Interaction Styles in The Workplace - Review

INTERACTION STYLES IN THE WORKPLACE - BUSINESS PARTNERS 2
CONTENT:
VOCABULARY:
ELEMENTS OF CORPORATE CULTURE
TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT
FINANCE & ECONOMIC CRISES
DIGITAL BUSINESS AND TECHNOLOGY
REWARDING PERFORMANCE
BUSINESS ETHICS
MANAGING TIME
CHANGE MANAGEMENT
PROJECT:
COMPANY POLICY
INDUCTION TO A NEW JOB
RESEARCH THE HISTORY OF A BANK OR FINANCIAL INSTITUTION
DISRUPTIVE TECHNOLOGY
MOVING UP IN THE COMPANY
SURVEY - HOW ETHICAL ARE YOUR CLOTHES
THE WORKING FROM HOME DEBATE
ADAPTABILITY QUIZ
READING
WORK-LIFE BALANCE SCHEMES
ADIDAS RAISES TARGETS
HOW TO DEVELOP A REWARDING CULTURE
SPEAKING
HOW DO SEE YOURSELF IN THE FUTURE?
AGREEING ACTION POINTS
DISCUSSING FUTURE CHANGES
TRADE SHOW DEMONSTRATION OF AN APP
CONCESSIONS AND COMPROMISES IN YOUR OWN LIFE
DISCUSS AN ORGANIZATION'S ETHICAL PERFORMANCE
LISTENING
STRATEGY FOR TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT ACROSS A WHOLE
COMPANY
PRODUCT PRESENTATIONS AT A TRADE SHOW
WRITING
A MEMO OUTLINING ACTION POINTS
INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE APP
THE TRIPLE BOTTOM LINE
TELLING AND REPORTING A STORY
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COMMUNICATION SKILLS
BUILDING RELATIONSHIPS
TEAM COMMUNICATION
MANAGING BAD NEWS
HANDLING DIFFICULT COMMUNICATORS
MANAGING CHALLENGING FEEDBACK
TRANSPARENCY IN BUSINESS
DEALING WITH URGENCY
COACHING AND MENTORING
FUNCTIONAL LANGUAGE
BUILDING TRUST
EXCHANGE IDEAS
RESPONDING TO BAD MEWS
KEEPING A MEETING ON TRACK
RESPONIDING TO CHALLENGING FEEDBACK
VOICING AND RESPONDING TO CONCERN
DISCUSSING PRIORITIES
COACHING AND MENTORING
SELF-PRESENTATION
FACILITATING A DISCUSSION
ASKING FOR CLARIFICATION AND PARAPHRASING
REACHING AGREEMENT IN A NEGOTIATION
LEADING AND PARTICIPATING IN REVIEW MEETINGS
SELLING A PRODUCT OR SERVICE
LEADING AND PARTICIPATING IN REVIEW MEETINGS
DEALING WITH DIFFCICULTIES IN NEGOTIATIONS
LEADING AND BRAINSTORMING SESSION
BUSINESS SKILLS
PRESENTING YOURSELF
FACILITATING A MEETING
TELEPHONING TO CLARIFY
NEGOTIATING STRATEGIES
REVIEWING PROJECTS
DIFFICULT MEGOTIATIONS
BRAINSTORMING
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INTERACTION STYLES IN THE WORKPLACE - BUSINESS PARTNERS 2
VOCABULARY:
ELEMENTS OF CORPORATE CULTURE
1. Transparent
Employees and customers alike greatly value transparency—but despite this truth,
many companies struggle to add transparency in the workplace when it comes to key
information and decisions.
Check out how Buffer uses transparency to lead their company values.
Pingboard adds transparency and connects your workforce with our org chart software
+ employee directory!
Keep your team connected wherever work happens, get started for free
2. Connected
A connected company culture is one where every employee feels accepted, valued,
and has a sense of belonging. Employees at connected companies are able to share
ideas quickly and work together easily. Companies with a connected culture have
engaged employees that share common goals.
3. Nurturing
Companies that nurture employees are willing to work with each individual to set
professional development goals and help them grow with the organization.
4. Autonomous
Nobody likes to be micromanaged at work, which makes autonomy an attractive
quality for employees. For example, Netflix encourages independent decision-making
by employees and fosters freedom and empowerment at work.
5. Motivating
When employees are in the right environment, they’re more energized and motivated
to achieve business and performance goals.
6. Happy
It’s not enough for employees to be satisfied—you want them to be happy at work
and enjoy what they do so they don’t jump ship. Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh emphasizes
employee happiness and work-life balance within the organization.
Find out how happy your employees are!
Download Employee Satisfaction Survey Templates

7. Progressive
People want to work for a company that’s growing, innovating, and trying new things
—which is exactly what progressive organizations do.
High-growth startups often have more progressive work environments.
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For example, high-growth startups often have more progressive work environments.
8. Flexible
The workplace is different today from what it once was—employees are no longer
willing to live the 9-5 “cubicle lifestyle” that has been the standard for so long. As a
fully remote company, HubSpot is flexible and consistently emphasizes the
importance of work-life fit.
9. Casual
Employees today (especially millennials and Gen Zers) expect the workplace to be a
relaxed environment with a casual vibe and dress code.
10. Innovative
Innovation is an important constant for companies that grow and thrive. Marriott
plays a big role in the modern hospitality industry, focusing on shaping the “future of
travel” through technology and continued innovation.
11. Inclusive
Diversity and inclusion is a hot topic in HR and recruitment, and it’s also a key
priority for plenty of companies. In an inclusive working environment, diversity is
always welcomed and appreciated.
12. Fun
Who says work can’t be fun? Organizations that create opportunities for fun on a
regular basis are more likely to engage and retain their employees.
13. Curious
Curious organizations are always willing to explore new processes, ways of thinking,
and approaches to solving problems.
14. Collaborative
The best ideas are born from great collaborations. Greenhouse celebrates
collaboration, with a strong emphasis on working together to achieve success.
15. Relaxed
A relaxed work environment is one where employees have some freedom to work in
the ways they’re most comfortable and productive.
16. Challenging
Employees want to be pushed and challenged in the workplace so they can learn,
grow, and evolve.
17. Empathetic
In an empathetic workplace, feelings are valued and acknowledged through active
listening, open communication, and support in difficult situations. Recruiterbox
strives to foster such an environment by assessing candidates during interviews to
determine which are the most empathetic.
18. Engaging
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At an engaging organization, employees are highly invested and inspired to do their
best work for the company—and are more likely to stick around.
19. Rewarding
A rewarding company culture is one that recognizes employees when they exceed
expectations or go above and beyond. (Whether it’s a shout-out or a gift card, a little
recognition goes a long way!)
Encourage employees to celebrate each other with peer-to-peer recognition initiatives
Encourage employees to celebrate each other with peer-to-peer recognition initiatives.
20. Nimble
Nimble companies are agile and adaptable, with a constant willingness to course-
correct and rethink strategies, processes, and approaches.
21. Respectful
In a respectful workplace, employees are encouraged to express opinions and ideas
without interruption—and their coworkers are expected to be courteous when they do
just that.
22. Trusting
Trust is a vital component when it comes to building strong working relationships,
strong teams, and a strong company culture. It’s also a two-way street.
See what your employees would change
Test Employee Satisfaction - Survey Template

23. Welcoming
At companies with a welcoming culture, employees are friendly, more likely to build
internal employee networks, and plan team events to spend time with coworkers
outside the office. Remember that your onboarding process will be the first
impression employees have of your company, and has the potential for setting them
up for success.
These are all positive words to describe company culture; however, part of building
an awesome workplace culture is knowing what you want to avoid.
Keep your team connected wherever work happens, get started for free
Negative words to describe company culture
The following words describe the type of company culture you don’t want to build:
24. Toxic
A toxic workplace is one where either the atmosphere, the work, or the people on the
team are dramatic, negative, and disruptive.
25. Boring
Of course, nobody likes to be bored at work—the minutes tick by so slowly that they
feel like hours. Companies with a boring culture are stagnant.
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26. Siloed
Despite technological advancements that help bridge the gap, some organizations
remain extremely siloed. Departments don’t talk to one another, and communication
is lacking—which is frustrating and inefficient.
27. Outdated
Some organizations are simply outdated, whether it’s because of antiquated
technology, company practices, or both.
28. Biased
Whether conscious or unconscious, bias is never welcome in the workplace. But
unfortunately, it’s still a big problem for plenty of companies.
29. Unsupportive
In an unsupportive work environment, employees lack the support they need to grow
with the company, develop professionally, and expand on their skill sets.
30. Hostile
Hostile work environments are overly competitive and can be harmful to employees’
personal well-being and mental health.
31. Stressful
We’ve all worked for a company where every single situation that crops up is treated
like a fire drill. And let’s be honest—nobody wants to be in that type of environment
on a daily basis.
32. Micromanaged
Nobody likes to be micromanaged. Employees who are micromanaged are usually
less engaged, and they are less likely to stick around.
33. Disengaged
A disengaged culture is one that employees don’t want to be a part of. Low
engagement is known to cause high employee turnover rates, poor job performance,
and inefficient processes.
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TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT
Workplace Training
enables employees to gain the knowledge required to perform their duties
learn different skill sets to perform their daily tasks efficiently, improve overall
performance, develop efficiency in their job, and avoid violations of laws and
regulations.
=> ensure that employees are productive and engaged, which leads to greater
retention and job satisfaction over time.
Different types of workplace training programs for employees

Orientation Training
Onboarding Training
Compliance Training
Product Training
Leadership Training
Technical Training
Quality Assurance (Q/A) Training
Sales Training
Soft-Skills Training
Team Training
Diversity Training
Safety Training
Upskilling
Reskilling
1. Orientation Training: provides basic organizational information that new hires need
to prepare for their role in a company. => a 1-2 days process
Self-paced online learning programs for job-specific technical training.
Online courses to explain the ins and outs of enterprise software.
Information on safety procedures.
Hands-on training on machines and equipment.
In-person group training sessions for soft skills training like customer service, team-
building, and client management.
Formal courses through outside vendors on business and other topics.
2. Onboarding Training: getting your new hires up to speed, understanding their new
responsibilities, getting familiar with company culture, and becoming productive team
members quickly. => a series of events that take place for a duration of a week, a
month, or even a year in some cases.
Functional training to provide an overview of the organization’s products/services,
clients/customers, and organizational structure.
Online or instructor-led training to provide information on corporate information,
sales, business plans, goals, and objectives in the form of video onboarding.
Facilitated discussions between the new hire and managers to clarify expectations,
priorities, and deliverables.
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Overview of company goals, organizational chart, and employee KPIs based on the
job descriptions.
Information about compliance.
A 30-60-90 day plan personalized to each employee according to their role, goals, and
projects.
3. Compliance Training: educates employees on the laws and regulations applicable to

their job function or industry.
Anti-harassment: Anti-harassment compliance training programs administer guidance
and measures for responding to incidents like bullying, harassment, and sexual
harassment.
Diversity training: Diversity training emphasizes the strengths of diversity and

addresses how to work with people of different ethnicities, genders, sexual
orientations, ages, mental or physical abilities, etc.
Cybersecurity training: These programs include how to manage sensitive and

confidential information efficiently and train staff on the strategies, tools, and systems
needed to protect personal data.
Business ethics: The ethics & compliance training programs include risk assessment
training, methods to encourage whistleblowing, employee accountability structures,
and a system for addressing grey areas/conflicts of interest.
4. Product training: includes all the information about your organization’s goods,
services, or products that employees need to learn to perform their jobs effectively.
Product training for sales reps: Train the sales team on the product to improve their
communication with the customer, overcome prospects’ objections, and close deals
faster.
Product knowledge training for customer service: Train the support team on the
technical aspects of the product – how it works, what parts it consists of, and how to
fix it.
Product training for a marketing team: Training on distinctive features and benefits of
the product to create an effective positioning and promotion strategy.
Product knowledge training for customers: Train your customers on how to use the
product and achieve great results – this can also be known as product adoption.
5. Leadership training: helps them better understand their current roles and learn what
it takes to become exceptional leaders in the future.
Increase employee morale and retention
Promote better decision making
Build better teams
Improve leadership styles
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6. Technical training: enables your workforce to build core technical skills and master
the technical aspects of their jobs.
Demonstrate a clear link between technical training and career progression to keep
employees motivated and engaged throughout the course.
Demonstrate how technical training can positively impact an employee’s real work.
Use subject matter experts to enable effective instructor-led training sessions.
Allow learners to customize their training to make them engage more with the
content.
Lecture-based, hours-long training is no longer an effective mode of training for the
modern workforce. Deliver your technical training courses with easy-to-understand
interactive methods
7. Quality assurance training: helps employees better understand quality assurance

activities and improve processes that ensure the final product or service meets set
quality standards, which leads to customer satisfaction and loyalty.
Establish trust and integrity with customers.
Reduce wastage, improve profit margins, and accelerate growth.
Build a company culture that prioritizes quality products.
Build meaningful customer relationships and customer loyalty.
An educated and engaged employee base.
8. Sales Training: designed to improve your sales team’s skills by teaching them sales
techniques, software tools, and novel approaches to selling.
Identify opportunities for improvement using resources like customer service surveys,
recorded calls, online reviews, and data intelligence tools.
Identify your sales team’s weakest areas like people skills, lead generation, closing
deals, etc.
Seek out a sales training program designed specifically to improve the identified weak
areas of your team.
9. Soft-Skills Training: focus on personal attributes, such as communication, conflict

resolution, and problem-solving, that are necessary for an individual’s success and
career development.
The steps to design a soft skills training program for your organization:
Decide what soft skills are necessary for your employees.
Assess employee soft skills via self-assessments.
Identify the resources required depending on the type of training.
Set goals to assess the effectiveness of the training program.
Share the benefits of the training program with your employees to engage them.
Provide ongoing feedback to learners.
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10. Team Training: encourages beneficial team dynamics, ensures every team
member has the same professional growth opportunities and improves employee
morale, collective efficacy, and member satisfaction.
Here’s how you can effectively implement team training in a workplace:
Use your team’s input to determine training needs.
Establish a training schedule that suits every team member.
Implement team-building sessions across different departments working towards the
same organizational objectives.
Explain how every individual contributes to the overall team training objective to get
their buy-in and give them a sense of purpose.
Focus on good team-building skills to unite employees around a common goal and
increase productivity.
Cater to the different learning needs of your team.
Follow up after training sessions.
11. Diversity Training: create awareness for diversity-focused issues within the
workplace with an aim to facilitate positive interactions and reduce prejudice and
discrimination among employees.
=> Create an effective diversity training strategy with these steps:
Conduct a thorough assessment to identify key diversity and inclusion barriers.
Research and analyze the assessment data to develop objectives and goals.
Develop a clear, detailed definition of what the program should entail.
Create common goals for all employees.
Look out for an expert to run the program.
All employees, including senior executives, must participate in the training sessions.
Focus on a long-term plan led by experts rather than producing a short-term solution
as a reaction to a specific event.
12. Safety training: involve physical labor as it reduces the risk to individual
employees as well as a company’s potential liabilities.
13. Upskilling: the process of employees learning new skills and acquiring relevant
competencies needed for today’s work environment as well as for the near future.
=> focuses on improving employees’ skill sets, usually through continuous training
programs, to help them advance in their jobs.
Some steps you can take to upskill your workforce:
Assess your workforce needs
Develop a training plan
Provide resources
Encourage continuous learning
Recognize and reward learning
Evaluate and measure results
14. Reskilling: a process where employees learn new skills to move into a different
job role within the organization or to meet the new demands of a current role.
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=> typically occurs when an employee’s previous tasks or responsibilities become
irrelevant, often due to advances in technology or skill gaps.
Some steps you can take to reskill your workforce:
Develop a plan
Identify employees with transferable skills
Set goals
Develop a training plan
Evaluate and measure results
Within the workplace, an induction refers to the process of getting new employees
acquainted with your business, helping them to settle in and giving them the
information required for them to become a valuable team member.
=> usually encompasses the very beginning of the new employee’s work life
=> also focus more on introducing the new starter to the role and what’s expected of
them
10,000 hour rule

An idea coined by the journalist Malcolm Gladwell that it takes 10,000 hours of
intensive practice to achieve mastery of complex skills and materials. Gladwell's idea
has attracted criticism from psychologists, although Gladwell contends that he doesn't
suggest that practicing anything for 10,000 hours guarantees success. The idea relates
to Anders Ericsson's research on high performance, which finds that 'deliberate
practice', not genetic inheritance, is at the heart of why some people perform so well
at certain tasks. Ericsson has also cautioned against the over-application of the
'10,000' hour rule.
5 moments of need
A model developed by Bob Mosher and Conrad Gottfredson focused on the moments
a learner requires specific information to be able to perform assigned tasks more
efficiently and effectively. These moments are key for learners to expand their
knowledge and skills, and each of them should be seen as an opportunity for
performance improvement and building upon learners’ strengths. Like several
number-based models, the 5 moments of need model is not based on scientific
research but on the professional experience of Mosher and Gottfredson.
70-20-10
A model for organisational learning which holds that successful leaders gain 70% of
their knowledge from job-related experiences, 20% from interactions with others, and
10% from formal educational events. The figures are sourced in the tabulation of data
from a series of interviews with a small group of leaders run by the Centre for
Creative Leadership in the 1980s. Participants were asked to describe the learning
experiences that led to their success. The exact proportions have not been reproduced
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in academic research but defenders of the model point out that it is a valuable thinking
tool for understanding the critical importance of on-the-job learning.
Active listening
A soft skill that requires you to pay full attention to a speaker and understand what
they’re saying by asking open ended questions and reflecting on what is being said,
before responding,
ADDIE model
One of the approaches used by content developers and instructional designers to
create instructional course materials. ADDIE has five phases: analysis, design,
development, implementation and evaluation. Each phase may occur concurrently or
sequentially.
Adult learning theory

