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Useful hints for ESL teachers

Douglas Magrath Education

Content and grammar go together as learners strive towards the goal of L2 proficiency and communication skills. The various sub-skills of grammar, listening, reading, writing, and cultural awareness all work together in the language acquisition process. Grammar is especially important to ensure communication, but the material presented should be meaningful and relevant to the learners' daily lives. Grammar is best presented in a meaningful context rather than in isolation.

Let’s not kid ourselves: The real reason for employee turnover

Roberta Matuson Business Management, Services & Risk Management

I recently received a call from a CEO who was concerned about the sudden increase in employee turnover in his organization. He couldn't understand why anyone would leave his firm. He then went down a laundry list of perks he recently added. I let him speak and then said, "Tell me something. Is this turnover happening throughout the organization or is there a particular area where you've noticed a spike?" He thought about it and said, "It seems most of the turnover is taking place in Bob's department. There are a few leaders in his operation who can be a bit abrupt at times — maybe even a bit abusive, but they're hitting their numbers." Boom! There you have it.

5 tips to create blog posts that get shared on social

Emma Fitzpatrick Marketing

If you're already spending the time creating good content on your blog, you want to do everything you can to get more eyes on it. One of the best ways to do that is by creating blog posts that answer the questions you hear most from your customers and leads. Of course, you’ll want to sprinkle a bit of long-tail keyword research in there for good measure! It can be as simple as typing in the phrase you think you want to write about into an incognito browser and seeing what other search terms arise. From there, a few tweaks to how you format your content, write your title or determine your word count could be just what you need to increase the social shares for your blog posts.

Tips on how school counselors can use technology to up their game

Christy Conley Education

In a time when school counselor caseloads can vary from the desired ASCA model number of 250 students per counselor to a caseload of over 900 students, counseling offices are constantly searching for avenues to produce large results with limited time and resources. Utilizing new technology is a great way to reach the masses and leave a lasting impression. New apps and websites are constantly hitting the market and can help counselors work smarter and not harder. This article features a few of my favorites.

The great proposal: Solutioning to strengths when faced with a recompete

Lisa Pafe Civil & Government

The great proposal did not start out great. In the beginning, 15 months prior to RFP release, there were the usual problems we faced when preparing for a recompete. Red flags included project startup issues that resulted in mediocre CPARS ratings, difficult client relationships, competing stakeholder demands, customer turnover on the acquisition side, and no dedicated Capture Manager or Capture Plan. Since this recompete represented the company’s largest federal contract, the CEO knew she had to take action.And that’s when the trajectory, which had been turning towards a possible proposal loss, started to reverse course.

Gap analysis improves associations

William D. Pawlucy Association Management

The dictionary defines a gap as an incomplete or deficient area. A gap analysis is what an organization conducts to identify these incomplete or deficient areas in order to move from its current state to its ideal and desired future state. Every nonprofit can benefit from a gap analysis annually and in conjunction with reviewing its strategic plan. So, how do you perform a gap analysis while integrating it into your organization's strategic plan?

How the IoT powers predictive maintenance in manufacturing

Joseph Zulick Manufacturing

For far too often maintenance has been treated as expendable. Now, however, the internet of things (IoT) has brought along technology in a useful package to help maintain factories. New sensor technology can measure pressure, distance, temperature, and much more in a smaller package and from greater distances. No longer are you required to modify a machine or tool. You can now use external laser technology to measure quality and keep track of machine maintenance. If you want to know if the machine is deviating outside of its temperature range, you’ll know. If you need to track power usage, you can even see the readout from a beach in Florida.

5 surprising ways to improve your marketing reputation

Lisa Mulcahy Marketing

Consumer trust: it's every company's bread and butter. Yet you may be damaging that profit cornerstone in ways you aren't even aware of, causing unnecessary dips in your bottom line. Subtle mistakes in misreading your audience or larger issues with the way your organization does business can have an unexpected impact on how well you do with the next marketing campaign you launch. Try these surprising strategies to reboot your rep.

Training is an investment, not a cost

Catherine Iste Business Management, Services & Risk Management

The race to attract skilled labor is on. Productivity may be slowing but it is still moving in a positive direction, and new unemployment applications are still declining. And according to a recent analysis by The Economist, American manufacturing, particularly among "agile smaller firms using advanced techniques" may be expanding. While this tight labor market may look different than the one before the recession, one thing is consistent: the most challenging staffing shortage is in skilled labor. Because of this, organizations across industries must recognize that training is an investment, not a cost.

Check that behavior at the door

Anne Rose Business Management, Services & Risk Management

As a manager, how do you respond to behavior you don't approve of, whether it's because it violates company policy or company culture? Perhaps that behavior isn't terribly offensive but just a little annoying that you can almost ignore it. For example, one employee clocks in three minutes late without a compelling reason. That’s not so bad, is it? Yes, it is that bad, because of human nature. The old adage, "give an inch, take a foot,” applies. That three-minute tardiness, unaddressed, insidiously and chronically morphs into 10-minute tardiness, or 30-minute tardiness, or one hour.

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