IS ENGLISH IMPORTANT FOR YOU AND YOUR CAREER?

101 countries. Nearly 340 million native speakers. Over 1/3 of the world's population understand the language. PORTAL’s Business English club works for developers, creative directors, producers, product managers, entrepreneurs, CEOs, freelancers, non-profit leaders. It works for people in design, finance, HR, marketing, sales, management and every other part of the ecosystem. Mostly, it works for people who are in a hurry. It’s possible to do more, learn more and make more of a change. And it’s possible right now!

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WHY ENGLISH IS SUCH A DIFFICULT LANGUAGE TO LEARN

I am often asked why English is such a difficult language to learn, for non-native speakers. In fact, how hard it is to learn depends on what your native language is; and this follows as languages are more (or less) closely related to one another; if your mother tongue is more similar, in terms of sounds, vocabulary and grammatical patterns to another--for instance you're a speaker of Dutch or German--then English will be easier to learn. But if you speak a language that comes from a more distantly related tongue--say Japanese--then English is more likely to prove a tougher nut to crack.

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DO YOU SPEAK THE MOST POWERFUL LANGUAGE IN THE WORLD?

There are over 6,000 languages spoken in the world today, but some 2,000 of them count fewer than 1,000 speakers. Moreover, just 15 accounts for half of the languages spoken in the world.

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WHAT IS THE VALUE OF CREATIVITY IN TODAY'S GLOBAL ECONOMY?

How much do the creative industries contribute to the global economy? A new study has quantified, for the first time, the economic and social contribution of cultural and creative industries (CCI) around the world.

Conducted by Ernst & Young and jointly presented by UNESCO and the International Confederation of Authors and Composers Societies (CISAC), the study analysed 11 CCI sectors in Europe, North America, Latin America, Africa, the Middle East and the South Pacific region, focusing on everything from architecture and advertising to television.

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4 SIMPLE STEPS TO TURNING YOUR FROWN UPSIDE DOWN

All of us, at some point in our life, feel down and frustrated, like we're being followed by a big black cloud.  UCLA neuroscientist Alex Korb, author of The Upward Spiral: Using Neuroscience to Reverse the Course of Depression, One Small Change at a Time, has some tips that might just help you brighten up your day. Time for a lesson in neuroscience.
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HOW LIFELONG LEARNING CAN BENEFIT MORE THAN JUST YOUR BANK ACCOUNT

In 2015 Doreetha Daniels received her associate degree in social sciences from College of the Canyons, in Santa Clarita, California. But Daniels wasn’t a typical student: She was 99 years old. In the COC press release about her graduation, Daniels indicated that she wanted to get her degree simply to better herself; her six years of school during that pursuit were a testament to her will, determination, and commitment to learning. 

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SPECIAL OFFER FOR NATIVE ENGLISH SPAIN READERS!!!

STRESS, NO MORE!

Learn how to make stress your friend - August 2017

This August, Portal Business Training, will be running Virtual Workshops that help professionals increase their mastery in English + Learn a valuable life/business skill.

The 1st WORKSHOP is called "STRESS, NO MORE! - Learn how to make STRESS your friend!"- SAVE up to 15% off, on all bookings made in July! 😀

1) CLICK HERE - To see their marketing material

2) CLICK HERE - To request more information

3) CLICK HERE - To make a booking

#business #empresa #inglés #english #stress #estrés #workshop #taller #virtual

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BACK TO BASICS: 2 Simple steps to help transform your communication

Two things determine what people think of you:

• Skills – how good you at your job; and
• Comms – how well you communicate with them

You need both.

Do brilliant work, but summarise it in a rubbish report… well, everyone thinks you’re rubbish.

Not fair?

Maybe.

But it happens.

So, a question for you…

Given how essential your communications are to your reputation…

…how often do you meet with your team, with the sole purpose of finding ways to communicate better?

Never, I guess?

Nobody does.

But your team’s communications are your shop window.

They must be good.

Or people will shop elsewhere.

Action Point

Watch this short video for simple ways to transform your communications - and therefore what others think of you – without you doing much work at all.

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How to STOP a boring conversation in 3 simple steps

Ever been networking, and got stuck talking to someone you can’t get rid of?