A theory that focuses on exploring how adults learn. Understanding how adults learn
is vital for creating successful training programmes. Instructors use the framework to
design L&D programmes that meet the needs of professionals throughout their career
journey.
Adaptive learning
Courses or platforms which personalise experiences to the learner’s role, knowledge,
goals or behaviour using upfront questioning, assessments and behavioural data. Both
branching logic and algorithmically generated syllabuses can be used to build
adaptive learning.
AI (Artificial intelligence)
Also known as machine intelligence, enables machines, especially computer systems,
to mimic the decision-making and problem-solving capabilities of the human mind.
Applications of AI include natural language processing, machine vision and speech
recognition. AI has been used in technology-enabled learning from its earliest stages.
The latest iterations leverage deep learning techniques to generate course content like
questions and summaries from the source material.
AICC (Aviation Industry Computer-Based Training Committee)

An international association of technology-based training professionals which was
founded in 1988 and existed until 2014. The AICC developed guidelines for the
aviation industry and the worldwide training community, including the standard
protocol for tracking the completion of digital learning modules which is the
antecedent to SCORM. Although AICC is seen as obsolete in comparison to SCORM,
it permits certain data transfers (like embedding a package in a different domain and
sending completion data back to an original host) which are useful for some
applications in corporate learning.
Agile learning
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An approach to training and development that focuses on speed, flexibility and
collaboration. It creates an enabling culture for employees to take responsibility for
self development as well as the development of others.
Andragogy
A model of adult learning, including five assumptions about how adult learners differ
from child learners, developed by Malcolm Knowles. Like so many educational
models, the theory is particular to Knowles and shouldn't be mistaken for a generally
accepted theory of adult learning and teaching.
API (Application Programming Interface)

A communications protocol that allows two pieces of software to send information,
receive information and modify each other’s databases. SOAP, REST and GraphQL
are all languages in which APIs can be built. The SCORM standard and its successor,
xAPI, can both be seen as APIs. Single Sign On describes a specific set of APIs used
to authenticate users moving between different systems.
AR (Augmented reality)
A method of learning design that overlays guidance and information over real world
objects via a mobile app or goggles.
ATS (Applicant tracking system)

A software used by recruiters and employers to track candidates throughout the
recruiting and hiring process.
Authoring tools
Applications and software used to facilitate the development of online learning by
supporting the creation, edition, reviewing and testing of eLearning.
Big 5
A personality trait model (agreeableness, conscientiousness, extraversion,
neuroticism/emotional stability and openness to experience) grounded in large scale
linguistic analysis. A scientific alternative to pseudoscientific personality models such
as Myers-Briggs.
Biologically primary knowledge and skills

Knowledge and skills that we have evolved to learn. For instance, few people need
instruction in learning to walk. Similarly, children just 'pick up' their native language.
Although these skills can be honed in culturally specific ways, trial and error,
imitation and discovery learning suffice for any individual to learn them. Our ability
to store information related to biologically primary knowledge domains in the short
term memory has no limits in terms of cognitive load.
Biologically secondary knowledge and skills
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Knowledge and skills that allows us to do things that are culturally-specific and which
require instruction and effortful learning in some form, whether formal or informal.
These skills did not evolve in human prehistory but developed as a part of human
culture. All forms of technology, art, and cultural practice are biologically secondary.
For instance, writing was only invented a few thousand years ago. Accordingly, mass
literacy did not emerge until the advent of mass education during the industrial
revolution. Our ability to store information related to biologically secondary
knowledge domains in working memory is quite limited and the transfer of this
information to long term memory and habit requires deliberate practice. The concept
does not necessarily account for connections between ideas and cultural memes which
develop and spread implicitly, without any intentional instructional process behind
them.
Bloom’s taxonomy
A classification system that defines and distinguishes between learning objectives. It
covers the cognitive, affective and psychomotor domains. Each types of learning is
split into hierarchical levels of achievement. The model was devised by a committee
of educationalists led by Benjamin Bloom. Clark Quinn has described the model as
not well structured - no single hierarchical structure could apply to all types of
learning outcomes.
Blended learning
A type of learning that combines contact learning in the classroom or with coaches
with eLearning, curated resources, independent exploration and practice.
Body language
A type of communication using physical behaviour, expressions, and mannerisms to
express or convey the information. It is often done instinctively rather than
consciously.
Branching
The basic form of personalisation in a chat sequence, course or pathway where the
user’s journey can take different routes through a pre-mapped logic tree.
Build or buy
Different strategies to set up learning platforms and content systems. Custom build
strategies cost more upfront but incur little or no license fees. Buy strategies are faster
to implement, cost much more on an annual basis and are tied to vendor roadmaps.
BYOD (Bring Your Own Device)

A practice allowing learners to bring their mobile devices to the training environment.
This includes any form of technology (smartphones, laptops, tablets) that will help the
learner access the training content.
Capability
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The orchestration of people, competencies and processes to achieve performance
outcomes for an individual, team or organisation.
Capability academy
A platform, usually focused on a small number of skills, which combines skill
assessments, learning pathways, cohort-based social learning features, a community
of practice and a curated resource bank.
Career pathing
A talent development process involving a supervisor(s) working with an employee to
lay out their potential trajectory through the organisation. It involves defining goals
and identifying the skills and experience an employee must gain to achieve them.
Chatbot
A form of AI trained with different datasets and supported by branching logic to help
HR and learning teams answer common questions. Chatbots are also widespread in
consumer customer service.
Coaching
A process that enables learning and development to occur and allows performance to
improve. It involves an experienced person, a coach, who trains and guides a learner
in achieving a specific goal.
Cohort learning
A collaborative learning style common for in-person, classroom settings. It involves a
group of individuals who assemble to learn and advance through an educational
program together.
Cognitive psychology
The study of the way we take in information from the outside world and how we
make sense of that information. Cognitive psychologists try to build up cognitive
models of the information processing that goes on inside people’s minds, including
memory and thinking. These insights are often generalisable and applicable to
learning design.
Collaborative learning strategy

A strategy that involves transitioning from an individual mindset to a team mindset. It
aims to develop teams, not just individuals. It requires a team-centric model across the
organisation.
Community of practice
A group of people with a common interest who engage in a process of collective
learning by sharing their knowledge and improving their practice.
Competency
The collection of knowledge, skills, behaviours or attributes required by individuals
and teams to perform a task.
Competency model
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The group of competencies necessary to perform the tasks that belong to a role or set
of roles.
Computer-based training (CBT)

Legacy terminology for interactive digital learning (or e-learning).
Compliance training
A type of training that involves courses that must be completed by specified roles at
certain times to comply with government regulations. Examples include health and
safety courses and training on financial regulations.
Content Chaos
Content Chaos is the unmitigated growth and poor management of learning content.
In a digitised world, it is draining L&D’s budget, undermining its reputation and
clogging its systems.
Content curation
The process of finding, selecting, organising and adding new context to existing
resources. Curation enables L&D to support job performance and skill development
without building new learning content.
New call-to-action
Content tag
A phrase or term assigned to a piece of content in order to relate it to other types of
content that are similarly tagged in a system.
Content Intelligence
In L&D, a content intelligence solution analyses content libraries assessing the
content’s relevance to skills, benchmarking against other libraries as well as free
resources, and then ranking the content by degree of relevance, thereby providing
concrete data to support informed decision-making. Content Intelligence allows large
organisations to get the most of their L&D spend by understanding how people, skills
and content interrelate.
Content library
See ‘Learning content libraries’.
Curiosity, creativity, critical thinking

Examples of what are seen as key ‘21st-century skill’ to navigate a volatile and
rapidly changing (or VUCA) world. In practice, they are difficult to pin down as a
generic skills since they are linked to domain specific knowledge.
Cross skilling
Training employees to perform multiple roles so that the organisation is more
adaptable to changes in the supply and demand of talent.
CSV
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A comma-separated values file that translates easily into a simple view of data in an
Excel spreadsheet. CSVs are used frequently to export data from one learning system
and import it into another.
Custom content
Proprietary training material which is built internally or by third party agencies and
applies in organisational settings.
Data fluency and literacy

Ways of describing the skill of being able to work with concepts to do with
mathematical data (such as statistical significance) to understand proposals and make
decisions.
Discovery learning
Learning knowledge and skills from direct experience with minimal guidance which
is driven by trial-and-error. In a myth popularised by controversial educationalists
such as Ken Robinson, discovery learning is often incorrectly seen as a more effective
way to learn based on the observation of young children acquiring biologically
primary skills such as movement and language. In fact, guided learning with an
element of formal instruction outperforms discovery learning in all settings and is the
only way that biologically secondary knowledge and skills can be acquired.
Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI)

A term used to describe programs and policies that promote the representation and
participation of different groups of individuals. This includes people of different ages,
races and ethnicities, sexual orientations, abilities and disabilities, genders, cultures
and religions. DEI is vital to create and maintain a successful workforce.
Deliberate practice
A term coined by the psychologist Anders Ericsson to describe how individuals reach
high performance in a given skill. The essence of deliberate practice is the formation
of a mental model of the skill in action and the comparison of real performance
against this model. Deliberate practice, not genetic inheritance, lies behind all great
talents. Although deliberate practice is most effective when begun in early childhood,
Ericsson shows how any individual can apply deliberate practice to gain mastery of a
skill at any point in life.
Design thinking
A process that solves problems within every function. Five principles of design
thinking are particularly relevant to the employee experience - reducing friction,
embracing iterative problem solving, using genuine empathy, responding to a user’s
needs and having a tolerance for failure.
Digital learning
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Also knowns as e-Learning or online learning, includes anything that embraces
learning through technology, such as websites, ebooks, social media and online
communities, online lectures, webinars, podcasts and microblogging. It is a viable
way of training and developing people in organisations.
Double loop learning

An educational concept created by Chris Argyris in the mid-1980s and later turned
into an effective organisational tool. It entails the modification of decision-making
rules and goals because of experience. It’s a double loop because the first loop uses
the decision-making rules or goals while the second loop enables their modification.
eLearning / e-Learning / ELearning

The catch-all term for interactive digital learning content which for most of its history
consisted of slide-based sequences of images, text, video and interactive such as
questions or click-and-drag interactions. The media is rooted in the Shareable Content
Object Reference Model (or SCORM) standard developed by the US military around
the period of the First Gulf War (1991) in order to standardise computer-based
training delivery across its global operations. In the past 10 years, modern elearning
has evolved into something resembling multi-device optimised microsites and has
moved beyond the SCORM standard. Nevertheless, slide-based SCORM packages are
still widely found inside organisations.
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Employee experience (EX)

Everything a worker experiences through their journey in a particular company. It
involves all the things they learn, do, see and feel at each stage of the employee
lifecycle. The employee lifecycle consists of five stages - recruitment, onboarding,
development, retention and exit.
Employee engagement
The emotional commitment the employee feels towards their work, teams and
organisation. Employee engagement measures how employee feel about their
organisation using four main groups - highly engaged, moderately engaged, barely
engaged, and disengaged.
Experiential learning
The process of gaining knowledge and skills through personal, hands-on or on-the-job
experience. Although all content must also be experienced, and all forms of
experience constitute a form of content, generally L&D distinguishes experiential
learning from learning from pre-recorded material.
Extended enterprise
The ability of a platform to serve different content and permissions to users outside of
the organisation whilst remaining linked to a ‘mother-ship’ instance.
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ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning)
Systems like Oracle and SAP designed to record and analyse the movement of
resources in an organisation. The first generation of corporate learning management
systems were folded into these large ERP systems.
Fixed mindset
In a fixed mindset, individuals believe qualities, such as talent or intelligence, are
fixed traits. They spend time documenting their attributes rather than developing
them, and believe that talent alone is enough for success. A fixed mindset is
contrasted with a growth mindset and seen as a blocker on individual, team and
organisational performance.
Flipped curation
A more efficient way to get to higher impact learning design. Instead of accepting
SME time as a bottleneck, flipped curation puts technology-enabled curation at the
front of the design process. It leads to impactful learning pathways that contextualise
the best content in the world to effectively support your organisation’s learning needs.
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Flipped classroom
A type of blended learning focused on increasing learner engagement. The students
are first introduced to content in an online form, outside of class and practice through
it at school.
Formal learning
A type of structured training that takes place in a planned setting (e.g. in a classroom
or online). It involves experienced trainers, mentors, and instructors who share their
knowledge with learners. Creating formal employee training programs is becoming
more and more common within organisations overall and the remains the default
approach to developing skills, even as large enterprises increasingly prioritise more
personalised and agile forms of informal learning.
Four stages of competence

A learning model that consists of four stages. The first stage is unconscious
competence. Here the learner is unaware that a skill or knowledge gap exists. The
second stage is conscious incompetence. In this stage, the person doesn’t know or
understand how to do something but they recognise the deficit and the value of a new
skill that addresses it. The next stage of the model is conscious competence. In this
stage, the individual knows or understands how to do something. However, they need
to concentrate to demonstrate their knowledge or skill. The final stage is unconscious
competence. Here the new skill has become “second nature” to the individual after
they have spent a long time practicing. As a result, the skills is performed with ease
and it can be performed while executing other tasks.
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G
Gamification
The process of adding game designs into non-game environments such as websites,
online communities, learning management systems and more. In learning,
gamification is used to make training scenarios more entertaining and encourage
higher levels of engagement with a course or platform.
Generation X
People born between 1965 and 1980, although there might be slight range variations
in different definitions. Generation X is also called the “middle child” generation as
they follow the baby boomer generation and precede Millennials.
Generation Y
People born between 1981 and 1994/6, also known as Millennials. They follow
Generation X and precede Generation Z.
Generation Z
People born between 1997 and 2010. Generation Z is also known as zoomers. They
succeed Millennials and precede Generation Alpha.
Graphical user interface (GUI)

A form of user interface allowing users to interact with software programmes through
graphic-based components such as menus, symbols and visual icons (as opposed to a
purely text-based system known as a command-line interface).
Goal orientation
The development of behaviour and attitudes which are oriented at achieving
performance outcomes (such as project or commercial successes) rather than
conforming only to minimum expectations, is a key theme in organisational talent
development. All lifeforms, no matter how simple, appear to exhibit goal orientation
in their behaviour, although scientists do not agree on whether this owes to genetic
coding, conscious agency or some mixture of the two.
Growth mindset
If they have a growth mindset, individuals believe that they can develop their abilities
with dedication, practice and hard work. A growth mindset is a distinguishing
characteristic of individuals who are willing to take risks and fail in pursuit of their
ambitions. The concept has become controversial for the associated claim that growth
mindset is a general capability that enables people and organisations to overcome
almost any challenge and its promotion as a generic skill. In fact the originator of the
term, Carol Dweck, herself points out that a growth mindset does not necessarily
transfer between domains.
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H
Human Capital Management (HCM)

A term used to describe end-to-end HR systems such as Workday and SuccessFactors
which provide administrative management of talent acquisition, talent development,
talent management and succession planning. Integration with HCM systems and
processes is often a key requirement for L&D systems.
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Human Resources Information System (HRIS)

Software that manages human resources systems and processes, such as training,
payroll, recruitment, induction, benefits, and attendance. Most L&D data must
ultimately be recorded in a HRIS.
Human-centered design
An approach used in design, management, and engineering frameworks to develop
solutions by involving the human perspective in all steps of the problem-solving
process.
Human-centered leadership
Leadership that puts people first. Human-centered leaders create nurturing work
environments that leave room for learning, understanding, and our needs as human
beings.
Human resources (HR)

In an organisation, HR is the department in charge of all employees and employee-
related operations. This department is responsible for managing the employee
lifecycle and administering employee benefits. Often HR is involved in the training
and development of its workers, who are considered some of the company's most
important resources.
Hybrid working
A flexible time of working that allows employees to split their time between office
and remote working.
Informal learning
A type of learning that happens away from a structured, formal classroom
environment; and learners set their own goals and objectives. Informal learning takes
many forms, from self-study and participating in forums to watching videos and
listening to coaching sessions.
Infographics
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Summary documents which combine imagery and words often used as portable
supporting resources in digital learning experiences.
Interactive PDFs
Clickable documents, sometimes containing questions or videos, which are a means
of delivering interactive learning via email instead of hosting it in learning
management systems.
Internet of things (IoT)

Communication between people, software and physical objects to automate process in
the home and in industries such as manufacturing and logistics. Leveraging IoT is a
key theme in skill development programmes and itself a medium for instructional
delivery.
Instructional design
The creation of learning materials and experiences that help the acquisition and
application of skills and knowledge. The term can also be referred to as an
instructional system design (ISD), a system that assesses needs, designs processes and
materials, and evaluates their effectiveness. ISD can help organisations create a
practical and systematic process for designing effective curricula.
Instructor-led training (ILT)

A type of training facilitated by an instructor(s) for an individual or a group of
learners. ILT can be conducted in person (in a training room, office, classroom etc) or
online. Skills and materials are taught through lectures, demonstrations, discussions,
and presentations. Instructor-led training is extremely beneficial when the material is
new or complex.
Inquiry-based learning
Learning through involvement, participation, and inquiry. As opposed to learning
methods like memorization, inquiry based learning is more active and often involves
problem-solving, experience, or research.
Job aids
Tools, instructions, or devices aimed at reducing mistakes at work by providing
information on how to perform a work-related task. Job aids can include one-pagers,
cheat sheets, print-outs, performance support materials, and more.
Job architectures
Taxonomies of roles, competencies, skills and tasks seen as the critical enabler of
coherent skill development and talent management processes.
Job analysis
Breaking down roles into tasks, competencies and skills to enable the development of
training programmes and performance-support resources.
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K
Kirkpatrick’s Learning Evaluation Model

