Weathering a storm and promoting an agile mentality.

  

This lesson is about the need for people and companies to have the ability to be resilient in times of UPHEAVEL and the use of metaphors in business English when describing processes or situations. 

Objective – Speak with more confidence on matters relating to specific situations in business and personal life. Improve listening comprehension through videos and tasks. 

Class duration – One - 2 hour session \ Number of students – 1 – 4 

The majority of corrections are given in real time during the online class with notes taken and written in the CHAT option in Microsoft teams, google MEET or skype.

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The above MOVIECLIP for me is reminiscent of the images on the television from Merrill lynch and other companies on Wallstreet as the disastrous economic crises of 2008 began to UNFOLD.  

The attitude prior to 2008 was to APPLAUD risk takers and be brazen in the face of doubt. major entrepreneurs in Ireland were championed for having the confidence to build the highest skyscrapers in Chicago and EVERYDAY people were buying second or even third homes on what was considered a working class wage until the bubble burst and modest people found themselves DROWNING in negative equity. 

Although it is said again and again, it is true, we are living in a much more globalised market place where trends, crises and UPHEAVELS seem to occur daily. Both people and companies have to develop new skills and TUNE INTO the characteristics needed to overcome and grow in such a volatile market place. 

AGILITY -- What's  it all about in business and life ? 

Life is complicated and gets more so as we progress through it. For companies as the world continues to become more and more integrated and global opportunities arise but so to do major challenges situations can change quickly and both people and companies have to have the ability tchange and readapt. 

LISTENING -- 

So to be AGILE is to be flexibile this ability needs to be examined and understood both in relation to the individual growing up and to a company operating in an ever increasing global market.

Below is a BBC ideas video on the importance of flexibility in human development. Put the categories blow in the correct order the appear in the video. 

1. The stroop test. 

2. Taking more control over your environment. 

3. Using resourses to deal with stress. 

4. How  a baby's brain is born. 

5. Defining flexibility. 

The benefits of flexible thinking | BBC Ideas (youtube.com)

PART TWO - 

Q 1. What does the narrator say about the infant brain? 

Q2. How can you 'wire ' your childs brain in a functional way ? 

Q3. Describe the STROOP test in your own words. 

Q4. What does it imply if a person performs badly on the test. 

Q5. How is the term 'languishing' described? 

Q6. How can you take more control over your environment and what are the benefits ?

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Weathering a storm -- Above we looked at how flexibility in an individual's development can be very beneficial in tackling what the world throws at us as we go through our lives. This same sense of agility can be viewed through different lenses within a company.There are five basic lenses.  

Organisational - the ability of an organisation to anticipate, prepare and respond to adverse events. 

Systems - the ability of a system to withstand major disruption. 

Design - the international design of a product to reduce vulnerabilities. 

Community - the sustained ability of a community to utilise resources to withstand adverse events. 

Individual - the behaviours, thoughts and actions that allow a person recover from stress and adversity.