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Welcome back to Business English Pod for today’s lesson, the first in our series on integrating the operations of two companies. These lessons will focus on the conversations we have when talking about how to merge or integrate companies and operations.

There’s an old saying that strategy is 95% implementation. There’s no better proof of this than in the merging of companies. Coming to terms on a buy-out is difficult in and of itself. But once the agreement has been made, there’s the incredibly difficult work of making it happen.

Integrating companies requires us to think and talk about every aspect of business, from the nuts and bolts of accounting to the fuzzy aspects of culture. There’s a lot at stake, not just for the owners but for every single person who works for the two companies.

In discussing an integration, it’s important to lay out a clear timeline and to build in feedback mechanisms to ensure things go as smoothly as possible. You will have to bring up concerns effectively and suggest ways to smooth the transition. And you may find yourself referring back to previous agreements as you work out all the details.

In today’s dialog, we’ll listen to a conversation between Alex and Michelle, two Chief Operating Officers. Alex’s company has just bought out Michelle’s company, and they’re meeting to discuss how the integration will roll out.

Listening Questions

1. What concern does Michelle raise after Alex lays out a possible timeline?

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In this Business English News lesson on recent hiring trends, we look at business English vocabulary related to human resources and recruitment.

The world of HR is radically different than it was just five years ago. Today, we’re seeing unprecedented movement in the workforce. And as companies compete to recruit and retain talent, several key trends have emerged. One relates to how we evaluate potential recruits, as Forbes explains:

Skill-based hiring is all the rage these days. Companies are moving away from relying solely on degrees and traditional qualifications, instead zeroing in on the specific skills candidates bring to the table. It makes sense, especially in industries where the pace of change is relentless. Skills are easier to match with job requirements, and with AI playing a bigger role in recruitment, it’s more efficient to identify those who can hit the ground running.

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Welcome back to Business English Pod for the second part of our lesson on English for presentations and handling a question and answer session at the end of a presentation.

Presentations can be stressful. Speaking in front of the public, or even just your colleagues, makes even confident people nervous. And there’s one part of a presentation in particular that might dial up the nerves: the questions people ask at the end of your presentation.

The Q&A requires you to think on your feet. Some of the questions you get might be really difficult. And for that reason, it may be important to check that your answers are sufficient for the question-asker. At the same time, the questions might not even be relevant! So you’ll need a strategy for that situation as well.

Sometimes a person will ask a question that you think you’re not the best person to answer. In that case, you can figure out who to redirect the question to. And if this entire Q&A situation is stressful, well at least you have some control. You can control the timing, instead of letting it go on forever.

In this lesson, we’ll continue listening to a Q&A in a meeting at a steel company. Nick, a sales director, has just given a presentation. He and his boss Max are dealing with questions from Bryan and Cindy.

Listening Questions

1. After telling Cindy about measures of success, what question does Nick ask her?

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Welcome back to Business English Pod for today’s lesson on how to deal with the question and answer session at the end of a presentation in English.

A presentation can be planned, organized, scripted, and rehearsed. But that’s simply not possible with the questions you might get at the end of your presentation. Sure, you can try to anticipate what people might ask, but you never really know. They may refer to specific points in your presentation and challenge you on these points.

For this reason, you need the skills to handle whatever you’re faced with. And sometimes that means overcoming doubt or resistance to your ideas. You might have to use buffers to deal with tough questions and concede certain points to your audience. You may also find yourself clarifying a point and paraphrasing your audience’s questions.

In this lesson, we’ll listen to the Q&A following a presentation in English by Nick, a sales director for a steel company. Bryan and Cindy are posing some difficult questions. Nick, and his boss Max, are using several techniques for dealing with these questions.

Listening Questions

1. How does Nick respond at first when Bryan asks a tough question about the survey results?

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Welcome back to the Business English Skills 360 podcast as we continue our look at problem-solving. In this lesson, we’ll focus on the process of solving problems.

As we talked about in our last lesson, the first step in problem-solving is analysis. This means gathering all the relevant information and understanding the problem’s causes. It’s important to look at the situation from different perspectives and ensure that everyone involved has a shared understanding of the issue. Without this, you risk coming up with solutions that aren’t feasible or acceptable.

Once the problem is understood, the next step is to define your goals. Many people skip this, but it’s essential to clarify what a good solution would look like. Set clear guidelines, including your timeline, budget, and who is responsible for what. This ensures everyone is aligned and focused on the same objectives.

Now, you can move on to brainstorming possible solutions. Encourage creativity and seek input from a variety of people. It’s important to separate the generation of ideas from the evaluation. Don’t judge ideas too quickly, just focus on coming up with as many as possible. This will give you a broad range of options to choose from later.

After generating ideas, it’s time to evaluate and select the best solution. The “best” solution is the one that fits the goals and criteria you set earlier. Remember, there’s no perfect solution, only the most practical and effective given the circumstances. Make sure the chosen solution is something everyone can support.

Finally, the last step is evaluation. After implementing the solution, take time to reflect. Did it work as expected? Could anything have been done differently? This reflection helps improve your problem-solving process and prepares you for future challenges.

Problem-solving requires a clear, structured approach. By following these five steps – analysis, goal-setting, brainstorming, decision-making, and evaluation – you can tackle problems more effectively and find the optimal solution.