A globally recognised model used to evaluate the results of learning and training
programmes used for both formal and informal training methods. The model uses four
criteria levels - reaction, learning, behaviour and results.
Knowledge
Information, concepts, facts and mental models which are often distinguished from
skills on the basis that whereas knowledge of a role, subject, discipline or domain is a
prerequisite to the performance of work in that area, it is not sufficient. Content-
driven learning solutions are often forced to rely on knowledge as an index for skills,
which make other forms of measurement and evaluation necessary. The role of
knowledge - and of content in general - in skill development, has been criticised in
recent years by those who assert that ‘content consumption is not learning’. In fact,
performing a skill is not possible without acquiring the knowledge of how that skill
should be performed in order to form a mental model.
Knowledge management
The practice of storing, categorising and surfacing organisational knowledge to
support business outcomes. In the past 10 years, with the explosion of digital content
created in collaboration systems and software, the question of knowledge
management has returned with fresh urgency. Large players like Slack and Microsoft
focus on this challenge as well as start-up businesses like Guru and Notion.
Knowledge management overlaps with the learning experience system category and is
explicitly recognised as a goal for some learning systems, such as Fuse Universal.
Leadership development
A set of activities that prepare leaders (current and future) to effectively perform their
roles. Leadership development enables employees to improve their skills in areas such
as strategy, decision making and project management.
Learning asset
Any digital resource or currently available classroom or virtual event which a) has its
own URL and content metadata and b) is suitable for consumption as a standalone
experience, rather than a unit which must be completed in a series of other units (see
‘Learning object’ below).
Learning content management system (LCMS)

A type of software designed to host and manage learning content and publish it to
multiple portals. Although modern learning platforms tend to integrate authoring,
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LCMS and LMS functionality, the single-source publishing feature of an LCSM
distinguishes it from content management in most other learning systems.
Learning content libraries

Catalogues of digital content (courses, video, books, articles or podcasts) provided by
vendors which either seek to tackle all business skills or focus on a specific area. The
supremacy of purpose-built learning content libraries has been challenged in recent
years by new entrants which are proven with consumer audiences, in professional
publishing settings or in higher education.
Learning culture
A wide-ranging term that might best be defined as the habitual behaviours in an
organisation relating to training, skill development, knowledge sharing and
innovation. Learning cultures can be categorised according to maturity (in the four
stage model produced by Josh Bersin Associates, for example) or simply by type. A
compliance-driven learning culture is likely to emerge in safety-critical industries like
offshore platforms and healthcare, where failure in critical projects is not acceptable
and as a result, relatively inflexible modes and expectations of learning evolve. At the
other extreme, start-ups and knowledge-driven businesses aspire to a continuous
learning culture, in which it is safe to fail and employees engage in continuous
informal and self-led learning in pursuit of higher performance. Because an open and
continuous learning culture is a key enabler for innovation (and collaboration in
general), when Chief Learning Officers pursue a ‘learning culture’ they have this
definition in mind.
Learning & Development (L&D)

A specialised HR function that focuses on creating the right culture and environment
for individuals and organisations to learn and grow. L&D reduces turnover by
improving employees’ skills, knowledge and competencies while increasing
productivity and job satisfaction.
Learning design
A framework that supports learning experiences. It involves decisions about the
content, structure, timing, learning activities and strategies, as well as the technology
used to support learning.
Learning ecosystem
A system that delivers learning experiences set by the organisation by providing an
environment for people to interact with content, technologies, and data. It can be
broad and organisation-agnostic, open, and accessible to anyone. Learning ecosystems
can be seen as combining the technologies that specifically support intentional
learning (HCM/HRIS, LMS, LXP, content libraries and talent marketplaces) or
encompass the much broader range of publishing and communications technology
inside and outside an organisation.
Learning experience platform (LXP)

A consumer-grade, skill-driven learning platform in which the user chooses their own
learning pathway from a diverse array of personalised content. LXPs must include the
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ability for administrators to curate pathways from external resources and integrate
large content libraries. LXPs also often include features to support user-generated
content like publishing tools and forums. Because learning can happen in so many
ways, it is possible to find almost any feature of a website or app in certain LXPs.
Some LXPs also extend beyond content management into feature-sets traditionally
seem as part of career pathing, talent management and performance management
systems. Others extend the user-generated element into featuresets that resemble
fully-fledged knowledge management systems, including features like Q&A and
search.
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Learning management system (LMS)
A system through which administrators can assign and track highly structured training
content. The LMS evolved separately in corporate and higher education settings, each
with their own functionality requirements. Initially, the LMS was a platform to
manage resources involved in supporting classroom training sessions but its focus has
gradually moved into managing digital learning. The LMS is often a closed system
which doesn’t integrate easily. The most basic function of a modern corporate LMS is
the ability to host and report on SCORM or xAPI learning packages. In recent years,
the explosion of digital learning has led to the emergence of much more open course
publishing and management systems that also resemble an LMS. Widespread open
source products like Wordpress can also mimic many aspects of a learning
management system. These new entrants often do not support the specialist hosting
requirements of SCORM. Like the LXP market, the LMS market is extremely
diverse. Generally the distinction between an LMS and an LXP is that whereas the
concept of a course lies at the heart of an LMS, an LXP is organised around the
concept of skills.
Learning object
A term often used in learning management systems to describe courses and resources.
Usually a learning object will have its own URL and metadata, but sometimes these
objects are inaccessible via a unique URL because they are included in larger learning
objects.
Learning pathway
A learner’s route through a range of digital learning activities, which allows them to
build knowledge progressively. Learning pathways can be defined by learning
platforms.
Learning technologies
A term used to describe software like authoring tools, learning management systems,
learning experience platforms and virtual classrooms which are built explicitly to
support organisational learning. In fact, almost any digital or physical publishing or
communications platform can be seen as a learning technology. This is recognised in
Jane Hart’s annually published list of ‘Top Tools for Learning’ which regularly
features technology like YouTube and Google at the top of the list.
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Managed learning services (MLS)
A framework agreements that allow large components of an organisational L&D
department to be delivered by a third-party contractor. MLS agreements often include
the procurement of in-person / virtual training and content development, for example.
Massive open online course (MOOC)

A model for delivering free online learning content available to anyone who wants to
take a course. MOOCs don’t have a limit on attendance and provide an affordable and
flexible way to learn new skills.
Mentoring
The practice of forming relationships between more and less experienced people in a
certain domain or, more recently, simple those with different skillsets (to promote
diversity of thought). Specific technologies are available to match mentees with
potential mentors.
Metacognition
The valued ability to think about your own mental processes and improve them. On a
personal level, metacognition enables reflective practice and personal improvement.
On an organisational level, metacognition enables teams to develop feedback loops
that lead to continuous improvement.
Micro-credentials
The practice of awarding digital certifications (sometimes known as ‘badges’) for
achievements that are not formally certified by traditional educational institutions and
training organisations, enabled by supporting technologies that allow awardees to
share the achievement on social media platforms and take it with them in the form of
a permanent record that persists between job roles.
Microlearning
A type of learning that delivers short bursts of content for learners. It can take
different forms, from text to interactive multimedia and it’s usually no longer than
five minutes in length. Microlearning is great for exercising agile learning.
Modern learning platform

A term to describe products which combine elements of a learning management
system (they manage courses, host content and track training completion) and
learning experience platform (they allow the curation of pathways from external
resources, integrate large content libraries and include social features). Modern
learning platforms provide an alternative to a learning ecosystem or techstack.
Multimodal learning
Using different delivery methods and media to deliver a learning programme. The
goal of multimodal learning is to reinforce the knowledge-transfer process by
repeating content in different contexts and to make the learning accessible to learners
in different contexts (for example, those who work remotely or in-person, those who
have mobile devices vs laptop computers).
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N
Neurodiversity
The concept that we all experience and interact with the world around us in many
different way and that there is no one "right" way of thinking, learning, and behaving.
Recently, neurodiversity has been linked to higher organisational performance and
L&D programmes are increasingly aimed at recognising or fostering neurodiversity.
Neuroscience (in learning design)

A popular theme in L&D and everyday life which centres on the idea that we can
apply the insights yielded by neuroscience to design ‘brain-friendly’ training and train
our brains to learn better. The claims of applicability of neuro-scientific research to
learning design are often exaggerated (extending brain phenomena observed in
specific situations to general theories, for example) and studies have shown that brain-
training apps do not product generalisable improvements in cognitive performance.
Cognitive psychology is a good alternative.
New skilling
The continuous development of in-demand skills to ensure an organisation is well
equipped to compete in the face of emerging technologies and business models.
Nuanced skills
Skills which are defined in reference to specific domains, contexts and organisations.
For example, authentic leadership in people operations at ACME, as opposed to
authentic leadership. Nuanced skills are important to meaningful skill development
because any skill must always be applied in a particular domain and the evidence of
the transfer of any skill which is not biologically primary (such as speaking, thinking,
moving) between domains is not clear.
Nudge theory
A concept in behavioural sciences proposing indirect suggestions and positive
reinforcement as ways to influence the behavior and decision-making of groups or
individuals. Nudge theory is often used by government departments and businesses to
subtly lead people into the ‘right’ decision.
Onboarding
The process new employees go through in order to acquire the skills and knowledge
needed to become effective members of an organisation.
Off-the-shelf content
Ready-made training materials produced by external providers which are acquired by
organisations in order to deliver training. This content tends to be generic and
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unspecific, for example, compliance training is often delivered in the form of off-the-
shelf content.
On-demand learning
A learning strategy that allows employees access to real time knowledge, at a time,
place and pace of their choosing.
Objectives and Key Results (OKRs)

A collaborative goal-setting methodology used by teams and individuals to set
challenging, ambitious goals with measurable results.
Organisational culture
The underlying beliefs, assumptions, values and ways of interacting that contribute to
the unique social and psychological environment of an organisation. According to the
Competing Values Framework, there are four types of organisational culture - Clan
culture, Adhocracy culture, Market culture and Hierarchy culture.
Organisation effectiveness
The concept used by organisations to measure their effectiveness in reaching intended
outcomes and goals. Organisational effectiveness is usually measured by comparing
net profit with desired profit. Growth data, customer satisfaction surveys etc are other
measures of effectiveness.
Organisational psychology
The scientific study of organisational structure and the ways in which employees
interact, think and behave at work.
Open resources
Educational content released in the public domain under an open license that permits
no-cost access, use, adaptation and redistribution by others with no or limited
restrictions.
Open source software

A type of software released under a license which grants users the right to freely use,
study, redistribute and modify the original source code.
Pedagogy
The science, art or profession of teaching and education.
Performance management
A process intended to improve individual and organisational performance.
Performance management philosophy addresses how people should be managed to
achieve the performance that the organisation needs to succeed.
Performance support
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A training needs analysis and learning design methodology, resting on the theory of
the 5 moments of learning need, which seeks to develop useful resources and place
them at the moments of work when they are most needed.
Personal learning network (PLN)

A type of informal learning network that consists of the learner’s preferred people,
digital devices and information sources with which they interact and use for deriving
knowledge.
Personalisation
The action of tailoring a product or a service to accommodate someone’s individual
requirements.
People analytics
A data-driven method linked to adding business value that focuses on studying all
people processes, functions, challenges, and opportunities at work to elevate these
systems and achieve sustainable business success.
Power skills
A type of skills that focus on our mindset. They’re less-defined skills such as strategic
thinking, leadership, productivity, personal development, listening, and
communication.
Psychological safety
The ability to show and employe oneself without fear of negative consequences of
status, carrier or self-image. Psychologically safe teams characterise with team
members feeling respected and accepted.
Preboarding
Any processes, tasks or materials that a new hire is expected to complete before day
one on the job. Preboarding creates a baseline of knowledge for new hires and is used
by organisations to save money and time.
Pretest
A test taken by training participants before the start of the instruction. Pretests help
determine class knowledge, set prerequisite skills or weed out participants for which
the class might be too difficult.
Problem-based learning
A student-centered pedagogy which uses open-ended problems from trigger material
to teach students about a particular subject.
Question bank
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A set of questions that can be used repeatedly. Question banks are typically used by
instructors to create a database of questions that can be reused in multiple
assessments.
Question distribution engines

Short assessments that often allow learners to test their knowledge without repeating
information they already know.
Rapid development
Tools and practices that reduce the development of learning content from weeks or
hours to minutes.
Remote learning
Also known as remote training, distance education and virtual instruction; occurs
when the trainer and learner are separated by distance rather than in a traditional
classroom setting. Technology such as video conference, email and discussion boards
is used to transmit the information so that physical presence is not required.
Remote working
A flexible working arrangement allowing employees to do their jobs from a location
other than a central office operated by the employer.
Reskilling
A process of leaning new skills needed to do an entirely different role. Reskilling is a
lateral learning experience aimed at people with ‘adjacent skills’, that are close to the
new skills a company requires.
Self-directed learning
A type of training in which the learner manages their own training, from timing to
content and delivery.
Sentiment analysis
The process of determining whether the emotional tone of a piece of writing is
neutral, positive or negative.
Serious games
Games that are not developed solely for fun but are intended for learning, educational
or product promotion purposes.
Single loop learning
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A type of learning that focuses on doing things right. Adjustments are made to correct
problems or mistakes. Although causality might be observed, typically, it isn’t
addressed. $
Skills
The ability to do something, or to perform a task or activity well, especially because
that activity has been practiced. There is no agreed definition of what should be seen
as a skill in different settings. The term can be applied to categories which resemble
personal traits (openness, resilience), domain-specific functional abilities which are
seen as more easily transferable (handling a forklift truck, spreadsheeting) or to
behaviours and practices that play out across any functional domain (radical candour,
reflective practice). Skills are as diverse and nuanced as human culture (and, indeed,
animals can also learn and teach skills). As the ability to do something (say, selling), a
skill can easily be broken down into many subcategories (say, presenting, creating
value hypotheses, designing solutions, handling negotiations and account planning).
At the most granular level, no individual’s mental model or practice or knowledge of
a skill exactly coincides with another’s.
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Skills framework
A shared definition used to describe what ‘good’ looks like when it comes to people’s
roles and skills. Skills frameworks help fix product-at-scale team issues when used for
systems such as job descriptions, skills development, goal setting, hiring and more.
Depending on their audience, skill frameworks often ‘zoom in’ on areas of particular
focus (breaking selling down into solution design, account planning and so on) or
zoom out by rolling up several skills into one (aggregating hypothesis design,
statistics and data visualisation into ‘making decisions with data’ for example). Skill
frameworks may also include forms of levelling (from beginner to expert) that are
intended to be common across multiple skills. Skill frameworks can be complex or
simple and large or small.
Skills intelligence
A market category referring to systems that infer skill prevalence and levels using
individual user engagement and large datasets. Skills intelligence systems provide
organisations with an alternative lens on skill development to the traditional approach
of developing a theoretical taxonomy.
Skills gap
The mismatch between the skills required by an employer and the skills employees
actually possess.
Skills palette
The way Filtered describes its own taxonomy of defined skills because, unlike a fixed
taxonomy or framework, the palette is non-hierarchical and can easily be mixed to
produce nuanced skills appropriate to organisational needs.
Skills taxonomy
A structured list of skills defined by an organisation and used to measure the supply
and demand of skills. Skills are classified into groups and clusters.
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Social learning
A type of online learning that takes place in a social setting, most recently via social
learning platforms or social media, in which users can communicate, collaborate, and
interact about the learning topic.
Soft skills
Also known as interpersonal skills, refer to someone’s behavioural competencies such
as language, communication and social skills, personality traits etc. which
characterise the way they form relationships and interact with others. Hard skills
supplement soft skills.
Subject matter expert (SME)

An individual who has specialised knowledge in a particular area, topic, process,
technology etc. SMEs are sought out to solve specific problems and challenges. They
can be an employee or a third-party contractor.
Steering committee
A group of key players in an organisation tasked with providing strategic guidance
and project oversight without being directly involved in the day-to-day execution.
Storyboard
Written script and description of graphics and interactions in an eLearning course.
Structured learning
Courses or learning programmes that employ instructional methodologies. Structured
courses, formal learning, and curriculums are other terms for structured courses.
Succession planning
The process of identifying crucial positions within your organisation and developing
action plans for employees to assume these positions. This is done to ensure a pipeline
of effective leaders throughout the business, who are prepared to take the positions
after current leaders leave or retire.
Synchronous learning
A type of real-time interactive online learning. Remote labs, delivery platforms and
distance learning technologies are used by the learners and instructors to interact.
Systems thinking
A holistic approach to analysis that focuses on the process, understanding or
philosophy of how constituent parts interact within a system. In 1994, Peter Senge’s
book on learning organisations popularised the concept within the training industry.
The book mentions systems thinking as one of five disciplines of a learning
organisation.
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Tacit knowledge
A type of knowledge gained through lived experience in your personal and
professional life. Tacit knowledge is difficult to share or express, and is often
subjective and informal due to its inherent, social context.
Talent intelligence
A process allowing companies to gain a competitive edge by collecting and analysing
external data regarding their competitors’ talent pool, jobs, skills, and functions. The
term now also refers to a category of smart recruitment and internal mobility software
(also known as 'Talent Marketplaces') which use skills taxonomies, natural language
process and recommendation engines to optimise job applications and match people
with roles or projects within organisations.
Talent management system

