Welcome, and congratulations for reaching the review module of English for Finance and Economics. To get the most out of this lesson, locate the review video worksheet. Do you have it? At the top, you should see a list of objectives for this course. As you read over them, I hope you feel a sense of accomplishment, as this list represents the knowledge and skills you should be able to demonstrate in your peer review assignment and on your unit test. Maybe you're like me. Whenever I near the end of anything, I usually become reflective. Maybe for this course, you've already started looking back, reflecting on your impressive accomplishments. As I was in this reflective state, I came across a quote by Jonathan Swift, an important Irish writer from the 17th century who said something like, wise people have money in their head, but not in their heart. I found this quote startling because it seemed to embody our objectives for this course and your modern role in finance. Why not take the end video poll so we can see how many people agree with this statement, and how many disagree? Okay, we're going to begin our review with a scenario, and here it is. Your first quarter sales revenue fall short of projections. In preparation for your presentation to the board, you send an email to the sales manager requesting a meeting. Let's talk about this. Let's talk about tone and power. How do you want the tone of your email to be perceived? Let's say you are really worried about the sales revenue variance. Would you use words like upset or worried in your email? No, [LAUGH] you wouldn't would you? And why not? You wouldn't use words like upset or worried or problem in an email because these kinds of negative words can create a negative or fearful tone. Here's a challenge question. Why is it important that you don't create a negative or fearful tone? Well, you want to avoid this type of tone because it can provoke defensiveness. Here's another question. What word can you use instead of the word problem in an email that is more neutral and less likely to provoke defensiveness? One word that you could use instead of problem, is the word issue. Let's talk about power and let's say you meet with the sales manager. After the meeting, the sales manager sends you a thank you note. He thanks you for helping him through the numbers. Commenting that you're always so knowledgeable and supportive. Now, in the situation, what type of power affects your leadership ability? Is it coercive, reward, and legitimate? No, it definitely isn't, is it? These types of power are formal, often coming from a place of employment or involvement in an organization. If the message in the thank-you note doesn't indicate formal power, does it indicate personal power? [LAUGH] It does, doesn't it? How do we know? Well, personal power includes expert power and referent power. Do you remember which one comes from knowledge and skills and which one comes from earned respect? If you weren't sure about this, review Module Four. Now, why do you think the sales manager was so happy with your help? Well, it's probably because you really listened. Then, you ask questions to help him understand the cause of the issue and understand the effects on his next quarter budget. Do you remember how to use cause and effect language? If you want to practice using this language, take the in video quiz. Now, I'm just wondering what probing questions you use to get the sales manager to understand the reasons they miss their sales targets. Maybe you used an open question like, what do you think caused this to happen? And maybe you followed that question with why. Now let's practice giving reasons and explaining the causes for a monthly budget variance. Before you can write your budget variance report, you have to understand the reasons you are over budget. So you contact the Finance Manager to get more details. Let's imagine this conversation. I'll be the Finance Manager and you be the Human Resource Manager. Hello, Wanda Huberts speaking. Now you ask me to help you. Uh-huh, oh, I'll be happy to help you understand the reason your indirect labor costs are 11.8% over budget. What I do next is tell you the reasons for what caused the variances in fixed and variable costs. Let's continue with the imagined conversation. The 2.2% variance in management salaries was due to the fact that an IT manager from another division was helping on an emergency project. Did you hear due to? What other language could you use to show a cause and effect relationship? Near the beginning of this video, I told you that you were preparing your presentation to the board. Using the graph on your review worksheet, what questions will you anticipate a member of the board might ask? And how does anticipating questions help you in making a formal presentation. Did you say that it helps you answer with poise and without defensiveness? [LAUGH] Then you've made me very happy. Continue looking at the same graph. I'm sure you anticipated questions that asked you about the variances. When you plan the answers to these questions you will use language for showing movement up and down. How many of you're new vocabulary words can you use to describe the movements on this graph in complete sentences. Now let's take a minute to reflect on the key takeaways in this lesson. There are five types of power that can be divided into two categories, formal and personal. The formal types of power are coercive, reward, and legitimate. The personal types of power are expert and referent. In written correspondence like emails, try to use neutral language and avoid negative words. An example of a negative word that might provoke defensiveness or set a fearful tone is the word problem. Instead, use the word issue. Being able to express a cause and effect relationship is important and necessary to understanding and explaining variances. Words and phrases such as, as a result of, as a result, due to the fact that, due to, since, because, and because of are examples. To help yourself be able to answer difficult questions with poise and without offensiveness, anticipate the questions that you may be asked. Being a good listener helps you to build relationships and improve your personal power. There are common expressions for describing movement up and down on a graph or a chart. In part two of this review, you'll consider an issue of integrity, review the process for negotiating a win-win solution. In addition, you'll practice using language for signaling contrast and addition. This concludes part one of this review video. Thank you for your dedication, and I look forward to seeing you in part two of this review module.
