Getting things done – on time
When agreeing deadlines, absolute clarity is essential: at the end of the meeting everyone needs to know exactly what they need to do by when. Arriving at deadlines which are acceptable for the individual team members often entails a process of negotiation. And that’s where this post comes in. It looks at some of the […]
Getting the details
What to say if you didn’t understand someone’s introduction Introductions can be pretty stressful. Perhaps you’re taken by surprise. Or you may find yourself not listening properly, because you’re desperately thinking about what to reply. On top of that, you’ll probably be hearing the other person’s voice for the first time and won’t have had […]
Small talk: Back to basics
What could be easier than introducing yourself in English and engaging in a little, very basic, small talk? It’s a topic covered in the very first unit of many business English books. Yet I notice that these seemingly simple exchanges can cause problems for non-native-speakers. Perhaps because the expressions used here are set phrases which […]