A system used by mid- and large organisations that enables HR departments to track
and manage the recruitment, development and performance of employees and
candidates.
Task analysis
I. e. job task analysis, is the examination and description of the steps involved in the
completion of a job or a task. It can include elements such as duration, speed, mental
activity and more. Task analysis is critical to conduct a needs assessment.
Taxonomy
The technique or science of classification. It also refers to the division of thoughts,
topics and objects into categories or systems that include descriptions for each entry.
Team alignment
The process of achieving a common understanding by which individual team
members and cross-functional teams collaborate and communicate in order to deliver
specific organisational objectives and goals.
Tin Can API

Early name for what is now referred to as the Experience API or xAPI (see
‘Experience API).
Training program
An activity or series of activities to boost productivity, skills, performance, and
knowledge. Training programs are associated most often with pre-structured
sequences of activities but they may also include unstructured experiments, social
gatherings and ‘real-world’ tasks.
Training needs analysis

A type of analysis used to design useful learning or measure its effectiveness which
follows a three-levelled process: 1) organisational analysis, 2) job-task analysis, and
finally 3) person analysis.
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Upskilling
The method of learning new skills or teaching employees new skills. A culture of
upskilling is a culture that focuses on closing talent gaps by teaching workers new
skills.
User experience (UX)

The way a user experiences and interacts with a system, service or product. This
includes their perception of usability and efficiency. In order to provide a seamless
and efficient training experience, learning technologies use a graphical user interface
(GUI) which has a positive impact on the UX.
Video content management system (Video CMS)

An online learning system that allows organisations to centralise, manage and deliver
video content.
Virtual classroom
A digital learning environment that allows instructors and students to interact with
each other and engage in learning. Virtual classrooms have features that other
learning environments might not have such as instructors being able to display
learning materials, polls and quizzes, recording the session etc.
Virtual internship
A work experience programme that allows interns to gain work experience whilst
working remotely rather than being physically present at the organisation’s office.
Virtual training system

A virtual learning system that uses live workshops to provide training to workers via
an online platform.
Virtual reality (VR) for learning

An enhanced type of learning allowing students to interact and experience their
lessons in different ways. Students are able to see what they are learning instead of
just reading about it, hence, understanding complex topics much easier.
VUCA (volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity)

An acronym used to describe the world at large and, more specifically, to describe
situations and external conditions at the workplace that make decision-making
difficult. VUCA means that we don’t expect conditions external to the organisation to
remain the same. It is used by organisations as an underlying principle to guide
leadership, make plans on approaching difficult situations and conditions, and the
ways to respond to them.
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W
Web 2.0
The generation of web with websites beyond static HTML web pages. The emphasis
is on cloud computing, content generated by users and social networking. In training,
Web 2.0 is associated with dynamic learning portals with a focus on users being able
to collaborate and share information.
Web 3.0
Originally called the Semantic Web, Web 3.0 is the upcoming third generation of the
World Wide Web where website and applications will be able to process information
in a smart human-like way. Technologies such as machine learning, Big Data,
decentralised ledger technology (DLT) etc will be aimed at creating a more
intelligent, autonomous and open internet space.
Web-based training
A type of training done via a web-based or online environment. Virtual training or
distance learning are other names used for this type of training. It uses cloud-based
tools for administration, access, analytics etc. Web-based training can be either live or
on demand.
Wiki
An online space (website or database) developed collaboratively by a community of
users which goal is to provide unbiased content. Users are allowed to add, edit and
remove content. In large wikis, moderators are necessary to monitor and improve
content for clarity and accuracy.
Workplace learning
The process of acquiring knowledge and skills in the workplace. This can happen
formally and informally.
X
xAPI (Experience API )
A JavaScript Object Notation (JSON)-based reporting API which can capture any
kind of learning event (as opposed to the progress, completing and score tracking
possible with SCORM). The API uses a flexible structure based on events which are
statements which the following components: [actor], [verb], [object] [context]. For
example: [David] [shared] [article] [with URL, https://hbr.org/2015/07/how-to-
manage-a-team-of-b-players].
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FINANCE & ECONOMIC CRISES
Retail Banks/ Ngân hàng bán lẻ
offer their services to the general public

usually have branch offices as well as main offices for the convenience of their
customers.
provide a range of services
checking and savings accounts,
loan and mortgage services,
financing for automobiles,
short-term loans such as overdraft protection
credit cards.
offer access to investments in CDs, mutual funds, and individual retirement accounts
(IRAs).
=> The larger retail banks also cater to high-net-worth individuals with specialty
services such as private banking and wealth management services.
TD Bank and Citibank.
Commercial or Corporate Banks/ Ngân hàng thương mại
tailor their services to business clients, from small business owners to large, corporate
entities.
offer credit services, cash management, commercial real estate services, employer
services, and trade finance
=> JPMorgan Chase and Bank of America are examples of commercial banks, though
both have large retail banking divisions as well.
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Investment Banks/ Ngân hàng đầu tư
focus on providing corporate clients with complex services and financial transactions
such as underwriting and assisting with merger and acquisition (M&A) activity.
=> primarily financial intermediaries in these transactions.
=> Their clients include large corporations, other financial institutions, pension funds,
governments, and hedge funds.
* Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs are among the biggest U.S. investment banks.
Central Banks/ Ngân hàng trung ương
does not deal directly with the public.
an independent institution authorized by a government to oversee the nation's money

supply and its monetary policy.
be responsible for the stability of the currency and of the economic system as a whole.
also have a role in regulating the capital and reserve requirements of the nation's
banks.
*The U.S. Federal Reserve Bank is the central bank of the U.S. The European Central
Bank, the Bank of England, the Bank of Japan, the Swiss National Bank, and the
People’s Bank of China are among its counterparts in other nations.
Types of Banking Jobs

Bank teller/ Giao dịch viên ngân hàng: for helping members cash checks, withdraw
money, move transactions to different accounts, create checking and savings
accounts, and provide checks to customers.
Banker/ là từ để chỉ người làm việc trong ngành ngân hàng: for meeting with bank
members (both individuals or companies) and helping them acquire loans through the
bank.
Loan processor/ người xử lý khoản vay: using their knowledge of risk analysis and
financial statements to review loan applications and approve or deny applicants for
the loans they apply for.
Mortgage consultant/ Người môi giới thế chấp: usually work in freelance positions or
as sole-business proprietors. Their job is to help companies or individuals identify
their mortgage needs, assess their financial history and determine the type of
mortgage they could afford.
Investment representative/ người đại diện đầu tư: works at an investment firm, bank
or another financial institution. Their job is to provide clients with financial advice
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regarding investments, typically for a fee. They are also obligated to perform sales-
related duties to market their institution's financial products and services.
Credit analyst/ Nhà phân tích tín dụng: can work for an investment bank, an
investment firm, credit card companies and any other institution where lending money
is involved. They are responsible for reviewing an applicant's financial history and
credit score.
Investment banker/Nhân viên ngân hàng đầu tư: a specialized role, but it has many
different areas of focus. Investment bankers can provide financial advice to clients
relating to investment opportunities, but they can also help instrument the process by
overseeing the liquidation of assets to reduce debt and other factors.
Relationship manager/ Quản lý quan hệ khách hàng: works for a bank or financial
institution and acts as the point of communication between members and the
institution itself. Their main job duty includes maintaining customer loyalty by
checking in with them by email or phone. They are also responsible for fostering
relationships with new customers by helping them gain bank membership and create a
checking or savings accountant
Financial advisor/ chuyên viên tư vấn tài chính: works as part of a financial
institution to help clients determine their financial goals and the best means to achieve
them. This entails trading for them in the stock markets, reviewing their financial
history and providing them with advice for the best decisions they can make for their
finances.
Financial analyst/ Phân Tích Viên Tài Chính: responsible for monitoring market
trends across industries and using their expertise to guide businesses and clients on
when, where and how to invest. Financial analysts typically work for major
corporations, financial institutions, insurance companies and banks
Asset manager/ Quản lý tài sản: works for individual clients as a sole-proprietor or as
a part of a bank or financial institution. They are responsible for reviewing their
client's financial portfolio and monitoring the stock market to determine the best
investment decisions for their client.
Underwriter/ Nhà bao tiêu hay còn gọi là người bảo lãnh: responsible for reviewing a
loan application and assessing whether or not the applicant can afford to pay off the
loan. Further, they draft up a contract for approved borrowers that outlines the loan
amount, and payment rates expected by their company. Underwriters may work at
insurance companies, financial institutions, banks and other lending companies.
Internal auditor/ kiểm toán nội bộ: have a responsibility to complete routine
assessments of the bank's internal procedures, loan and spending habits, employment
expenses and other risk management factors. Their main goal is to determine whether
the bank complies with laws and regulations and if they are financially stable
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ORGANIZATION STRUCTURE OF A BANK
Credit crunch = when borrowing money (from banks) becomes harder to get and more
expensive.
(In the present credit crisis, banks stopped lending to other banks, then stopped
lending to their customers, which means that there is now a shortage of credit and no
more cheap credit).
Economic terms
The Central Banks and Finance ministers are trying to decide whether to inject more
money into the financial markets (places where stocks or commodities for example
are bought and sold).
Many countries are now in an economic recession. Apart from the credit crunch, there
are other signs of a downturn, such as rising inflation and an increased cost of living.
Governments often respond by cutting interest rates (to bring down the rate of
inflation).
To compound the misery (=make things worse), falling house prices mean some home
owners face negative equity (when your house is worth less than what you originally
paid for it).
Overall, the forecast is pessimistic or gloomy.
Personal finances
High street banks (see our page on banking vocabulary) lend money to customers in
the form of loans (such as car loans or personal loans) or in the form of mortgages to
buy houses.
Sub prime mortgages, now often referred to as toxic mortgages, were sold to people
with poor credit ratings. It is a combination of this type of risky lending, falling house
39
prices and high interest rates which led to defaults on mortgage payments and
foreclosures (=repossession). This in turn triggered the global financial crisis.
A number of banks have already gone bust or have been nationalised (= bought by the
government) who try to reassure customers that their savings accounts are safe.
However, consumer confidence is low.
Unemployment
People worry about losing their jobs, or being made redundant. Some industries are
cutting their workforce, and laying off staff. These job losses / job cuts / redundancies
mean that there will be more claimants (for unemployment benefit) – or more people
on the dole. (dole = unemployment benefit).
More finance and economy phrases

weather the storm = survive bad times: “We’re trying to weather the storm by
lowering our prices.”
be in good shape (the economy is in good shape) = to be strong: “Fortunately, we’re

in good shape financially, so we should be able to weather the storm.”
live beyond your means = not earn enough money, so you need to borrow money:
“We have to stop living beyond our means.”
pay the price = pay for your mistakes: “The country is paying the price for its
previous spending policies.”
foot the bill = pay for someone else: “He took me out for lunch and footed the bill.”
at rock bottom = to be so low you cannot go any further down: “The economy must
be at rock bottom now.”
in free fall = keep falling without anything stopping the fall: “The economy is in free
fall.”
Money idioms
to break the bank = to cost a lot of money: “I can’t afford a skiing holiday this winter
– it would break the bank.”
to cost an arm and a leg = be very expensive: “It costs an arm and a leg to buy all
these Christmas presents.”
to pay through the nose = cost a lot: “They had to pay through the nose to get their
son insured to drive.”
to splash out on something = to pay a lot for an important event: “They’re splashing
out on their anniversary this year.”
Idioms meaning a person is rich

to be loaded: “He works in the City and he’s loaded!”
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to be sitting on a small fortune / goldmine: “She will inherit everything. She’s sitting
on a goldmine!”
to have money to burn: “I’ve just received a bonus and I have money to burn!”
Idioms meaning a person is poor

to be as poor as church mice: “His family have always been as poor as church mice.”
to be skint = British slang that means having no money: “Can you lend me some
money until next Friday? I’m skint!”
to be broke = have no money (also “flat broke” or “stony broke”): “She’s always
broke at the end of the month.”
to scrimp and save = to make as many economies as you can to save money: “His
parents scrimped and saved to send him to university.”
Idioms to mean you don’t want to spend money

a scrooge = Scrooge was a Dickens character, famous for being mean: “Why don’t
you want to buy her a leaving present? You’re such a scrooge.”
a skinflint = someone who doesn’t want to spend money: “She reuses tea bags – she’s
such a skinflint!”
tight-fisted: “One reason he has so much money is that he’s so tight-fisted!”
Other money idioms

to have more money than sense = to have a lot of money which you waste rather than
spend carefully: “He just bought another camera – he has more money than sense.”
to burn a hole in your pocket = to not be able to stop spending money: “He can’t just
go out window-shopping. Money burns a hole in his pocket.”
money for old rope = an easy source of income: “He sells bunches of flowers he has
grown himself. It’s money for old rope.”
make a fast buck = to make money quickly and sometimes dishonestly: “He made a
fast buck selling those shares. I wonder if he had insider knowledge.”
Ten a penny = very common: “These scarves are ten a penny in the markets here.”
Collateralized Debt Conditions
Also called CDOs. These are securities backed by a variety of fixed income assets,
usually packages of mortgages.
When the subprime crisis broke out, many mortgage-backed CDOs became toxic.
Ezoic
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credit crunch
refers to a situation where banks reduce the availability of loans or credits to

customers due to the fear of not being repaid.
The credit crunch has laid banks to tighten the conditions required to get a credit.
economic meltdown
a severe and often sudden deterioration of financial institutions and assets resulting in
huge financial loss.
This economic metldown is the worst economic crisis since the stock market crash in
1929.
financial bailout
financial assistance to business institution to avoid their collapse
The US government has decided to fund a bailout of the banking industry.
Banks have been bailed out by the government
mortgage
It is a loan secured by real property.
Ezoic
Banks usually give mortgage loans under certain conditions.
inflation
It refers to a rise in the general level of prices of goods and services in an economy
over a period of time, leading to an erosion in the purchasing power of money.
Because of the inflation prices went up.
regulate
to regulate the market means to control and supervise it.
Many people think that governments should regulate markets so that markets would
be free of fraud, manipulation, and illegal speculations.
speculate
to buy or sell securities, property, etc., in the hope of deriving considerable capital
gains
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Investors become speculators when they purchase a stock with the sole purpose of
selling it to someone else at a higher price.
recession
Ezoic
refers to two or more consecutive quarters of negative economic growth
The current recession has created an increase in unemployment.
securities
They are certificates of ownership of stock, bonds, or other financial assets.
Two examples of securities in the stock market are stocks and bonds.
securitization
This refers to the process of transforming assets into securities, assigning them a value
and being traded.
The securitization of subprime mortgages led to the credit crunch.
subprime mortgage
a housing loan given to people with poor credit histories.
They are really poor. Because of their low credit rating, they can only qualify for a
subprime mortgage.
toxic assets
these refer to a kind of high-risk debts that are unlikely to be paid back to lenders.
The banks that owned toxic assets were unable to resist their collapse.
Troubled Assets Relief Program
Also referred to as TARP. It is a plan devised by the US government to buy toxic

assets to strengthen the financial sector.
TARP has been criticized by many people because of the massive cost and the
behavior of the banks.
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DIGITAL BUSINESS AND TECHNOLOGY
DISRUPTIVE MARKETING/ “Marketing đột phá”

The concept of Disruptive Marketing refers to all experimental marketing strategies,
tactics or methods with the main goal of "challenging" or "disrupting" something
existing.
gain more competitive advantage in the market by “differentiating” their marketing

approach
Disruption is another term that plays a key role in determining the success of
Disruptive Marketing strategies
Disruption means Disruption, Replacement or Breaking of something already

existing, which is new behaviors, trends and beliefs that make old behaviors, trends
and beliefs obsolete.
A/B testing
A/B testing involves the testing of two variants in order to determine which one is
better. For example, A/B testing can be used to find out which of two webpage
options yields a better conversion rate. If it’s assumed that version A has a better
conversion rate, it’s used as the basis for a new, slightly different version and then
tested again to discover the better performing version.
Adaptive design
Adaptive design is an alternative to responsive design and relies on creating a separate
program design (mobile vs. desktop) for each view. Adaptive design is often referred
to as dynamic serving.
Agile (software) development

Agile software development or agile development for short is a group of
methodologies used in software projects aimed at producing fit-for-purpose software
faster and more reactively. Agile development can be understood as the opposite of
traditional waterfall software development. Examples of agile methods include Scrum
and Kanban.
API as a Service
API-as-a-Service (AaaS) combines the API economy and software renting and
provides application programming interfaces as a service.
API economy
API economy is a business model where the use of application programming
interfaces, or APIs, takes center stage. By using APIs, a company can, for instance,
make their business processes or data available to others.
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Application Programming Interface (API)
Application Programming Interface, API, is a communication channel through which
two pieces of software (e.g. two digital platforms) can exchange information in a
technical manner. APIs are central to the API economy and the platform economy, for
instance.
Artificial intelligence (AI)