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Welcome back to the Business English Skills 360 podcast as we look at solving problems. In this lesson, we’ll focus on the skills you need to solve problems.

Problems are an unavoidable part of life and work, and in business, your ability to solve them is critical. Fortunately, problem-solving skills can be developed.

The first key skill is analytical thinking. Instead of trying to come up with any old solution, take time to thoroughly understand the problem. What caused it? Can it be broken down into parts? Analyzing a problem requires critical thinking, which helps you understand connections, prioritize, and identify patterns.

Next is creativity, which involves looking at the problem from different perspectives and asking open-ended questions. Creativity, paired with analytical skills, leads to innovative solutions, as it helps you break free from conventional thinking. However, trial and error is often part of the process, and that’s where resilience comes in. Resilience is the ability to stay focused and calm when problems get tough. It’s about persevering, even when your first idea doesn’t work.

Collaboration is another crucial skill, as problem-solving often involves working with others. Effective communication and emotional intelligence are vital in navigating complex group dynamics, especially when tensions are high. Finally, decisiveness is essential to avoid getting stuck in “analysis paralysis.” Making decisions, even with limited information, is crucial for moving forward.

Developing these skills – analysis, creativity, resilience, collaboration, and decisiveness – will significantly enhance your problem-solving abilities.

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In this Business English News lesson on the resurgence of robots, we look at business English vocabulary related to robotics and technology.

While generative AI has been grabbing the headlines lately, the world of robotics has been developing at a rapid clip. The robot industry has been expanding exponentially, albeit mainly outside the spotlight of the mass media. And, as MSN explains, business is booming:

According to an announcement by the International Federation of Robotics, the stock of operational robots around the world has now reached 3.5 million units, and the value of installations has reached an estimated $16 billion. According to the Federation, robotics now plays a fundamental role in the changing demands of manufacturers around the world.

Of course, talk of robots will immediately call to mind automotive manufacturing, and car-makers were certainly one of the earliest adopters. But it’s not just the automotive industry anymore. Robots are being deployed on smaller scales, alongside humans, outside of assembly-line manufacturing. Robots have found applications throughout the economy, for companies big and small.

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Welcome back to Business English Pod for today’s lesson, the second in a two-part series on quality control. In this lesson, we’ll focus on quality control for customer service.

For companies that sell products, quality control is critical. Not just for ensuring consistency, safety, and reliability, but for meeting customers’ expectations. When customers buy from your company, they’re thinking about more than just the product itself. They’re thinking about how well you serve them.

Customer service involves a huge range of activities. Pretty much any time a customer interacts with a person or a system in your company, it’s customer service. And you need to think about everything from how easy it is to use the website, to the tone your employees use on the phone.

When we talk about customer service, and the quality of customer service, there are many special expressions we use. Many of these are combinations of words that we call “collocations.” You might often learn individual vocabulary words, but we don’t always think, or speak, in individual words. We speak in chunks of language. These chunks are called collocations. In fact “customer service” itself is a collocation. Those two words go together to create a new idea.

In today’s dialog, we’ll continue a conversation between Emma and Paolo. Emma is a consultant that helps companies with quality control. And Paolo runs a company that makes and services solar panels. As they discuss the work that Emma will do for Paolo’s company, they use many English collocations. We’ll explain those collocations later in the debrief.

Listening Questions

1. What two goals does Paolo have regarding customer service quality?

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Welcome back to Business English Pod for today’s lesson, the first in a two-part series on quality control. In this lesson, we’ll focus on the manufacturing side of things.

Successful companies understand the importance of quality. At minimum, quality control is about meeting industry standards or regulations. Beyond that, quality is a huge factor in brand reputation and customer satisfaction. And a commitment to strong QC, or quality control, can also lead to significant cost savings.

Given these benefits, no wonder many companies have entire teams or positions dedicated to monitoring quality. And, just like any other area of expertise, quality control comes with its own special language. Much of this language appears in set expressions that we call “collocations.” In fact, I just used one when I mentioned “monitoring quality.” To monitor quality is a common collocation related to quality control.

Collocations are just natural combinations of words. Certain verbs and adjectives always go with certain nouns. And certain nouns often combine to create a special meaning. If you just learn new words individually, you might miss these natural combinations.

In today’s dialog, we’ll hear a conversation between Paolo and Emma. Paolo works for a company that manufactures, sells, and services solar panels. Emma is a quality control consultant. Paolo’s company is looking to hire Emma to conduct a quality control audit, or a review of their systems. During their conversation, they use lots of English collocations, which we’ll explain later in the debrief.

Listening Questions

1. What does Paolo say they did after completing a safety audit?

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Welcome back to the Business English Skills 360 podcast as we continue learning about cognitive bias. In this lesson, we’ll look at how to deal with the biases that impact our decision-making.

Trusting your gut and making quick decisions might work in some cases. But if you think your decision-making ability is based on perfect reasoning and complete information, well you’re wrong. You’re only human after all. And your decision-making machinery is flawed. In our last lesson, we had a closer look at exactly the kinds of biases that lead to suboptimal decisions. So how can you overcome these biases?

It’s a question that every good manager should be asking themselves. And making better decisions while avoiding biases comes down to a few key things: awareness, curiosity, and evidence. Let’s start with awareness. Now, if you tuned in to our last lesson when we talked about different types of bias, then you’re already on the right track.

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