Bu siness skills: b et ter me etings 1 — 21 business englisch bu sin es s e n g L is

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---

36 
Business Spotlight
1/2021
CAREERS
appealing: make sb. ~
,
dafür sorgen, dass jmd. gut ankommt
(
appealing
,
ansprechend, attraktiv)
appropriate 
[E(prEUpriEt]
,
angemessen, sach-/situationsgerecht
bark out orders
,
laut und in barschem Tonfall Befehle 
erteilen
calibrate (sth.) 
[(kÄlEbreIt]
,
(etw.) kalibrieren, anpassen
comprehend (sth.)
,
(etw.) verstehen
contravene sth. 
[)kQntrE(vi:n]
,
im Widerspruch zu etw. stehen
critique (sth.) 
[)krI(ti:k] 
,
an etw. Kritik üben; 
hier:
kritisch auf
etw. zurückblicken
diverge wildly 
[daI(v§:dZ]
,
stark voneinander abweichen;
hier:
sehr unterschiedlich ausfallen
hostile 
[(hQstaI&l]
,
feindselig
make a noise
,
hier:
etw. von sich geben
nuance 
[(nju:A:ns]
,
Nuancierung, Abstufung;
hier auch:
Feinabstimmung
obstruction
,
Behinderung, Blockierung
pacing
,
Tempo
pitch sth.
,
etw. präsentieren
precede sth. 
[pri(si:d]
,
etw. vorangehen; 
hier:
vor etw.
Priorität haben 
rapport 
[rÄ(pO:]
,
gutes, kommunikatives Verhältnis
sensitive 
[(sensEtIv]
,
feinfühlig; 
hier: 
Fingerspitzengefühl 
erfordernd
setback
,
Rückschlag
stage
,
hier:
(Prozess-)Phase
timeline
,
Zeitrahmen, -plan
Maybe, we’re the problem
If we misunderstand the barriers to col-
laboration, our efforts to persuade others 
are almost certain to fail. To better under-
stand the barriers, it helps if we see our-
selves rather than others as the source of 
the problem. If we just assume that our 
“urgent” is more important than anoth-
er person’s “urgent”, this is unlikely to be 
persuasive. Insisting on our own view of 
timelines and quality is not the smart-
est way of getting others to do what we 
want. And asking others to react to our 
priorities before we have shown the same 
behaviour towards them is hardly a good 
model. Few people react with unlimit-
ed joy to others telling them what they 
should do. This contravenes the basic 
human impulse for autonomy and inde-
pendence from tyranny. 
Our efforts to influence others often 
lack understanding of their challenges, 
priorities, perspectives and underlying 
values. More fundamentally, unless we 
have a sufficiently good relationship 
with the other person, we may not have 
earned the right to demand anything in a 
professional context, where multiple high 
priorities coexist and compete — often 
without anyone having the authority to 
say what matters most. 
An influencing process
As with any act of communication, re-
flecting and strategizing before we start 
to speak will make our efforts to influ-
ence others more intelligent and effec-
tive. The following “5-C” process can be 
used both generally in key relationships 
and also for specific conversations in 
which you wish to influence someone. 
The process will definitely bring great-
er success — but the first person you 
need to influence is yourself. You have 
to convince yourself that it is worth the 
time you will need to invest.