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a computer program that is able to perform intelligent
operations independently. Artificial intelligence is difficult to define, since giving an
exhaustive definition of intelligence is already challenging.
B2B e-commerce
B2B e-commerce refers to an online store for businesses. Normally, B2B (business-
to-business) e-commerce is understood as an ordering system. The difference to a
B2C online store targeting consumers is, for example, the requirement to identify the
buyer through registering and the need to provide different billing options (such as
invoicing).
B2C e-commerce
B2C (business-to-consumer) e-commerce is a form of online commerce colloquially
known as online shopping. B2C e-commerce refers to an online service that provides
consumers with goods to purchase. Examples include shops such as NetAnttila or
verkkokauppa.com.
B2D marketing
B2D (business-to-developer) marketing is an operational model that aims to engage
software developers directly and by doing so affect customer acquisition. B2D
marketing is a method of the platform economy which typically provides APIs in as
developer-friendly form as possible to enable their proactive deployment.
Beta
A beta publication refers to a phase in online service development in which the
service is coming together functionality-wise but genuine user experiences are
required before the service can be finished in a user-centered way. In online service
development, the aim of the beta phase is to recognize both programming issues and
usability-enhancing procedures. The beta phase is particularly often used in
connection with online services and it can be either freely available (open beta) or
restricted to a specific target group (closed beta).
Big data
Big data refers to the collection, storage, sharing, searching, analyzing and presenting
of enormous, unorganized and continuously growing masses of data with the help of
statistics and information technology. As the Internet of Things and the Industrial
Internet continue to spread, there is believed to be a growing demand for big data -
related expertise.
Blockchain technology
Blockchain technology refers to the way in which operators that don’t know each
other can produce and maintain decentralized databases. The technology allows for
45
the members of the chain trust each other even though they don’t know one another.
The best-known blockchain technology application is the virtual currency Bitcoin.
Business design
Business design is a modern business model conceptualization. Business design is
closely related to service design and shares some of its principles but applies them to
the business concept of the entire company. The central idea of business design is to
alter business activities in a customer-oriented manner in order to create strong
customer loyalty.
C2C e-commerce
C2C e-commerce refers to the selling of goods directly from one consumer to another
online. Typically, an online service serves as a platform and enabler for this type of
digital commerce. Examples include tori.fi and huuto.net.
Call to action (CTA)

Call to action (or call-to-action, CTA) refers to a prompt that attracts the attention of a
web page visitor and guides them to perform a desired action. A CTA is usually a link
or an image which the visitor is supposed to click, or which requests the user’s email
address or asks them to make a phone call. A CTA is one of the basic tools of
conversion rate optimization.
Cloud adoption
Cloud adoption refers to an organisation’s move from its own servers and data centres
to cloud-based solutions hosted by third parties. Cloud adoption is a strategic
initiative for organisations, typically aimed at reducing costs, reducing risk and
ensuring scalability. An organisation can move to the cloud, either in whole or in part,
depending on its needs and its digital strategy.
Cloud service
Cloud service is a general term for a software service which is available over the
Internet. Cloud service is a metaphor as it’s often depicted as a cloud in presentations.
Previously, pieces of software were sold primarily as local software licenses, but it’s
now common business practice to offer cloud services through software renting.
Composable business
Composable Business refers to the design, implementation and development of an
enterprise’s digital infrastructure using business-level components (PCBs) that can be
replaced according to market needs in a more flexible way than those based on a
traditional monolithic architecture. The adoption of a composable business approach
is usually aimed at gaining competitive advantage, resilience and adaptability.
Composable commerce
Composable commerce is an approach that selects the best software components and
combines them into a customised application, offering functionality familiar from e-
commerce. Composable commerce is therefore a set of e-commerce services built
according to the principles of composable commerce.
Conversion
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Conversion means the completion of a measured action on a web page. A successful
conversion can involve subscribing to a newsletter, filling out a contact form or
buying a product from an online store. Conversion rate optimization is used to
improve the conversion rate, given as a percentage.
CONVERSION Rate Optimisation (CRO)

Conversion rate optimization refers to the editing of a web page with the aim of
improving the conversion rate of the page. CRO is usually an inevitable form of
business development for consumer online stores, since even the smallest
enhancement in the conversion rate has a direct impact on sales.
Customer Experience (CX)

Customer experience is the sum of encounters experienced by a customer in various
digital and traditional media. In the digital era, the significance of ensuring a positive
customer experience is highlighted since the buyer may come across an organization
in various contexts. Encounters are provided by web pages, newspapers, radio,
television and social media channels, among others. An organization should aim at
providing a consistent customer experience through these encounters, to ensure the
desired outcome (for example, a purchase or a recommendation).
Data economy
Data economy refers to the utilization of digital data in commercial transactions.
Digital Heart™
The Digital Heart™ is a combination of several software products and customized
systems integrated tightly together through modern API:s enabling and supporting the
core business of the company. The Digital Heart™ is the most important digital
system for core the core business processes in a highly digitalized organization.
Without a digital heart, an organization withers or dies, so it is in the core of the

organization’s strategy and is actively developed to achieve a defensible competitive
advantage in the marketplace. Examples of digital heart companies include Wolt,
AirBnB and verkkokauppa.com
Deep technology (deep tech)

Deep technology refers to a startup whose business idea is based on a scientific or
otherwise extensive (deep) understanding of technology. The term has been adopted
to set certain companies apart from other startups which are also technology driven. A
deep tech company may, for instance, base the core of its operations on particularly
complex mathematics in the creation of software algorithms. Deep technology
companies typically comprise artificial intelligence companies, which try to replicate
human thinking, build navigation systems for flying cars and so on.
Digital body language

Digital body language encompasses all the digital activities performed by an
individual. Every time a person performs a Google search, visits a web page, opens a
newsletter or downloads a guide, they contribute to their digital body language.
Digital body language is used in building marketing automation.
Digital business
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Digital business (electronic business) is an activity that aims at gaining a competitive
edge via (or with the help of) the web. The Internet has become one of the standard
operational environments for electronic business, but there are alternatives. Digital
business focusses on innovations related to the operational concept and realizes them
through modern electronic solutions. On the strategic level, the core of operations is
based on digitization, not merely on turning traditional processes electronic. This
entire glossary of digital business can be understood as a group of things used to
implement digital business strategies. Digital business is often linked to disruption-
oriented approaches.
Digital customer experience

Digital customer experience is the sum of encounters experienced by the customer in
various digital media. See also Customer experience.
Digital foot print

Digital footprint refers to the presence of a company, an organization or an individual
in the digital media. For example, blog marketing aims at growing the digital footprint
of a company online.
Digital marketing
Digital marketing means marketing that is carried out in digital media as opposed to
so-called traditional marketing which focusses on media such as radio, television and
newspapers. Digital marketing comprises all marketing taking place online, e-mail
marketing, mobile marketing, keyword advertising, social media marketing and so on.
Digital maturity
Digital maturity describes how holistically and efficiently an organization utilizes
digital means in its core business. Improving digital maturity increases a company’s
competitive advantage in its market. The Digital Business Maturity Model helps to
roughly outline your starting situation, set goals that suit your strategy, and identify
the means to raise the digital maturity level to meet those goals. The digital business
maturity model also helps to distinguish between easily applicable actions and those
that require profound change.
Digital platform
Digital platform is an Internet-based software solution that brings the operators of a
certain area together to form one single value network. A digital platform can be
figuratively described as the heart of a platform economy operator. The central
element of a digital platform is a well-documented and comprehensive API, through
which the platform can receive data from or send data to the operators of the value
network (or the platform databanks). APIs enable the linking together of several
different digital platforms.
Digitization
The term digitization (sometimes also digitalization) has no established definition, but
it is characterized by the utilization of modern technologies in a way that
fundamentally changes operations and creates significant value. Value networks,
customerization, new business models and implementing fast cycle time in product
development are some of the typical features of digitization. According to Gartner,
digitization is a paradigm change grown out of technology development and the next
48
stage of digital evolution. In digitization, everything is built with the customer in
mind. To put it simply, digitization changes our everyday lives.
Digitisation of business
Digitization of business is a process in which a traditional business concept is
reconceptualized and then altered to utilize digital means in the core business
processes. Digital technologies are no longer in a supporting role; instead, they can be
found in the strategic core. The digitization of business involves concepts such as
openness, network-like structures, digital business concept, user experience and
accelerating change.
Disruption / disruptive innovation

Disruption is a phenomenon in which some innovation that’s based on new
technology challenges the traditional operators and operations of an industry. Today,
digital business enables disruption more efficiently than ever before. The meaning of
disruption is perhaps better explained by the term disruptive innovation, which refers
to breaking an established operational model and replacing it with a new one. Typical
examples of disruptive operators include Uber and AirBnB.
Developer experience (DX)

Developer experience is a type of user experience that has been targeted at software
professionals, such as software developers. An excellent DX is a central business
objective, for instance, for SaaS and platform economy operators.
DevOps
DevOps is an agile operational model for producing electronic services. DevOps
focuses on the communication between software developers, maintenance and
production personnel. DevOps aims to build an environment in which building,
testing and publishing software can happen quickly, often and reliably. DevOps relies
on the practices of agile development and tools that automate infrastructure
management. DevOps is a particularly central term in modern SaaS software
development.
Domain
Domain is an Internet-based home address that identifies an online service. For
example, www.sofokus.com is a domain.
Extranet
Extranet is a website or web service for the stakeholders of an organization. Using the
Extranet requires logging in, which verifies access rights. Usually an organization
offers both an Extranet and an Intranet, the former having less content than the latter.
Google Ads
Google Ads (was Google Adwords) is a tool for keyword advertising within the
Google search engine. Google Ads has become something of a standard in online
marketing.
Google Tag Manager

Google Tag Manager is a tag management system, which enables the quick and easy
analysis of visitor numbers and updates of online and mobile application tags and
49
code strings meant for marketing optimization. Through the Tag Manager interface, it
is possible to add and update AdWords, Google Analytics, Firebase analytics,
Floodlight and third-party tags and edited tags without having to touch the code of the
website.
Google Analytics
Google Analytics is a free analytics tools provided by Google, meant for website
visitor tracking. Google Analytics is also used as a tool for enhancing websites’
operationality. Google Analytics is deployed by adding a script to the website.
Growth Hacking
Growth hacking is a term that has no established definition. A growth hacker is a
person that uses both traditional and digital marketing tools to achieve measurable
results with ease. Building up the user base of a SaaS business is a typical target for
growth hacking. A growth hacker can be seen as an expert that shortens the build-
measure-learn loop in businesses applying lean/agile principles.
Hackathon
A hackathon is a limited-time event that concentrates intensively on resolving one,
usually pre-determined, problem. A typical example would be a weekend-long event,
either online or at a physical location, that aims to produce a tentative solution to the
organizer’s problem. A hackathon can be related to just about anything, but usually
it’s linked to service design, software development, user interface design etc.
Hosting
Hosting means the administration of a server for an online service. Traditionally,
hosting has been defined as the provision of physical server space (possible even the
server itself) as an outsourcing service. With technical development, hosting has
developed toward virtualized cloud solutions. A modern hosting service is located in
an environment provided by a big cloud provider.
Inbound marketing
Inbound marketing is a form of marketing that tries to attract its target group by
providing it with things it is already interest in, in contrast to traditional interruption,
or outbound, marketing. Inbound marketing is a typical methodology for various
types of digital content. Examples of inbound marketing include useful guides and
blog articles.
Industrial Internet
Industrial Internet refers to the connecting of physical equipment to smart processes,
enormous data masses and analytics for the purpose of boosting industrial processes.
The term is often used synonymously with the Internet of Things, but the Industrial
Internet can be more accurately understood as the “digitization of the industrial
sector” and a hyponym for the Internet of Things.
Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)

Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) is a form of cloud computing that offers virtualized
computing resources over the web. IaaS is one of the three main cloud service models,
the other two being Software as a Service (SaaS) and Platform as a Service (PaaS).
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Examples of IaaS include Amazon Web Services (AWS), Windows Azure, Google
Cloud Platform and Rackspace Open Cloud.
Internet of Things (IoT)

Internet of Things or IoT refers to the linking together of physical objects, services,
systems, software and even people over the Internet. This network-like entity can be
controlled, measured and monitored via the Internet.
Internet marketing
Internet marketing comprises all marketing that takes place on the Internet. The term
is related to and can even be considered synonymous to digital marketing.
Intranet
Intranet is a website or web service designed for organization-internal use. Using the
Intranet requires logging in, which verifies access rights.
Landing page
A landing page (also called a destination page) is the page to which the visitor is taken
once they click an ad within a search engine or on a social media service, for instance.
In other words, the landing page is a purposefully designed page to which a user is
directed. The design of a landing page involves several best practices, the
implementation of which will potentially enhance the conversion rate which began
from the advert.
Long tail
Long tail means the varied but low-volume portion of a product range. The Internet
has made it possible to make a profit out of selling long-tail products. The concept
was introduced by Chris Anderson in 2004.
MACH architecture
MACH architecture refers to a set of technologies that are used to create applications
based on, among other things, the principles of composable business or composable
commerce. MACH stands for Microservices-based, API-first, Cloud-native and
Headless.
Magento
Magento is the world’s leading open-source e-commerce platform.
Mobile first
Mobile first refers to a design method, whereby an online service is designed and built
primarily for mobile users and only secondarily for desktop users. This change in
paradigm is the result of the enormous increase in mobile devices and mobile use in
the 2000s, which forced the rethinking of traditional desktop-centered service design.
MVP (Minimum Viable Product)

Minimum viable product (MVP) is a new product that has the minimum number of
features but is able to provide maximum amount of customer feedback. The objective
of an MVP is not necessarily to build a new product or even a prototype but a version
that can be used to test the so-called market compatibility of a product.MVP doesn’t
even need be a working piece of software. It can just as well be a web-format
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wireframe model or a video as long as it sufficiently well demonstrates how the
product operates. However, in online service development MVP is commonly
understood as the first published version of a working piece of software.
Network effect
Network effects occur when new users make a network more valuable to other,
existing users. When a network reaches a critical point, competing and more limited
networks start to lose their significance.
Online / web application

An online application is a piece of software that can be accessed using a browser.
Today, a great deal of software is produced as online applications since practically all
operating environments include a browser. All social media services are examples of
online applications. The production of an online application requires considerably
more programming skills than that of a website, which is usually set up on a ready-
made content management platform.
Online service
Online service is a general term that describes practically any website entity on the
Internet. It can be understood as an umbrella term for a web site, online application
and various other types of online service.
Open data
Open data refers to the information acquired by a company, organization or some
other instance that hasn’t been refined and that has been made available to the public
for use free of charge. Open data is used, for example, in the platform economy as a
way of creating broader value networks around an organization.
Open source code

Open source code refers to the software production and development methods that
provide a user with an opportunity to familiarize themselves with the source code of a
program and to edit it according to their needs. The principles of open source code
include the freedom to use the program for any purpose and to copy and distribute the
original as well as the edited version. Open source code can be used to refer not only
to software development methods but also to the software created and to the
developer community. Closed software, whose source code is not published, can be
considered the opposite of free software and open source code.
Organic search results

Organic search results are those search engine results that create traffic to a website
without advertising. The order in which organic search results are placed is affected
by several factors such as location, previous searches and so on. Search engine
optimization aims to affect organic search results.
Outbound marketing
Outbound marketing means traditional interruption marketing that utilizes methods
such as cold calling. In addition, outbound marketing often refers to traditional mass
marketing, in which, say, leaflets are distributed to tens of thousands of households.
Digitization has been a game changer in that the power of traditional marketing has
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waned radically which in turn has forced organizations to adopt inbound marketing
tactics to support their sales.
Packaged Business Capability (PBC)

A Packaged Business Capability (PBC) is a set of applications or services developed
around a specific business function. A Packaged Business Capability is an collection
consisting of services, a data schema and APIs. Packaged business capabilities are the
building blocks of an composable business or composable commerce architecture. An
example of a PBC is a shopping cart component.
Permission-based marketing / Inbound marketing

See “Inbound marketing”.
Pivot
Pivot is a term used in the startup world to describe a deliberate major shift in
business or strategy. Pivoting is a practical tool for adapting a business agilely to the
demands of environmental change. The VUCA world and the transformational
demands of digitalisation have shifted the requirement for pivoting capability from
early-stage start-ups to all types of organisations. Pivoting has been joined by a new
term – micropivoting – which means adapting to market movements and the operating
environment without changing the entire business strategy.
Platform as a Service (PaaS)

Platform as a Service (PaaS) refers to the provision of a software platform in the form
of a cloud service. In the model, the developer doesn’t need to worry about scalability
or the need for more power as the platform automatically takes care of these.
Examples of platforms offering PaaS include Microsoft Azure, Google App Engine
and Force.com. PaaS is one of the three main cloud service models, the other two
being Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) and Software as a Service (SaaS).
Platform economy
Platform economy is a business model brought about by the development of the
Internet. In the platform economy, some entity – such as a company, some other
organization or an individual – provides others with a technical platform that is meant
to be used for commercial purposes. By exercising platform economy, a company is
able to change the value chain logics of their industry. Examples of platform economy
operators include spreadshirt.com and Amazon.com.
Portal
Portal is an online service which acts as a gateway to an array of different services.
The services are either technically inside the portal or it can be a website that gathers
external services to one place (like suomi.fi). In everyday speech, portal is used to
refer to practically all kinds of online services.
Product-Led Growth (PLG)

Product-led growth is putting your product at the center of your company. It is a
strategy that uses the product as a channel to drive organizational Key Performance
Indicators such as sales, engagement, and reach. PLG thus includes the idea of
developing a fantastic product, providing a world-class user experience, and adding a
viral loop to your product.
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Publishing system / content management system (CMS)
Nowadays, a website is nearly always built upon a publishing system. A publishing
system, or today perhaps more often a Content Management System or CMS, refers to
a product that lets you create a website by focusing on content and navigation rather
than programming. The world’s most popular content management system by far is
WordPress.
Reservation system
A reservation system is an online service that allows you to make reservations for
products. In addition to making a reservation, it’s often possible to buy tickets through
the system as well. The ticket booking system of the Finnish railway company VR
(vr.fi) provides a typical example.
Responsive design
Responsive design refers to the planning of an adaptive online service, in which the
appearance of the service is designed to be responsive. A responsive online service
uses one code from one web address to cater for the various devices a user has
(desktop, tablet, smart phone, regular cell phone), but displays the content differently
depending on the screen size.
Retargeting / Remarketing
Retargeting or remarketing is a digital marketing method in which a web page visitor
can be shown desired ads as they visit other sites. Remarketing is used, for instance,
to guide a visitor through the conversion funnel and to increase brand awareness.
SEARCH Engine Marketing (SEM)