Or been to a meeting that’s dragged on, and you couldn’t escape?

Well, it’s important you know how to stop these. Or, they won’t…. well, stop.

And the key to mastering this is to know in advance how you’ll stop them. After all, it’s unlikely you’ll think of the right words during your conversation. So, it’ll keep dragging on. And on.

Here are three easy ideas for you:

#1 Use the past tense

When you use the past tense, it shows the conversation is over:

• Thanks for calling. I’ve found our chat useful
• It’s great to speak with you. I enjoyed our conversation

When you say this, people reply using the past tense too – “Thank you. I did too.”

And your conversation is now over!

#2 “I’m conscious of time”

“I’m conscious of time” works well in meetings. You can use it:

• To stop an agenda item that’s taking too long. Saying it hurries people along; and/or
• To stop your meeting on time, say it a few minutes before the end. This gives you time to agree everyone’s actions before you go

When you say it, people tend to do two things:

1. Look at their watch; and
2. Stop talking

So, you can now control how the meeting ends.

#3 “Offline”

If you and I were in a meeting, and I said to you “you’re going into too much detail. Shut up”, you’d think I was rude.

However, if I said “we’re going into too much detail. Let’s take this offline”, you’d probably say “ok then.”

So, “offline” is a polite, corporate way of saying “shut up”!

Action Point

Simple one: identify the phrase you’re going to say next time things drag on. Since, once you know it, you’ll say it when you need to!

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Have you served and volleyed today?

“None of you will be able to wipe the smile off my face tonight. I’ve just heard my wife and I are expecting our first child …”

This was a comedian’s Opening Line at a recent show.

He looked delighted. Could hardly speak for smiling. And the minute he said “first child”, everyone started clapping.

Until he interrupted us, saying “Let me finish… I’m smiling because I’ve heard my wife and I are expecting our first child to leave home. She’s only nine. I hope she takes her two brothers with her.”

A great start. In fifteen seconds, he had his audience in the palm of his hand. He’d given them a reason to cheer, applaud, be involved, be surprised, laugh…

And it worked because he split his opening into two. The first half set it up; the second finished it.

And, to get people listening to us, we can do the same.

For example, my favourite email title is the half-sentence “Jane, a quick question to ask…”

Jane will open this straight away. Three reasons:

1. Her name grabs her attention
2. The word “quick” means it won’t take her long
3. It’s intriguing – she wants to know what the question is (the second half of the sentence)

Another example: when I’m making a presentation, my first sentence might be “I have a question for you…”

Everyone looks at me. They want to know what it is. And I’ve already ‘got’ my audience without doing anything (the question I then ask needs to be a good one!)

Other good opening half-sentences:

• At the start of regular weekly meetings – "I thought we could try something different this week…" They want to know what it is
• And five minutes before the end of your meeting – "I’m conscious of time. One quick question…" That stops them speaking. You can now close it down
• When you want to find the best way to do something, ask "Can I ask your advice about something…?" They’ll say ‘yes’ (who wouldn’t?!) You then ask them
• When you want someone to do something for you, "Can I ask a favour…?" They’ll say ‘yes’ (again, who wouldn’t?) You then ask them to help you
• When you want someone to instantly listen – "Do you know the three biggest reasons why customers don’t buy from us…?"
• When you want to stop people being grumpy “Do you know the one thing we haven’t thought of yet…?” They’ll ask what it is. You then say something positive about the situation. Or ask what a good solution might be. Anything to change their focus
• When somebody asks you to write a communication for them – “Yes, of course. But can I quickly ask you something…?” They’ll want to know what it is. You then ask them what headings they want in it. Know these, and you’re much more likely to write what they want the first time

And so on.

I call this technique ‘serve and volley’. The serve sentence sets up the point; the volley finishes it off. Much easier to do than serving an outright ace in one sentence.

And (serve) so I have a surprising question for you…

Action point

… (volley) who can you ‘Serve and volley’ today? Prep both your shots/sentences before you play/speak with them.

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Want an extra 40 hours a year? Change the way you run your meetings!

Today’s post is a really easy one…

          Don’t have one-hour meetings.

