Market Leader Upper Intermediate Unit 1
Pick one of the situations below and ask your partners’ advice (explaining your problem in more detail and with fuller sentences).
– An American boss who keeps telling you to relax
– Suddenly finding out that the gesture you have been using for the number two is rude to all your British colleagues
– A boss who only has an Elementary level in your shared languages
– Working in a French company and never knowing how to pronounce or spell people’s names
– Your boss receiving complaints about your telephone manner
– Being asked to give a presentation on communication skills to this year’s new recruits
– Always mixing up 15 and 50, 16 and 60 etc when people dictate numbers to you
– Being asked by your American boss “What are you looking so guilty about?” when you are not feeling guilty at all
– Rivals for promotion who are much more articulate than you
– Long and rambling emails from your boss
– Everyone saying that you are too direct or even rude, even though you followed the new company policy on succinct memos
– Your colleagues being too susceptible to persuasive salesmen and so often choosing the wrong suppliers
– Being naturally reserved but getting a new role that involves lots of networking
– Not understanding your Australian colleagues’ jokes
– Latin colleagues who are happy digressing from the agenda of the meeting, which drives you nuts
– Someone on a technical support helpline who uses loads of technical jargon
– A colleague who uses abbreviations and emoticons you don’t understand
– Leaving meetings without really getting what the main point was
– Being blamed for a breakdown in communication that resulted in lost business
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PDF version for easy saving and printing: Advice on business communications
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