Search engine marketing is buying advertising space from search engines. Billing is
done according to how may clicks the ad gets. Google AdWords is an example of a
search engine advertising tool within Google’s search engines.
Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a process that aims at directing desired traffic to
a particular website. Essentially, the aim of SEO is to make pages more visible in the
organic search results of search engines (such as Google).
Service Design
Service design means the innovation, development and planning of services using
customer-centric design methods. The central goal of service design is to plan a
service experience in such a way that the service meets both the needs of the users and
the business objectives of the service provider.
Sharing Economy
Sharing economy refers to a business model in which a company, some other
organization of a private individual shares a resource they own to others in return for
compensation. The sharing economy is based on the idea that sharing a resource that
someone owns wide enough minimizes the unit cost but still manages to create a
commercially viable business. An example of the sharing economy is AirBnB, which
allows people to rent out their own apartments.
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Social media
The term social media is used in reference to online services based on social
networking. These include, for instance, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest.
Community-driven online services are based on human interaction and are often some
of the most utilized services online.
Software as a Service (SaaS)

Software as a Service (SaaS) is the acquisition of software as a service instead of a
local desktop version. The use of SaaS is usually paid on the basis of resources used.
SaaS also means that there are no customer-specific environments; instead, only one
online application caters for the needs of all customers. SaaS is one of the three main
cloud service models, the other two being Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) and
Platform as a Service (PaaS). Liveto is an example of SaaS.
Software Integration
Software integration is the linking together of two separate pieces of software through
programming. Software integration is usually one of the typical tools in cases where
an existing traditional business is being digitized, for example. In everyday speech,
software integration is often shortened to integration.
Software subscription
Software renting is a method of licensing where the customer is given the right to use
software over the Internet for a recurring fee, such as a monthly subscription. The
software isn’t installed on a local machine but is typically used through an Internet
browser, which executes the user’s commands over the web.
SSL encryption protocol

SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) is an encryption method that aims at protecting the
connection between two parties over the Internet. The use of SSL has become
standard, for example, in online banks and online stores, and now it’s making its way
to traditional company websites in the wake of the changes Google made to its search
engine.
Tailored online application

Tailored online application is a web app built for a specific purpose according to, for
instance, a company’s wishes. A typical tailored online application would be a SaaS
created to provide support to business.
User Experience (UX)

User experience (or UX) refers to the comprehensive experience related to the use or
consumption of a product or service. Organizations that provide the most addictive,
easy and memorable experience have the upper hand.
USER Interface (UI)

User interface (or UI) comprises the view through which a service is used, and the
functionalities needed for using the service. A user interface links the user and the
computer and creates an operating principle for usage, leading (when done correctly)
to a positive user experience.
Web Analytics / Visitor tracking
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Web analytics refers to the tracking of website visitors and to the interpretation of
their navigation behavior. Web tracking allows an online service to be developed
further.
Web browser
Web browser is a program that allows a person to search and use online services on
the Internet.
Web page
A web page is a single page on a website.
Website
A website (colloquially web pages or home pages) is a collection of web pages that
deal with a particular subject. A website can focus on an individual or an
organization. The majority of the Internet consists of websites. Websites have
developed from being static calling cards to entities requiring increasingly complex
programming skills.
Web store / E-marketplace / Online store

Web store refers to the supply, demand, sales and other commercial transactions of
goods and services performed with the help of information technology. A webstore is
often understood in terms of being synonymous with B2C commerce, such as
gigantti.fi. However, a webstore can also be B2B (e.g. a wholesale ordering system)
or C2C (a marketplace for consumers).
WordPress
WordPress is by far the world’s most popular Content Management System (CMS).
WordPress’ market share of all online services is around 25% and around 50% when
it comes to the market share of content management systems. Originally a blog tool,
WordPress has become the foundation of modern websites. There are over 47,000
commercial and free add-ons available for WordPress, making it possible to extend
the functionality of a product to, for example, a webstore (WooCommerce add-on).
absorbency
Power, capacity or tendency of a material to absorb or soak up another substance,
usually a liquid.
abstraction
A process of reducing complexity to formulate generalised fundamental ideas or
concepts removed from specific details or situation. For example, the idea that a
cricket ball is a sphere in the same way that a soccer ball is, or the concept that data
can be organised in records made up of fields irrespective of whether the data are
numbers, text, images or something else.
accessibility
The extent to which a system, environment or object may be used irrespective of a
user’s capabilities or disabilities. For example, the use of assistive technologies to
allow people with physical disabilities to use computer systems, or the use of icons in
place of words to allow young children to use a system.
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aerial view
A drawing from above (in the air) to show features of a building, landscape or
environment. An aerial view is used, for example, in whole-farm plans to show the
location of fences and gates, dams, waterways, specific vegetation, sheds and other
buildings on a property so plans for changes can be made.
aerial view of garden
aesthetics
A branch of philosophy dealing with the nature of art, beauty and taste. It is more
scientifically defined as the study of sensory-emotional values, sometimes called
judgements of sentiment and taste. Aesthetic judgement is concerned with the visual
impact or appeal of a product or environment and is influenced by social, emotional
and demographic factors.
algorithm
Step-by-step procedures required to solve a problem. For example, to find the largest
number in a list of positive numbers:
Note the first number as the largest.

Look through the remaining numbers, in turn, and if a number is larger than the
number found in 1, note it as the largest.
Repeat this process until complete. The last noted number is the largest in the list.
An algorithm may be described in many ways. Flowcharts are often useful in
visualising an algorithm.
algorithmic logic
A logic behind breaking down computing problems and information systems into
step-by-step processes in order to solve problems or achieve specified outcomes. It
involves sequencing and abstraction and leads to algorithmic statements.
app
A software application with a very specific or narrow purpose designed to run on
mobile devices (such as smartphones or tablets) through a web browser or on a
personal computer. The feature set of an app is limited when compared with a full-
featured desktop application for a similar purpose. For example, a photo-editing app
has a smaller set of features than an industry-standard photographic suite.
ASCII (American Standard Code for Information Interchange)

An early numeric code, later extended, used to represent 128 specific characters,
including 0–9 and a–z, in computer systems. For example, capital A is represented by
the binary code 100 0001.
augmented reality (AR)

A technology that replicates, enhances or overlays extra information about the real-
world environment, using computer-generated data such as global positioning systems
(GPS), sound, videos and images. Examples include a car windshield with a heads-up
display (HUD) that projects three-dimensional navigation information and virtual
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lanes; and a swimming telecast using a line to indicate the position of the record
holder in relation to the actual swimmers in the race.
automate
In Digital Technologies, any process of transforming and manipulating data that does
not require user intervention. For example, through the use of formulas in a
spreadsheet, new sets of data can be processed and the results recalculated
automatically, or a webcam can be turned on as a result of movement sensor input.
back casting
A process that starts with defining a desirable future and then working backwards to
identify policies and programs that will connect the future to the present.
binary
A use of two states or permissible values to represent data, such as ON and OFF
positions of a light switch or transistors in a computer silicon chip that can be in either
the electrical state of ON or OFF.
Binary data are typically represented as a series of single digits referred to as binary
digits (or bits) due to each taking on the value of either 0 or 1. The image below
shows how a dashed line might be represented in binary.
biomimicry
An inspiration of functions found in nature for use and adaptation in the design of a
product, service or environment or to solve human problems. For example, velcro
fastening was inspired by small hooks on the end of burr needles. Termite mounds
that maintain a constant temperature through air vents inspired architects to design
cooling for buildings.
bitmap
Mapping something to bits (binary digits 0 and 1). It is most often used in reference to
graphics or images (but can be other forms of media). For a bitmapped graphic, each
‘dot’, or pixel, of the graphic is represented by a number giving the colour of the
pixel. .bmp, .gif or .jpeg files are graphics represented as bitmaps (as opposed to
vector graphics). If a graphic were stored or displayed using only 1 bit per pixel, it
would be purely black and white (1 for black and 0 for white). If it were 2 bits per
pixel, it could represent four ‘colours’ (typically greyscale colours). Using 24 bits per
pixel gives over 16 million (224) different colours.
branching
Making a decision between one of two or more actions depending on sets of
conditions and the data provided. For example, in testing whether a light works, the
following algorithm uses branching:
diagram illustrating branching
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bunraku puppet
A traditional Japanese form of puppet theatre in which half life-sized dolls act out a
chanted dramatic narrative using force and motion.
CAPTCHA™
A graphic image (and audio for vision impaired) recognition test to confirm a human,
rather than a computer-automated response to a request. It is an acronym for
Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart. It is
commonly used with online forms over the internet to reduce the chance of hackers
using computer programs to automatically fill in multiple bogus online forms.
an example of CAPTCHA
carbon footprint
The environmental impact of an individual or organisation’s operation, measured in
units of carbon dioxide. It includes primary emissions (the sum of the direct carbon
dioxide emissions of fossil fuel burning and transportation such as cars and planes)
and secondary, or indirect, emissions associated with the manufacture and breakdown
of all products, services and food an individual or organisation consumes.
cascading style sheets (CSS)

A set of instructions to describe the formatting (for example, layout, font, size) of a
document written in a markup language such as HTML for web pages. It is a special
case of a style sheet that is a set of instructions to define the formatting of a structured
document (for example, a word processed document could have a style sheet). For
example, CSS for a website may define the font, colour and size of each type of text
such as headings, body text, hyperlinks and captions for pictures.
categorical data
Data that are represented in discrete categories such as gender, eye colour or type of
animal. For example, if age was represented as age groups (for example,. 0–5, 6–18,
19–60, 61+), then the data would be categorical rather than numerical.
characteristics
A set of distinguishing aspects (including attributes and behaviours) of an object,
material, living thing, system or event.
In Design and Technologies, the qualities of a material or object usually detected and
recognised by human senses such as its colour, taste, texture, sound (for example,
crunch of bread) and smell. The term also may relate to the form of a material, for
example, ‘corrugated’ cardboard. These qualities are used by humans to select
suitable materials for specific uses, for example, because they are appealing or
suitable for their purpose. The characteristics of materials usually determine the way
people work with the materials. Also see properties.
In Digital Technologies, for example, the characteristics of a stored digital graphic

may be the colour depth (maximum number of colours represented), the resolution
(number of pixels per area, or height and width) and the compression used.
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cloud computing
Distributing computing over a network where storage of files, processing of data
and/or access to software occurs automatically on interconnected server computers to
which the user’s device is connected. Typically, people use the term to refer to
accessing files and software over the internet. For example, photo files may be stored
in the ‘cloud’ from a smartphone to be accessed later from a different location; where
they are actually stored can be anywhere in the world on a server computer used by
the cloudservice.
codec
A piece of software that encodes or decodes digital audio-visual material, usually to
allow it to be stored or transmitted in a compressed format. For example, the MP3
format compresses audio data and requires an MP3 codec (usually available by
default in audio programs) to be read and played by a computer. Codecs can be
downloaded or purchased and installed as plug-ins to most applications to extend the
media capabilities of software. Also see compression.
collaborative document
A document that is created by more than one person, with authors working together to
create a single document. This is readily achieved using digital technologies by
having the document in an online environment so that many authors can access and
edit the document at the same time.
components
Parts or elements that make up a system or whole object and perform specific
functions. For example, the major components of a car include: a chassis (holds
everything on it); an engine (to convert energy to make a car move); a transmission
(including controlling the speed and output from the engine and to rotate the wheels);
a steering system (to control the direction of movement); a brake system (to slow
down or stop); a fuel delivery system (to supply fuel to the cylinders); an exhaust
system (to get rid of gases) and an electrical system (for operating wipers, air
conditioning, etc.).
Similarly, the components of a computer system may be a central processing unit

(chips that follow instructions to control other components and move data); memory
chips and a hard disk (for storing data and instructions); a keyboard, a mouse, a
camera and a microphone (to input instructions and data for the central processing
unit); a screen, a printer and speakers (to output data); USB and ethernet cards (to
communicate with other systems or components). Also see digital systems.
diagram showing components of an electronic system
compression
A process of encoding information using fewer bits, that is, 0 or 1, than an original
representation, to reduce file size – typically using mathematical formulas to remove
repeated data, combine related data or simplify data (for example, a line segment can
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be represented by the position of the end points instead of every dot on it). Common
examples include:
.zip files, which can contain one or more files or folders that have been compressed
.jpg files in digital photography are produced by processing complete (lossless) data
from a camera’s sensor through compressing (looking for redundant/unnecessary
data) into a smaller file size
.mp3 files for audio, which compress an original audio source to reduce the file size
significantly but still sound like an exact copy of the original.
compression scheme
a method of compressing data. Also see compression.
computational thinking
A problem-solving method that involves various techniques and strategies that can be
implemented by digital systems. Techniques and strategies may include organising
data logically, breaking down problems into parts, defining abstract concepts and
designing and using algorithms, patterns and models.
computer-aided drawing
Software used by designers, architects and engineers to create lines, shapes and planes
that can be combined, moved, rotated, adjusted and rendered. Measurements and
calculations can be included. Computer-aided drawing can be used to create two- and
three-dimensional models and drawings such as floor plans, interior and garden
designs, and to represent objects and structures. Also known as computer-assisted
design or CAD.
computer-aided manufacturing (CAM)

A use of geometric design data (coordinates) to control and monitor specially
designed automated machines with onboard computers to produce objects. Numerical
control (NC) computer software applications create detailed instructions, known as G-
code, that drive the computer numeric control (CNC) machine tools for manufacturing
components and objects.
constructed environment
An environment developed, built and/or made by people for human and animal
activity, including buildings, streets, gardens, bridges and parks. It includes
naturalenvironments after they have been changed by people for a purpose.
construction relationship
A relationship between materials and suitable methods of joining them, based on their
characteristics and properties. For example, certain adhesives can be used to join
specific materials. If an incorrect adhesive is chosen, the materials will not bond, or
will be weak.
criteria for success

A descriptive list of essential features against which success can be measured. The
compilation of criteria involves literacy skills to select and use appropriate
terminology.
critiquing
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A careful judgement in which opinions are given about positive and negative aspects
of something. Critiquing considers good as well as bad performances, individual
parts, relationships of individual parts and overall performance. Also see evaluating.
crop sensor
An advanced sensor to measure and record data about food or fibre crops and give
real-time measurements of physiological factors such as nutrient status and moisture.
It can be physically placed in the crop or remotely sensed from a satellite or aircraft.
cultivating gardens
Preparing and improving soil by digging and fertilising to promote the growth of crop
plants.
danger zone temperatures