And that’s it.

You see, most meetings last 30 or 60 minutes.

Why?

Two reasons – because:

1. Outlook is split into 30-minutes chunks, and
2. that’s how long they’ve always taken

Two dreadful reasons for deciding how long a meeting should last.

And it gets worse. Have ten people in your meeting? That means your meeting cost ten hours of a resource. Was it really worth that?

But there’s a very easy way to fix this.

Stop saying “the meeting will last one hour.”

Instead: “the meeting will last a maximum of 45 minutes.”

That way, people arrive thinking:

• It finishes in only 45 minutes, so we’d better crack on; and
• Since you said “a maximum of”, if we work efficiently, we’ll finish early

Do this for just one meeting every day, and you save over an hour every week.

Do this every week, and that’s 40-50 hours a year.

That’s an entire working week.

And, because you’d have spent that week in meetings, what a rubbish week it would’ve been!

Even better – if you want to save more than one week, make these changes too:

• Invite fewer people. Remember, you can always send some people your Actions Arising – they don’t all need to attend everything
• Have fewer agenda items
• Vary something. Meetings are often too long because of the habits we’ve let ourselves get into. You know the type of thing – every Monday, we meet at 10-11am, in the same room, sitting in the same chairs, discussing the same stuff. So, break your habits and do something different. Change the venue, start time, duration, seating arrangement, chairperson, agenda order… anything to shake things up
• Replace ‘Any Other Business’ (often a pointless chat) with ‘Actions Arising’ (ensures there are some)
• Don’t automatically make them the ‘45 minutes’ I mentioned above. If something can be done in ten minutes, book it in ten minutes

All these ideas are pretty simple.

But the easiest of all is to stop having one-hour meetings.

Right now.

Action point

Look at today’s meetings. What will you do to shorten at least one of them?

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Want more time in your day? Try this simple productivity hack today!

If your Inbox was a desk, and each email in it was a piece of paper – what’d your desk look like?

Would it be lovely and clean, and easy to work on?

Or covered in stacks of paper – on many different subjects, from many different people – randomly piled in an irritating, distracting mess?

Next question: which desk would be nicer to work at?

So, here's how to tidy your desk/empty your Inbox…

It's pretty simple. Just remember the Golden Rule:

Only read emails once!

Most emails can be dealt with in one hit, by doing one of the following:

• Responding – for emails that are important and/or quick to deal with, just hit Reply and act on it
• Delegating – for emails somebody else can deal with, forward it to them, telling them what you want them to do with it (don’t just send it ‘FYI’ – that doesn’t tell them anything)
• Deleting – my favourite! If you don’t need it, delete it

After you’ve done these, take the email out of your Inbox, and put it into a folder/the bin.

So that’s the easy emails. But what about the emails you don't need to act on now?

Well, simply drag them out of your Inbox, and into a diary entry on the day you’re going to reply to it.

For example, I’ve just had an email that needs a reply by Friday. So I dragged it into Thursday’s diary. I don’t need to look at/think about it until then.

And, to ensure my diary never gets cluttered by doing this, I have a daily "answer emails" diary entry. So this email has gone into Thursday’s.

And that’s it.

I love this Tip. It's been a Life Changer for me – and for hundreds of my customers.

Best of all?

It's really quick.

Each email now takes seconds only. In fact, on average, each email takes me 15 seconds to act on.

So, you can remove four from your Inbox every minute. That's forty in ten minutes.

Your desk is starting to look a lot clearer…

Action Point

Two actions:

• Apply today's Tip to every email you receive from now on
• To remove your email backlog, pour yourself a glass of wine one evening, and spend 20-30 minutes acting on/diarising each email. Then remove them from your Inbox...

This will free-up loads of time.

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Do you find it difficult to say 'No' to people? Here are 2 simple steps to help you say 'No' and be loved for it!

You need to know how to say ‘no’.

Or you’ll end up saying ‘yes’ to everything.

Including things you don’t want to do; aren’t good at; or hate.

And who’d want their day to be packed with stuff like that?

