So being clear isn’t so much about pronunciation as it is about enunciation. Enunciation simply means pronouncing things clearly and carefully.
Two other things that impact pronunciation are speed and volume. When we’re uncomfortable or nervous, we tend to speed up and speak more softly. But speaking quickly and quietly can damage our pronunciation. Zamiast, slow down a bit and speak a bit more loudly. This will add clarity to your speech.
Clarity is also affected by the words we choose. The important thing here is to keep it simple. When you’re giving someone instructions on the phone, or making an important point in a presentation, it’s not the time to impress people with your vocabulary. Stick to expressions you know people will understand. That means you should avoid using too much slang and too many idioms.
When it comes to word choice, there’s another thing to be careful with: acronyms and abbreviations. You might use “TBH” quite often, but not everyone knows that it means “to be honest.” You don’t have to use these abbreviations to get your point across. And you’ve probably been confused – and frustrated – when people use abbreviations that are common in their line of work but are not common knowledge.
As we’ve seen, communicating clearly in Englishmight mean we have to adapt what we say and how we say it, depending on the audience. It’s always a good idea to speak up and to speak clearly. And if you want to make sure everyone understands, it’s wise to use simple and clear words, while avoiding slang, frazeologia, and abbreviations.
Po pierwsze, ludzie mogą nabrać osobistego charakteru i zaatakować osobę, w przeciwieństwie do idei. Wezwij ludzi do osobistych ataków, i skupić dyskusję na pomysłach, nie konflikt osobowości. To część twojej roli jako moderator spotkania. Powinieneś zachęcać ludzi do słuchania, zapobiec przerwom, i ogólnie upewniaj się, że ludzie czują się szanowani i słyszani. Gdy tylko ludzie poczują się osobiście atakowani, zamkną się.
Kolejną rzeczą, którą musisz zamknąć, są rozmowy niezwiązane z tematem. Ludzie robią to nawet nie zdając sobie z tego sprawy. Słyszą coś, przypomina im o czymś innym, zaczynają o tym rozmawiać i wkrótce rozmowa zeszła z tematu. Twoim zadaniem jest odwrócenie rozmowy. Dla ludzi, którzy uwielbiają słyszeć, jak mówią i kontynuują, znajdź odpowiedni moment, aby wskoczyć i przedstawić podsumowanie swojego pomysłu.
Kolejna przeszkoda w a spotkanie decyzyjneis what we call “groupthink.” Groupthink is when people just follow along with the ideas being discussed, nie myśląc samodzielnie. Aby poradzić sobie z grupowym myśleniem, zachęcaj do kreatywnego myślenia od samego początku. One thing you might try is having people write down their ideas individually before sharing them with the group. Po tym, jak ludzie zapisują własne pomysły, obejdź stół i daj każdej osobie szansę zabrania głosu. Im bardziej zostawiasz to naprawdę wokalnym ludziom, tym bardziej narażone będzie spotkanie na grupowe myślenie.
Poza myśleniem grupowym, kolejną przeszkodą, z którą możesz się zmierzyć, jest czas. Dlatego uważnie obserwuj czas. A kiedy zechcesz 25%, przypominać ludziom. Nie bój się ich trochę popchnąć. W większości przypadków, ludzie są bardziej skłonni do kompromisu niż przeciągania sprawy dłużej niż to konieczne. Ale jeśli grupa naprawdę nie może podjąć dobrej decyzji, lub jeśli ludzie naprawdę się nie zgadzają, lub jeśli potrzeba tylko więcej informacji, następnie rozważ inne opcje. Po pierwsze, możesz złożyć decyzję. Opóźniona decyzja jest często lepsza niż zła decyzja. Lub, możesz wyznaczyć mniejszą grupę do podjęcia decyzji.
Bez względu, to, do czego dążysz, to najlepsza możliwa decyzja. Jak już omówiliśmy, istnieje wiele możliwych przeszkód w podjęciu dobrej decyzji w dostępnym czasie. Ale jeśli zagrasz to dobrze, jeśli dobrze zarządzasz ludźmi, i jeśli zachęcasz do dobrych pomysłów, i nowe pomysły, powinieneś być w stanie podjąć dobrą decyzję w grupie.
w rzeczywistości, it might be better to say we’re talking about how to lead groups togooddecisions. W sumie, any meeting chairperson can push for a quick decision, or call a vote before matters have been fully discussed. But that’s not the kind of leadership I’m talking about. And that doesn’t necessarily produce good decisions. A good decision is one that people buy into, and one that has a strong rationale behind it.
So how can we go about leading a group to a decision? Dobrze, right at the start of the meeting, you need to set the stage for a good discussion, and a good decision. po pierwsze, you need to be very clear about the purpose. If you’re meeting to make a decision, make sure everyone knows it.
It’s also a good idea to have adecision-making process for the meeting. And that process typically goes like this: start with information-sharing, then run through or brainstorm different options, then evaluate those options through discussion, and finally make a decision. Notice that generating ideas and evaluating ideas are separate steps. That helps prevent people feeling criticized or getting defensive.
Within this process, leading group decisions is all about facilitating good discussion. And the magic of good facilitation is making everyone in the room feel listened to and emotionally validated. Ogólnie, you need to make sure that everyone has had a chance to speak and express themselves. Sometimes this means calling on people directly. Or it might simply mean staying attuned to how those weaker voices attempt to join the discussion.
By being clear about purpose upfront, following a basic decision-making process, and using yourmeetings Englishand facilitation skills, you can come to a good decision. And remember, a good decision is one that people buy into and that has a good rationale to support it.