Temperature range between 5º Celsius and 60º Celsius. In this zone, bacteria that
cause food poisoning can multiply quickly to unsafe levels. High-risk foods should be
stored properly to avoid the danger zone temperatures.
data
In Digital Technologies, discrete representation of information using number codes.
Data may include characters (for example, alphabetic letters, numbers and symbols),
images, sounds and/or instructions that, when represented by number codes, can be
manipulated, stored and communicated by digital systems. For example, characters
may be represented using ASCII code or images may be represented by a bitmap of
numbers representing each ‘dot’ or pixel.
data repository
A central place where data are stored and maintained. For example, a database on a
server computer for the Australian Bureau of Statistics, a weather bureau or a bank.
database
A collection of data organised by records and fields that can be easily stored,
accessed, managed and updated. Each discrete piece of data to be stored is
represented by a field (for example, song title, song artist or bank account number,
date of transaction); and values in the fields that are associated with an entity (for
example, a song, a bank transaction) are a record. Interaction with a database usually
takes place through a user interface designed specifically for the structure and use of
the data stored in it.
dataset
A collection of data combined for a specific purpose. All data should be
interconnected either by being in the same file or in files related to each other so they
can be viewed together, and are usually collected together. Examples include data
collected from a survey entered into a single spreadsheet, or a library of clip art.
decompose
To separate a complex problem into parts to allow a problem to be more easily
understood. For example, to create an interactive story, one can decompose the
problem to a list of characters and their characteristics (for example, clothing), the
actions of the characters, the backdrops and the sequence of scenes with reference to
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which characters, actions and backdrops are involved in each scene. Decomposition
may be represented in diagrams.
deconstructing
A process of dismantling or pulling a product or system apart to systematically
identify and analyse components and their relationships. Also see components.
design brief
A concise statement clarifying a project task and defining a need or opportunity to be
resolved after some analysis, investigation and research. It usually identifies users,
criteria for success, constraints, available resources and timeframe for a project and
may include possible consequences and impacts.
design process
A process that typically involves investigating and defining; generating and
designing; producing and implementing; evaluating; and collaborating and managing
to create a designed solution that considers social, cultural and environmental factors.
In Design and Technologies, technologies processes include design processes and
production processes.
design thinking
Use of strategies for understanding design problems and opportunities, visualising and
generating creative and innovative ideas, and analysing and evaluating those ideas
that best meet the criteria for success and planning.
designed solution
In Design and Technologies, a product, service or environment that has been created
for a specific purpose or intention as a result of design thinking, design processes and
production processes.
designing
In Design and Technologies, a process that typically involves investigating and
defining; generating; producing and implementing; evaluating; and collaborating and
managing to create a designed solution.
In Digital Technologies, one step in a four-stage process of defining, designing,

implementing and evaluating to create a digital solution.
desk checking
A method used by a human to check the logic of a computer program's algorithm to
reduce the likelihood of errors occurring. This may be done on paper, using a
diagram, or mentally trying a sample of typical inputs to see what the outputs would
be. For example, to desk check a branching statement {IF age >65 THEN ‘retire’
ELSE ‘keep working’}, the values for age of 64, 65 and 66 could be tried to show that
64 and 65 would result in ‘keep working’ and 66 in ‘retire’ so that it could be decided
if the statement worked as intended.
digital citizenship
An acceptance and upholding of the norms of appropriate, responsible behaviour with
regard to the use of digital technologies. This involves using digital technologies
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effectively and not misusing them to disadvantage others. Digital citizenship includes
appropriate online etiquette, literacy in how digital technologies work and how to use
them, an understanding of ethics and related law, knowing how to stay safe online,
and advice on related health and safety issues such as predators and the permanence
of data.
digital environment
A situation, or sphere of activity, or simulated ‘place’ that is entirely presented or
experienced with digital technologies. For example, a social network that provides a
digital environment for communicating with friends, or software that provides a
digital environment for editing photographs.
digital footprint
A total set of data left behind by a person using a digital system. A person’s digital
footprint includes all information actively provided by that person such as interactions
on social networks (for example, comments, photographs), online purchases, website
logons, emails and instant messages. It also includes passive information such as logs
of software installed and used on a computer, metadata associated with files, a user’s
IP address, a device being used to access a web page, and a user’s browsing history
stored as cookies or by internet service providers.
digital information
The nature and forms of information stored digitally, and processes that transform
digital data into information for various purposes and meanings, including structures,
properties, features and conventions of particular forms of digital information and
appropriate methods of storage, transmission and presentation of each form.
digital solution
A result (or output) of transforming data into information or action using digital
systems, skills, techniques and processes to meet a need or opportunity.
digital system
Digital hardware and software components (internal and external) used to transform
data into a digital solution. When digital systems are connected, they form a network.
For example:
a smartphone is a digital system that has software (apps, an operating system), input
components (for example, touch screen, keyboard, camera and microphone), output
components (for example, screen and speakers), memory components (for example,
silicon chips, solid state drives), communication components (for example, SIM card,
wi-fi, bluetooth or mobile network antennas), and a processor made up of one or more
silicon chips.
a desktop computer with specific software and hardware components for dairy
farming. The computer is connected via cables to milking equipment and via wi-fi to
sensors that read tags on the cows. Through these hardware components the software
records how much milk each cow provides. Such systems can also algorithmically
control attaching milking equipment to each cow, providing feed and opening gates.
digital technology
Any technology controlled using digital instructions, including computer hardware
and software, digital media and media devices, digital toys and accessories, and
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contemporary and emerging communication technologies. These technologies are
based on instructions given, using binary (0 or 1) code, that invariably mean one or
more processors are present to respond to these instructions. Computers, smartphones,
digital cameras, printers and robots are all examples of digital technologies.
digitally signed data

Data that have information added (for example, a digital signature) before these data
are sent over a network so that a receiving digital device knows what computer has
sent the data and that the data have not been changed along the way. A digital
signature is mathematically created using cryptography (hashed). For example, a
digital signature may be added to a PDF document in Acrobat as a digital ID (or
private key) that includes a name and email address in the added information.
drawing standards
Australian standards for engineering and technical drawing. Identified as Australian
Standard AS 1100, the standards include a number of parts that describe the
conventions for Australian engineers, designers, architects and associated
tradespeople such as builders and plumbers to follow. AS 1100 incorporates general
principles for technical drawing, including dimensioning, types of lines and layouts to
use, scales, symbols, abbreviations and their meanings. It also includes mechanical
engineering drawing, including information for surface texture, welding, centre holes,
gears, etc.
durability
An ability of an object or system to withstand or resist wear, pressure or damage over
a long period of time and remain in good condition. For example, long-lasting outdoor
furniture made of suitable materials and construction methods to withstand rain, heat
and light from the sun; a sports uniform made of suitable materials to withstand
frequent washing and wear and tear from the movement of the sportsperson. Also see
properties.
e-commerce
The electronic (e) selling of a product or service online or through other electronic
means, with an online mechanism for payment. Examples include online shopping
sites and travel websites where hotel accommodation and airline tickets can be
purchased.
economic sustainability
A set of practices that do not reduce economic opportunities of future economies,
while recognising the finite nature of resources, and use resources optimally over a
longer term without resulting in economic loss.
electronic planting calendar

An online or software-based month-by-month guide of suitable crops to plant, as well
as typical garden maintenance tasks, which need to be performed. An electronic
planting calendar may take a form of a database or simple table of information.
encryption of data
A process in cryptography of encoding (converting) data, using mathematical
formulas, into a form that only an intended recipient can decode, often including a
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personal digital signature (see digitally signed data). For example, when connecting to
an online banking or shopping website, typically on login a secure communication is
set up based on encryption provided at the website, and this will be represented by a
https://URL and a lock symbol on the user’s internet browser.
energy-efficient cooking
Energy efficiency is the use of less energy to provide the same service. Examples of
energy-efficient cooking include microwave cooking; using energy-efficient
cookware such as copper-bottom pans and woks; matching pan size to the cooking
element; reducing cooking time by defrosting frozen food first; using a single hotplate
with a saucepan and stacked steamer.
engineering
A practical application of scientific and mathematical understanding and principles as
a part of the process of developing and maintaining solutions for an identified need or
opportunity.
engineering principles and systems

A technologies context in Design and Technologies focused on how forces and energy
can be used to create light, sound, heat, movement, control or support in systems. It
involves manipulating and arranging systems and their components, often using
modelling or simulation, so they work together (or interact) to meet required needs
and functions or purposes. Systems have inputs, processes and outputs. For example,
a torch as shown below. Scientific laws or theories can often be used to work out the
necessary inputs, processes or outputs to support the development or operation of a
system. These are known as engineering principles. An example of an engineering
principle is Ohm’s Law (a statement about the relationship between voltage, current
and resistance in an electrical circuit).
inputs, processes and outputs of a torch, which is a simple system
enterprise
A project or activity that may be challenging, requires effort and initiative and may
have risks.
enterprising
Showing initiative and willingness to take action and commitment to follow through
on initiatives.
environment
One of the outputs of technologies processes and/or a place or space in which
technologies processes operate. An environment may be natural, managed,
constructed or digital.
environmental sustainability
Practices that have minimal impact on ecosystem's health, allow renewal of natural
systems and value environmental qualities that support life.
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equipment
Items needed for carrying out specific jobs, activities, functions or processes. For
example, a bench hook is used to hold a piece of wood when making a straight cut
across it; a tailor’s chalk is used to make marks on fabric to show details of the
location and type of construction; a soldering iron is used to solder components to a
printed circuit board; scales are used to accurately weigh ingredients for a cake or
feed for domestic animals.
ergonomics
Understanding of the activity of humans within systems or in an environment to
maximise the wellbeing of humans and their productive use of those systems or
environments. In Digital Technologies,ergonomics is concerned with physical, mental
and emotional impacts on users of the technologies. For example, it is understood that
many people may get sore eyes if they look at screens for too long, and that if
computer keyboard users do not sit up straight with arms at right angles to the body,
they may get repetitive strain injury in their forearms.
evaluating
Measuring performance against established criteria. Estimating nature, quality, ability,
extent or significance to make a judgement determining a value. Also see critiquing.
exclusive or (XOR)
An ‘exclusive or’ (XOR) is a logical operator that is TRUE if both inputs to it are
different, in the same way that AND is a logical operator that is TRUE only if both of
the inputs are TRUE. For example, ‘person is male’ XOR ‘person has blonde hair’
results in all females with blonde hair and males without blonde hair. (Using AND
here would result in only including males with blonde hair.)
the Venn diagram represents the XOR operator
exploded view
A drawing or photograph of an object with individual parts shown separately but
arranged to show the relationship and position of the parts for assembly. For example,
instructions that come with furniture sold in a flat pack that has parts and fittings, or a
diagram of parts of a bicycle, to be assembled in a particular way and/or order by a
purchaser.
exploded view of a chair
features
In Design and Technologies, distinctive attributes, characteristics, properties and
qualities of an object, material, living thing, system or event.
fibre
In food and fibre production, plant- or animal-based materials that can be used for
clothing or construction. Fibre includes materials from forestry. Animal-based
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(protein) fibres include wool and silk. Plant-based (cellulosic) fibres include cotton,
bamboo, hemp, timber and wood chip.
file transfer protocol (FTP)

A set of rules or standards for transmitting files between digital systems on the
internet. Also see hypertext transfer protocol.
flame-retardant fabrics
1. Inherently flame-resistant fibres that have flame resistance built into their chemical
structure.
2. Flame-retardant treated (FRT) fabrics that are made flame-resistant by the

application of flame-retardant chemicals.
food and fibre production

A process of producing food or fibre as natural materials for the design and
development of a range of products.
food guides
The National Health and Medical Research Council and Australian government
departments of health and nutrition publish guides that provide information on food
consumption patterns to promote maximum health. These include the Australian
Guide to Healthy Eating poster, which visually represents the proportion of the five
food groups recommended, in a circular plate format; the Australian Dietary
Guidelines(2013 revision), which has five principal recommendations, and the
Healthy Living Pyramid, which recommends food from the core food groups and
encourages food variety balanced with physical activity.
food specialisations
Application of nutrition principles and knowledge about the characteristics and
properties of food to food selection and preparation; and contemporary technology-
related food issues.
forecasting
A process of predicting the future based on current trend analysis. It uses historical
data to determine a direction of future trends.
functionality
Design of products, services or environments to ensure they are fit for purpose and
meet the intended need or market opportunity and identified criteria for success.
Criteria for success in relation to functionality are likely to include such things as
operation, performance, safety, reliability and quality. That is, does the product,
service or environment do what it was meant to do, or provide what it was meant to
provide? (For example, does the torch provide light, is it easy to hold, and is it safe to
use?)
futures thinking
Strategic thinking that envisages what can be, given existing knowledge, to propose
scenarios for probable, possible and preferred futures. For example, making well-
informed predictions or extrapolating using current economic, environmental, social
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and technological trends; using divergent thinking (‘What if …’ explorations) about a
given futures scenario; hypothesis; or systems-driven thinking.
general-purpose programming languages

Programming languages in common use designed to solve a wide range of problems.
They include procedural, functional and object-oriented programming languages,
including scripting and/or dynamically typed languages. Examples of general-purpose
programming languages include C#, C++, Java, JavaScript, Python, Ruby and Visual
Basic. They do not include declarative programming languages such as Prolog or
structured query language (SQL), or languages designed for solving domain-specific
problems or for pedagogical reasons.
graphic organiser
A communication tool that uses visual symbols to represent structured thinking.
Graphic organiser makes thinking processes visible by showing connections between
ideas and data. Examples include concept maps, flowcharts and cause-and-effect
patterns. The use of graphic organisers has become more popular with the availability
of software to create, edit and display them.
graphical representation technique

A technique used to communicate ideas and plans, for example, sketching, drawing,
modelling, making patterns, technical drawing, computer-aided drawing. (The
graphical representation techniques for each band are included in the band
description.)
graphics technologies
Visual images, pictorial representations or designs produced on a surface such as
paper, canvas or a screen. Images generated by a computer are known as computer
graphics. The purpose of these images, representations or designs is to inform,
illustrate or entertain.
hardwood
Wood from broadleaved or angiosperm trees such as oak, ash, gum, jarrah.
hashing algorithm
A method of generating output of a fixed length that is used as a shorthand reference
to larger amounts of data. Used extensively to speed up searching, or when a size of
data being used becomes cumbersome. Hashing is especially useful in cryptography
as a means of reliably and securely obscuring input for communication. A hashing
algorithm is deterministic – it always produces the same output for any given input –
ensuring that data retrieval and use are reliable.
health
A state of complete physical, mental and social wellbeing and not merely the absence
of disease or infirmity (World Health Organization 1948).
healthy eating
Dietary patterns that aim to promote health and wellbeing, including types and
amounts of foods and food groups that reduce the risk of diet-related conditions and
chronic disease (National Health and Medical Research Council 2013).
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hypertext markup language (HTML)
One of the first coding systems (or languages) designed to be used for web-page files
so that an internet browser can efficiently display a page and elements for that page
such as text, links and media in the intended position. There are newer versions of this
language and alternative markup languages.
hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP)

A set of rules or standards for transferring files and messages on the World Wide
Web, specifically to allow linking of files and text (see file transfer protocol). It
provides a standard for web browsers to render pages (that is, to present them in an
intended form) and servers to communicate.
IF statement
A conditional decision statement used to control the flow of a program (see
branching). The structure of an IF statement evaluates an expression (for example,
hour < 12) and performs a specified code block only if the condition is true. An
example in Python would look like the following:
if hour < 12:
print(“Good morning!”)
Here, the program would only print the words 'Good morning!' if the hour of the day
is less than 12.
information system
A combination of digital hardware and software components (digital systems), data,
processes and people that interact to create, control and communicate information.
input
Something put into a system to activate or modify a process, for example, people, raw
materials, power, energy, data. Also see engineering principles and systems.
intellectual property
A legal concept that refers to creations of a mind for which exclusive rights are
recognised. Common types of intellectual property include copyright, trademarks,
patents, designs and plant breeder’s rights.
intitle
A prefix indicating a strategy to limit searches to the title field of a web page. It
indicates that a word or phrase is included in the title.
inurl
A prefix indicating a strategy to limit searches to particular words in a URL.
irrigation methods
Different ways of applying supplementary water to crops, for example, spray, flood
and drip irrigation.
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iteration
A repetition of a process or set of instructions in computer programming where each
repeated cycle builds on a previous (see repeatstatement). Typically this uses a FOR
loop command with a counter such as the example below to add the numbers from 1
to 9.
for number = 1 to 9
sum = sum + number
jig
A custom-made tool or piece of equipment used to control a positioning and or
motion of another tool to go into a work piece. Jigs are used when manufacturing
products to ensure accuracy, alignment, repeatability and interchangeability. Some
jigs are also called templates or guides. Examples are machining jigs, woodworking
jigs such as a dowelling jig, jewellers’ jigs and welders’ jigs.
diagram of a jig
joining processes
Methods of bringing together and permanently holding materials or components, for
example, using joints such as a dowel joint to join legs and rails for a table frame;
fasteners such as nails, rivets, bolts and screws; glues or adhesives; welding; sewing
and binding; rubbing in or mixing food ingredients. Also see components.
examples of processes to join metal
example of processes to join fabric
examples of processes to join timber
land management
A process of developing land and monitoring its use in a sustainable way, usually for
purposes of producing food and providing fibre for clothing and housing. Includes
providing protection for flora and fauna, and preventing and controlling weeds. Also
see water management.
life cycle thinking

A strategy to identify possible improvements to products, services and environments
to reduce environmental impact and resource consumption while considering social
and economic impacts. The cycle goes from the acquisition of materials through to
disposal or recycling. Life cycle thinking in food and fibre production would consider
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nutrition, health and wellbeing, cultural identity and lifestyle as well as environmental
impacts. When products and services are marketed or integrated together, customers
may be more satisfied because the service supports the product’s use through its life,
and could lead to less consumption. Examples of how life cycle thinking can be
demonstrated include product road maps and more complex life cycle analysis and
assessment diagrams used by industry.
lossless compression
A type of compression algorithm that retains sufficient information to allow the
original data to be perfectly reconstructed from the compressed data. It is used when it
is important for the original data to be perfectly preserved, for example, in text
documents, programming source code, application files or for archival purposes.
lossy compression
A type of compression algorithm that compresses data by discarding information that
is not necessary to reproduce the original data with sufficient detail for the user not to
notice the difference. It is used primarily for reducing the size of multimedia assets
such as video, audio and photos, especially when streaming or transmitting the data
over the internet. The original data cannot be restored from the compressed version,
as is noticeable when attempting to increase the size of a compressed jpeg file.
low compression (41KB)
medium compression (24KB)
high compression (6KB)
low-input sustainable agriculture (LISA)

A way of thinking about food and fibre production that focuses on reducing purchased
inputs (such as fertilisers and pesticides) and uses on-farm and environmental
resources effectively. Concepts include crop rotations and soil and water
conservation.
malware
Malicious software designed to interfere with the regular operation of a computer
system. Often used to gain access to other people’s computers or to gather sensitive
information, it is usually hidden in other software to avoid user detection. Examples
can include viruses, Trojan horses, key loggers and spyware. Anti-malware software
is often relied on to help users detect and remove malware from their computers.
mammandur
A spinning top traditionally made from beeswax and a stick. It is spun by rubbing the
stick between two palms or by using the thumbs and middle finger to twist it.
managed environment
In Design and Technologies, an environment coordinated by humans, for example, a
farm, forest, marine park, waterway, wetland and storage facility.
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mass production
Making many standardised products very quickly, using assembly line techniques.
Components or partially completed products are sent to workers, who each work on
an individual step, rather than one worker working on a whole product from start to
finish. Mass produced products are manufactured to attain a standardised and
consistent quality.
material
A substance from which a thing is or can be made. Natural (e.g. animals, food, fibre,
timber, mineral) and fabricated (e.g. metal alloys, plastics, textiles, composites)
materials. Materials are used to create products or environments and their structure
can be manipulated by applying knowledge of their origins, structure, characteristics,
properties and uses.
materials and technologies specialisations