Here’s how to do it…

When you’re asked to do something you don’t want to, remember the phrase – ‘no, but how about…’

In other words, say ‘no’ to their request, but offer an alternative way you can help them.

This often leads to a better outcome for both of you:

• You don’t have to do the thing you didn’t want to do; and
• They get a good solution, albeit via a different route than they’d expected

So, the secret to being good at saying ‘no’ is to be able to identify alternative ways of delivering what they want. After all, if you can think of lots of alternatives, you now have wriggle room.

I’ve always been OK at this. But I got really good when I wanted to stop working Fridays. I wanted to spend even more time on my hobbies, and activities that gave me a sense of fulfilment. But what would I do if someone said ‘can you work on Friday?’

Well, we have lots of options:

• We move the day to Thursday
• We move the venue, so they come to me between my consultations
• We do it by phone, instead of face-to-face
• If it absolutely must be Friday, I could recommend other people they could use instead

So, when people ask if I can work Friday my answer is “I can definitely help you. But we might have a challenge with the Friday. Can we explore a couple of options?”

People always respond positively to this. They like the fact I can definitely help. And they’re happy that I’m willing to explore other options, rather than saying ‘no’ outright.

So, to say ‘no’, you need two things:

1. To have a number of alternatives for them 
2. Say ‘yes, I can definitely help you. But not like that. Let’s explore other ways we can do it’

Today, someone’s going to ask you to do something you’d rather say ‘no’ to. How will you respond?

Action point

Find something you want to say ‘no’ to. This’ll either be something you’ve recently been asked to do; or something you know’s fast approaching…

And then, do the two actions highlighted in the post:

1. Identify alternative courses of action
2. Script how you’ll respond, so they feel helped

And of course, if the person who’s asking you to do this new task is your boss’s boss’s boss’s boss… maybe just suck it up and do that one!

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Do you ever find it difficult to remember to keeping in touch with the important people in your life? Try these 5 simple steps!

You have lots of important people in your life.

Do you speak with them enough?

As much as you want to?

As much as they want you to?

If not, here’s a simple technique to make sure you do…

People tell me they usually contact people because of an event. Examples:

• You and your partner have a lovely meal out, after the event of them pointing out you’re working too hard
• A supplier shows wonderful customer care, after the event of a complaint
• You hold your first team meeting for a few weeks, after the event of them falling behind target

And, of course, that’s good. Events should cause things to happen.

But there are two problems if we rely on events as our trigger:

• There might not be one. That means you won’t speak to these important people for ages; plus
• People begin to realise that – every time you get in touch - something bad has probably happened!

So, try this instead – the KITE approach. Where KITE stands for ‘Keep In Touch Every’. Here’s how it works…

• List. Create a list of all your ‘important’ people. This shouldn’t take long. Just look at the contacts in your phone, and identify who you should speak to regularly
• KITE. For each person, write how often you should talk with them. So, should you Keep In Touch Every week, month, quarter, year?
• Group. Group all the ‘weeklies’ in one list, ‘monthlies’ in another, etc
• Diarise. Put in recurring diary entries, reminding you to get in contact with them. So the ‘weeklies’ would have a recurring weekly diary entry; the ‘monthlies’ a recurring monthly one, and so on. 
• Do. When the diary entry appears, contact them

And, when you do get in contact, remember - Person #5 doesn’t know what you’ve said to Person #4. So, you can often use similar messages to all the weeklies, tweaked slightly so each feels personal to them.

KITE means you never forget anyone. After all, your diary’s memory is much better than yours.

Also, it means you’re in control – not the occurrence (or not) of external events.

So, do you keep in touch with people as often as you should?

Action point

Do your KITE five steps.

If you’ve got 20 minutes now, do them now.

If not, identify now when you’ll do it later. It’ll only take 20 minutes. But, once your recurring diary entries kick in, you’ll always be proactively contacting them, rather than reacting to events. Better for both of you.

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A VERY simple way to make your next presentation interesting and interactive

Most people hate one-way presentations.

You know the type of thing – the presenter talks; the audience listens (or doesn’t).

But everyone prefers it when it’s interactive. It’s easier for the presenter – they don’t have to do all the talking. It’s miles more engaging for the audience.

So, interactivity is good.

But here’s a question for you: on a scale of 1-10, how interactive are your presentations?

Any score under eight is too low.

You want your audience more involved than that. Here's how to bump up your score…

Remember: if you want presentations to be interactive, your audience has to say something.

And that’ll only happen because of one of two reasons:

• They proactively chip-in; or 
• They answer your questions 

The trouble with the first is… they might not.

So, the only way to guarantee your presentations are interactive is to ask good questions.

So, when you prepare, as well as doing slides and run-throughs, you also need to script and practise the questions you’ll ask.

And aim for at least one question on every slide.

These questions should be both First Questions and Second Questions (where you probe into their answers to your Firsts).

For example, one of my customers recently delivered a sales pitch which contained a slide “The four main benefits of choosing us”.

It was a beautifully-crafted slide, packed with compelling benefits… But, until I intervened, they were planning to show the slide, read the benefits, and then hurtle to the next slide.

So, we scripted and practised questions. And, on the day, this slide was up for over ten minutes. And their questions went like this…

• So these are the four benefits that we see. What do you think of them? 
• And have we missed any? 
• Which of these benefits is most important to your business? 
• Why’s that? 
• So how quickly would you like to get that benefit? 
• Why’s that? 
• We can jump on that immediately for you. Have you got the capacity to work with us on it now? 
• That all sounds great. But do you have any concerns about how this might work? 
• I have a few thoughts as to how we could overcome that. But, before I share those, what do you think we could do about this? 
• Why’s that? 
• How about if we also did X? 
• So, we’ve agreed the main benefit is XXXX. What do you think is the next most critical? 
• Why’s that? 
• And so on 

As I said, this slide was up for over ten minutes. Read all these questions out loud and it takes one minute max. That means the audience was talking for nine of the ten minutes. Fully interactive. Fully engaged.

And you’ll never guess what…

… my customer won the business. The feedback they got: “We absolutely got the benefits you’re bringing us, how quickly they’ll happen and our role in ensuring they happen. It was a no-brainer choosing you.”

If you and I were chatting now – rather than you reading this post – I would have scripted and practised this question to ask you now – “when’s your next presentation that you can use this technique?”

But we aren’t chatting. So…

Action point

Identify the next presentation you’re doing, where you could incorporate more questions.

Then, script and practise them – both First and Seconds. Such that these questions feel as comfortable to you as your content.

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How much detail should you include in your next communication?

In the story of the Three Bears, Goldilocks liked her porridge 'just right' – not too hot, not too cold.

Just like the people you speak to. They want your comms to be 'just right' – not too detailed, not too brief.

But what’s the ‘just right’ amount of detail?

Well, I’ve no idea.

It depends. On all sorts of things – the topic, what you think needs including, what they think does.

So how about this: next time you’re preparing a communication for someone, ask them in advance what level of detail they want. Some examples: 

• Asked to create a proposal? Say "Before I write it, let's quickly agree on the content you’d like in there. That way, it'll contain everything you need without boring you with stuff you don’t” 
• Asked by your boss to write something for her? Ask her in advance what the main headings/sections should be, and the level of detail she wants 
• Running a meeting for your team? Ask them what they want in the agenda, and the level of detail they want 

I know, I know... this Tip is hardly the most ground-breaking thinking, is it?

But just because it’s obvious doesn’t mean it happens.

Ask yourself: last time you prepared a communication for someone, did you ask them in advance what they wanted?

And, if you didn’t, did the communication achieve what you wanted?

If not, you know what to do next time.

Action point

Today, someone will ask you to create a communication for them.

So agree in advance what’s to go in there. You want to agree at least two things: (1) the headings plus (2) level of detail.

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This could be costing you and your company a fortune in time, money and energy

Why is it that companies have rigorous processes and sign-off procedures for agreeing to a 200€ expense… but none whatsoever when people do something much more expensive – call a meeting?

Because meetings cost a lot…

• What percentage of your job do you spend in meetings? Multiply that percentage by your salary – that’s the cost to your company of you attending them all 
• But the cost is more than that. Now add on all the profitable, productive work you would have done if you hadn’t been at all those meetings 
• Now do the same exercise for every other employee in your company – that’s how much your company spends on meetings 
• But it’s more than money… 
• Now add on all the time absorbed in these meetings 
• And then there’s the negative impact some meetings have on people’s energy and motivation 
• One more: with recurring meetings, people often just go through the motions. This stifles creativity, thought and discussion – another huge cost 
• Oh, and then there’s hire of rooms and equipment; the cost of refreshments, and so on… 

This list shows how much it costs your company to have so many meetings. If you’re a team leader, you can make it more personal to you – multiply the costs/time/energy sap/Stifling Costs per person by the number of people in your team – that’s the impact on your team’s productivity and happiness.

Now, some meetings, of course, are worth their weight in gold. But, for the ones that aren’t, here’s the link to this post's title again:

     This could be costing you and your company a fortune in time, money and energy 

It could be. It’s right up there, that’s for sure.

So, what to do about it? Well, I can think of three obvious things you could do right now:

1. For all your brilliant meetings – the ones that everyone truly values and enjoys – don’t change a thing. They’re brilliant as they are. Carry on 
2. For all the rubbish, pointless meetings that achieve absolutely nothing? Stop them. Now. It’ll do no harm if you do this. After all, they’re rubbish and pointless 
3. And for all the meetings that are somewhere in between – they do have a point but could be more productive and enjoyable – improve them 

And to improve these meetings, remember my PALM technique:

• Purpose – identify your meeting’s purpose – what you want to happen as a result of it. Usually, this will be one of two things beginning with A – you Agree on something and/or there’ll be some Actions 
• Agenda – once you know your purpose, work backward from there. What are the only things you need to decide, to achieve this purpose? That’s your agenda 
• Limit the time – don’t schedule meetings for one hour because Outlook is split into one-hour chunks. That’s just ridiculous. If a meeting can be done in ten minutes, put it in for ten minutes 
• Minimal attendees – the more attendees, the slower/worse the decision making. So, only invite the people who need to be there, to achieve the meeting’s purpose 

Remember, if you attend eight one-hour meetings every week, that means you spend a fifth of your job in meetings. And, unless they’re all brilliant, that’s way too much. 

Action point

Look through this week’s diary. Label each meeting as:

1. Brilliant 
2. Rubbish 
3. Somewhere in between 

And then, for each one:

1. If it’ll be brilliant – attend it. You’ll love it 
2. If it’ll be rubbish – if you’re the owner, cancel it. If someone else is, decline it (politely of course. Oh, unless it’s your boss’s boss’s boss’s meeting… in which case, maybe just go!) 
3. If it’s somewhere in between, improve it with PALM

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No tech is sometimes better than high tech

Over a recent long weekend away, I saw something weird…

It was a family of four, sat around a square table in the hotel. All were staring intently at their own smartphones. They weren’t looking at each other. Weren’t speaking to each other. Nothing.

The group I was with finished breakfast then popped back upstairs to freshen up and then we walked back past the restaurant on the way to the reception.  And, I noticed the family were still there. In exactly the same position. Staring at their phones. Ignoring each other.

Then it suddenly dawned on me: you see this sort of thing all the time.

Like, when people arrive at a meeting, and the first thing they do is put their phone next to them. Face up. This suggests to me they think “someone more important than you might contact me. If they do, I’ll interrupt you, to see what they want.”

Or when someone misses something important in a meeting/presentation, because they’re looking at their phone. And they then expect you to repeat it! (To me, this suggests “this person on the phone who I can’t see is more important than you, who I can.”)

I’ve even heard that, when some people wake up, they roll over to their phone first, not their partner (this suggests “anybody is more important to me than you.”)

Now, of course, smartphones are brilliant.

Sometimes.

For example, I really need mine. It means I can get back to my customers super-fast.

And, let’s face it, you’re possibly reading this post on yours!

But real life is better than virtual life.

Real people are better than virtual people.

And the person who’s speaking to you – the person who has gone through all the effort and emotion of preparing what they’re saying – is more important than any virtual person who isn’t there.

So here are some things to consider:

• Download the App “Moment”. It shows how long you spend on your phone each day. This is very useful (and potentially alarming!) to know 
• Go and see your colleagues. As in, actually, walk to their desks and have a conversation with them 
• In a meeting? Leave your phone in your bag 
• Speaking to your team? Ban everyone’s phones from the meeting 
• Away from the office? Spend time away from your phone 
• Going out for dinner? Leave your phone at home (I remember taking my teenage son Jack and three of his friends out for pizza. When we sat down, his friends took their phones out. I said, “if you expect me to pay for this, the least you can do is speak to me”. Jack thought that was a fair enough request. They were amazed. I doubt they’d ever heard something like that before) 
• Going to bed? Leave your phone outside the bedroom. If you need it for an alarm clock, buy an alarm clock 

And the next time you find yourself with a group of other human beings, talk to them, engage with them, show an interest and have fun...

…because they are more important than anything else.

No matter what your phone says.

Action point

Spend less time on your phone.

Encourage your team to spend less time on theirs.

And that’s it.

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Super simple. Super quick. Super powerful…

Communication is supposed to cause something. If it doesn’t, there’s no point doing it. And one simple way to ensure your comms do cause action… … is to change your last thing so it mentions actions: Meetings – ensure the last item on every agenda is “Actions Arising”. This means there’ll be actions. Don’t end with “Any Other Business”. This just allows people to rant about whatever’s on their mind  Conference calls – same as meetings (after all, a conference call is simply a meeting when you aren’t in the same room). So end with “Actions Arising”, not “Any Other Business”  Presentations – Title your last slide “Next steps”. Underneath, write the actions you want your audience to do. When you do this, they’re more likely to do them. But when your final slide says “Thank you”, they’ll reply “You’re welcome. Now get out”  Emails – Begin your last sentence with the words “Please can you”. And then specify what you want the recipient to do. That’s much better than “I look forward to hearing from you” – which means you often don’t  You get the idea. Always end by stating what you want people to do… and they’re much more likely to do it. Action point – Super simple. Super quick. Super powerful… Preview today’s diary. Look at all your meetings, presentations, conference calls and emails… Ensure every single one ends with a Call To Action. Know people who'd enjoy reading this post? Please forward it on, and introduce them to our Blog :)

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How to write documents that get results

There are billions of written documents in the world.

It probably feels like you’ve read most of them.

But how many were exactly what the reader wanted?

How many did the writer enjoy writing?

How many had the desired effect?

Not many?

None?

You see this everywhere:

• Tedious emails that don’t get a reply 
• Wordy proposals that don’t seal the deal. Or that the customer doesn’t even bother replying to 
• Tedious Board Papers that arrive too late to read in time for the meeting 
• Reports that people prepare for their boss, only to be told to re-do them 

Sound familiar?

If so, remember these three words…

Confirmation, not exploration.

In other words, when you write something, wherever possible, it should be a confirmation of what you’ve already agreed verbally, rather than you exploring new ideas on paper.

For example, proposals. Before you put pen to paper, you should have verbally agreed with the customer:

• The solution they want from you 
• The price they’re willing to pay 
• The structure/headings of your proposal 
• When you’ll have a follow-up call after they’ve read it 

Once you’ve agreed on these, your proposal becomes a short document confirming everything you’ve already agreed. It’s clearly miles more likely to work than you sitting in a darkened room, guessing what they want you to write, not being sure, so filling it with as much stuff as you can.

So, next time you’re asked to create a written document, say something like this…

“Yes, I’ll write that for you. But the last thing I want to do is bore you with irrelevant information. So, can I ask you a couple of quick questions before I write it?”

(Trust me, they’ll answer your questions. They are not going to say “it’s ok – be irrelevant.”)

And then ask whatever questions you need to, to get their verbal confirmation about content. Things like:

• What content do you want in there? 
• What do you not want me to include? 
• What headings do you want? 
• When do you want it by? 
• When shall we have a follow-up chat after you’ve read it? 

And so, you know that document you’re about to write today…

Action point

… If you haven’t done so already, contact the reader, tell them you don’t want to bore them with irrelevant content and ask them about content, structure and so on.

It’ll save you both loads of time. And your document will be much more likely to impress them. And to work.

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