A technologies context in Design and Technologies focuses on a broad range of
traditional, contemporary and emerging materials and specialist areas that typically
involve extensive use and deep knowledge of specific technologies.
meat tenderness
How easily meat is cut or chewed. Meat tenderness is influenced by age of the animal,
breed, level of activity, fat content and cooking method.
minimum-tillage cropping
Methods of ploughing that provide minimum disruption to the soil, thus allowing soil
to maintain its natural structure. Minimum-tillagecropping requires the use of
specially designed machinery and control of weeds by the use of herbicides.
model
A representation that describes, simplifies, clarifies or provides an explanation of the
workings, structure or relationships within an object, system or idea.
This can be either a physical model, such as in a scalemodel of a car or house, to show
the form of a final production design, and is made with tools, jigs and fixtures; or
virtual, such as a simulator program that demonstrates the capabilities of a vending
machine through interaction with a computer user.
multimedia
The use of digital technologies to present combinations of text, graphics, video,
animation and/or sound in an integrated way. Where there is facility for a user to
interact with multimedia, the term ‘interactive multimedia’ may be used. Examples
include interactive games, media-rich websites, electronic books (ebooks) and
animated short films.
natural environment
In Design and Technologies, an environment in which humans do not make
significant interventions, for example, ocean environments, natural woodlands,
national parks.
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nutrition panel
Under the food standards code, all manufactured packaged foods must carry a
nutrition panel. Only very small packages are exempt. The nutrition panel states the
amount of energy (kilojoules), protein, fat (saturated and total), sodium and
carbohydrate in a food. Figures are shown in two columns: per serve and per 100
grams or millilitres.
nutritious foods
Foods that supply the nutrients needed by a body to grow, develop and maintain
health. As the type and quantity of nutrients found in foods varies, a body needs a
variety of foods to be eaten each day to ensure optimum levels of health and
wellbeing are achieved.
object-based coding application

An application that uses the object-oriented programming paradigm to represent
attributes and actions of a real-world object. An example is the use of Lego
Mindstorms to provide instructions to determine the movement of a robot.
object-oriented programming language (OOP)

A programming language that supports the object-oriented programming paradigm. In
object-oriented programming, objects represent a combination of data (the attributes
of an object) and actions that can be performed on or with those data (the methods of
the object). An example might be a declaration of a ‘car’, which has attributes that
describe its physical nature (such as the number of doors, its colour, the size of the
engine) and the actions it can perform (such as accelerating, braking and turning).
The valid attributes and methods of an object are defined by its class, and these
attributes and methods can be inherited from the definition of another class. Examples
of OOP languages include C++, Eiffel, Java, Python and Scala.
online query interface

A simple online interface, such as a form on a website, that provides a way for a user
to query a specified dataset. This could include a catalogue for a local library, or a
website that allows searching of Creative Commons images.
organic fertiliser
A mixture of extra nutrients that are derived from sources which are or were living, to
be added to crops and pastures. Examples include seaweed, blood and bone, manure
and compost.
orthogonal drawing
A scaled multiview drawing of a three-dimensional object to show each view
separately, in a series of two-dimensional drawings, for example, top or bottom, front,
back and sides. In Australia, orthogonal drawings use third-angle projection for layout
of the views. Orthogonal drawings may also include measurements on each view and
are used to develop lists of material requirements. In these drawings each edge is
represented by a connected line, each segment of which is parallel to a coordinate
axis. Also see production drawing.
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orthogonal drawing of a chair
output
A result of something (physical or virtual) such as power, energy, action, material or
information produced by a person, machine or a system. Also see engineering
principles and systems.
paddock to plate
All steps in the growing, processing and preparation of food.
palatability
An impression made by foods. The foods may be acceptable or agreeable to the palate
or taste.
passive design
A design approach that uses natural elements – often sunlight – to heat, cool or light a
building. Systems that employ passive design require very little maintenance and
reduce a building’s energy consumption by minimising or eliminating mechanical
systems used to regulate indoor temperature and lighting.
peripheral device
A digital component that can be connected to a digital system but are not essential to
the system, for example, printer, scanner, digital camera.
personal protective equipment (PPE)

Equipment used or worn by a person to minimise risk to the person’s health or safety,
for example, goggles, ear muffs, face shield, hard hat, apron, gloves.
perspective drawing
A drawing that represents the way objects appear to be smaller and closer together,
the further away they are. Perspective drawings may be one-, two- or three-point
perspective and have the corresponding number of vanishing points. A one-point
perspective drawing has a single vanishing point (VP). Perspective drawings are often
used in building, interior and architectural design.
perspective drawings
pictorial map
A map that shows illustrated (rather than technical style) cartography. The area shown
may be the representation of a view of a landscape from above on an oblique angle.
Pictorial maps are not drawn to scale.
pictorial map of a landscape
pixel
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A physical point in a bitmap image or on a display device that corresponds to the
smallest amount of information that can be stored and accessed. Also see bitmap.
play
An imaginary situation and the exploration of objects and actions for a specific
purpose, where meaning and sense of objects, actions and social situation can change
for individual and collective needs to create something new.
preferred futures
Preferences for the future identified by a student to inform the creation and evaluation
of solutions.
preparing soil
The processes of tillage, addition of organic matter and fertilisers, and drainage prior
to establishing a food or fibre crop.
producing
Actively realising (making) designed solutions, using appropriate resources and
means of production.
product
One of the outputs of technologies processes, the end result of processes and
production. Products are the tangible end results of natural, human, mechanical,
manufacturing, electronic or digital processes to meet a need or want.
product demonstration screencast

A presentation of a product’s features and interface generated by capturing the screen
of a computer while the product is in use. Usually recorded using video, then
annotated using text or voice to provide explanatory notes about the actions occurring
on screen.
production drawing
A working drawing that details requirements for the manufacture and assembly of a
product and environment.
production drawings for a chair
production process
In Design and Technologies, a technologies context-specific process used to
transform technologies into a product, service or environment, for example, the steps
used for producing a product.
project
A set of activities undertaken by students to address specified content, involving
understanding the nature of a problem, situation or need; creating, designing and
producing a solution to the project task; and documenting the process. Project work
has a benefit, purpose and use; a user or audience, which can provide feedback on the
success of the solution; limitations to work within; and a real-world technologies
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context influenced by social, ethical and environmental issues. Criteria for success are
used to judge a project’s success.
project management
A responsibility for planning, organising, controlling resources, monitoring timelines
and activities, and completing a project to achieve a goal that meets identified criteria
for judging success.
property
A distinctive quality of a material that can be tested and used to help people select the
most suitable one for a particular use.
Mechanical properties are determined when a force is applied to a material, for

example, to test its strength, hardness, wear resistance, machinability/workability,
stretch and elasticity.
Thermal properties are determined when varying temperatures (for example, cold or
heat) are applied to test whether a material expands, melts, conducts or absorbs heat
(warms up), find its boiling point, and whether its colour changes.
Chemical properties relate to the chemicals a material is made of (its composition)

and how it may change because of its surrounding environment, for example, how it
ages or taints; develops an odour; deteriorates; resists stains, corrosion or cracks due
to heat; or is flammable.
Electrical properties relate to the way a material responds if a current is passed

through it or if it is placed in an electrical field, for example, whether the material
conducts or resists electricity or acts as an insulator.
Optical properties relate to how light reacts with a material, for example, opaqueness,
transparency and reflectiveness.
protocol
A set of generally accepted standards or 'rules' that govern relationships and
interactions between and within information systems. Also see file transfer protocol
and hypertext transfer protocol.
prototype
A trial product or model built to test an idea or process to inform further design
development. A prototype can be developed in the fields of service, design,
electronics or software programming. Its purpose is to see if and how well the design
works and is tested by users and systems analysts. It can be used to provide
specifications for a real, working product or system rather than a virtual or theoretical
one. Prototype is derived from Greek terms that, when translated, mean ‘primitive
form’, ‘first’ and ‘impression’. Also see working models.
radiofrequency identification device (RFID)

A small electronic device, consisting of a small chip and antenna, used for identifying
and tracking products, animals and people.
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rapid prototyping
A range of techniques used to quickly fabricate a scalemodel of a physical part or
assembly using three-dimensional computer-assisted design (CAD). Construction of
the part or assembly is usually done using 3D printing or additive layer manufacturing
technology.
recirculation technologies
Technologies associated with reusing water or air after it has been treated to remove
particles, gases and/or dissolved chemicals.
red, green and blue (RGB) colours

Digital representation of colour, displayed on pixels, through the use of varying
amounts of red, green and blue light. By combining different amounts of each colour,
many of the colours of the visible spectrum can be represented on screen.
rendered drawing
A drawing that shows a relative relationship of elements or a form of objects using
texture, colour, light, shade and tone (lightness or darkness of a colour).
Rendereddrawings are used, for example, in architecture to show what a building will
look like or to show the form and shape of the body of a proposed car design.
Rendering can be done by hand, or using computer software such as computer-aided
drawing.
rendered computer-aided drawing
REPEAT statement
A statement used for declaring iteration and repetition in programming code. Usually
a REPEAT statement continues to execute until some specified condition has been
met, at which point the repetition ceases. Also known as a loop and implemented in
many programming languages by terms such as ‘for’ or ‘while’. An example in Pascal
may look like this:
repeat
a := a + 1
until a = 10;
where the code will repeatedly print out a number and increase its value by 1 until the
number reaches 10.
resistant material
A material such as metals, plastics and timber that is usually firm and not easily bent
or curved unless heat, pressure or force is applied.
resources
In Design and Technologies, this includes technologies, energy, time, finance and
human input.
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risk management
A practice of identifying potential risks in advance, analysing them and taking
precautionary steps to reduce/curb the risk. Risk management involves risk
identification, analysis, response planning, monitoring, controlling and reporting.
scale
A relationship between the actual size of an object and its representation on a
drawing, map or model; proportional ratio (reduction or enlargement) of the actual
size of an object so it will fit on a page or be more manageable to draw or represent.
For example, a house plan uses scale. A scale of 1:20 means that each centimetre on
the house plan equals 20 centimetres on the actual floor. So the actual room
measurements would be divided by 20 to get the floor plan measurements. Ratios may
be, for example, 1:5, 1:10, 1:50, 1:100, 1:200, 1:500, 1:1000.
secret key
A piece of information that determines the output of a cryptographic cipher and is
kept hidden from unintended recipients. The key is required to decrypt information
received to restore it to the original message, thus its secrecy is important for ensuring
secure transmission of data. Also see cryptography.
SELECT statement
A statement in structured query language (SQL) that retrieves information from a
database. The structure of a SELECT statement provides for optional clauses that
allow for the filtering, grouping and sorting of data on retrieval. A simple SELECT
statement may look like the following:
> SELECT * FROM People;
where the resulting set would be all of the records in the People table. Following is an
example of a more complicated SELECT statement:
> SELECT * FROM People WHERE gender=‘m’;
This uses the optional WHERE clause to retrieve only the males (that is, that have a
gender of ‘m’) from the database table.
sensory properties
Properties that can be identified by organs of sense. Used to evaluate and describe
foods in terms of the senses. The taste (sweet, sour, salty); texture or mouth feel
(smooth, moist, lumpy); aroma (spicy, sweet, pungent); appearance (light, dark,
golden, glossy); and noise (crunchy, fizzy, crackly) are parts of this analysis.
service
One of the outputs of technologies processes, the end result of processes and
production. Services are a less tangible outcome (compared to products) of
technologies processes to meet a need or want. They may involve development or
maintenance of a system and include, for example, catering, cloud computing
(software as a service), communication, transportation and water management.
Services can be communicated by charts, diagrams, models, posters and procedures.
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service design
A design of a service and service concept. A service concept aims to meet the needs
of an end user, client or customer. A service design includes physical, organisational,
aesthetic, functional and psychological benefits of a service and requires systems
thinking.
side view
Drawing of an object to show what the object looks like when viewed from its side.
Also see orthogonal drawing.
smart material
A material that has extra functions designed into it, so it has extra properties that can
be controlled by external stimuli or react to an environment all by themselves. These
stimuli can include such things as stress, temperature, moisture, pH, electric or
magnetic fields. Examples of smartmaterials include those that self-heal if scratched
or that can detect if the foods they contain are past their ‘best by’ use date. These
materials have been developed following extensive research and development (R&D)
and manufactured to include extra ‘smart behaviour’ functions.
social network
A structure that describes the relationships that exist between individuals and/or
organisations. Social networking services and tools provide a mechanism for people
who share common interests or personal ties to communicate, share and interact using
a range of media such as text, images and video.
social protocols
Generally accepted 'rules' or behaviours for when people interact in online
environments, for example, using language that is not rude or offensive to particular
cultures, and not divulging personal details about people without their permission.
social sustainability
Practices that maintain quality of life for people, societies and cultures in a changing
world for a long period of time, ensuring health and wellbeing without
disproportionate costs or side effects.
softwood
Wood from gymnosperm trees such as conifers. Examples of softwood include pine,
spruce and cedar.
strength
The state, property or quality of a material or object being physically strong and able
to withstand or resist a significant amount of force or pressure without breaking. This
includes when a material or object is put under compression (compressive strength) or
under tension (tensile strength). Compressive strength is measured by the material’s
capacity to withstand loads that are intended to reduce its size (forcing its atoms
together) and to see how much it deforms or cracks. Tensile strength is measured by
the material’s capacity to withstand loads to extend it (forcing its atoms to be pulled
apart). Also see properties.
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structured English
The use of the English language to describe the steps of an algorithm in clear,
unambiguous statements that can be read from start to finish. The use of keywords
such as START, END, IF and UNTIL provides a syntax similar to that of a
programming language to assist with identifying logical steps necessary to properly
describe the algorithm.
An example of the use of structured language can be demonstrated using the

following problem:
Description of the problem: Describing the decision a person makes about how to get
to a destination based on the weather and the distance from their current location to
their destination.
Structured English example:
START
IF it is raining outside THEN
Catch the bus
ELSE
IF it is less than 2km to the destination THEN
Walk
ELSE IF it is less than 10km to the destination THEN
Ride a bicycle
ELSE
Catch the bus
ENDIF
ENDIF
END
The Structured English description can easily be translated into code using a
programming language and accurately captures logical elements that must be
followed to answer the question posed.
structured query language (SQL)

Specialist programming language used to manage data and access data in relational
database management systems.
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supplementary feeding
The supply of animal feed by a farmer in addition to what a grazing animal can obtain
from pasture.
sustainability factors
Economic, environmental and social sustainability issues that impact on design
decisions.
sustainable
Supporting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future
generations to support their needs.
system
A structure, properties, behaviour and interactivity of people and components (inputs,
processes and outputs) within and between natural, managed, constructed and digital
environments.
systems thinking
A holistic approach to the identification and solving of problems, where parts and
components of a system, their interactions and interrelationships are analysed
individually to see how they influence the functioning of the whole system. This
approach enables students to understand systems and work with complexity,
uncertainty and risk.
technologies
Materials, data, systems, components, tools and equipment used to create solutions for
identified needs and opportunities, and the knowledge, understanding and skills used
by people involved in the selection and use of these.
technologies contexts
A focus and opportunities for students in Design and Technologies to use processes
and production skills to design and produce products, services and environments. The
prescribed technologies contexts for Foundation – Year 8 are: engineering principles
and systems; food and fibre production; food specialisations; and materials and
technologiesspecialisations.
technologies processes
Processes that allow the creation of a solution for an audience (end user, client or
consumer). The processes involve the purposeful use of technologies and other
resources and appropriate consideration of impact when creating and using solutions.
The processes typically require critical and creative thinking such as: computational,
design or systems thinking. The processes involve: investigating and defining;
generating and designing; producing and implementing; evaluating; and collaborating
and managing (design processes) and technologies-specific production processes.
technologies specialisations
Areas of specialisation that typically involve extensive use of technologies (for
example, architecture, electronics, graphics technologies, fashion).
thumbnail drawing
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A small drawing usually done quickly by designers, architects and engineering
designers to indicate roughly what an object, system or environment could look like.
Thumbnail drawings are a method of visualising thinking and show main features
rather than minor details. They may include annotations.
tool
An implement and machine to carry out specific processes when working with
materials. For example, a saw is an example of a tool used to cut timber; scissors are
used to cut fabric, paper and cardboard; a tape measure is used to measure lengths and
widths of wood and fabric; a blender is used to mix and blend food ingredients;
secateurs are used to prune plants. Also see equipment.
top view
Drawing of an object to show what it looks like when viewed from above. Also see
orthogonaldrawing.
transmission control protocol / internet protocol (TCP/IP)

A set of rules or standards for organising how messages are transmitted over the
internet. Also see file transfer protocol and hypertext transfer protocol.
Unicode
A standard for consistent encoding and representation of text from most of the
world’s writing systems. Like ASCII, characters are mapped to unique numerical
values; however, Unicode contains more than 100,000 characters from more than 100
different types of script.
user interface
Characteristics of the boundary between users and a computer system, or the manner
in which users interact with computer hardware or software. In software, this usually
comprises of fields for text and number entry, mouse pointers, buttons and other
graphical elements. In hardware, switches, dials and light-emitting diodes (LEDs)
provide information about the interactions between a user and a machine.
vector graphics
Images that are represented and stored on computers using geometric elements such
as points, lines, curves and shapes. Unlike bitmap images, vector graphics can be
easily scaled without loss of clarity due to all points used in the reproduction of the
graphic having a clearly defined location and shape in two-dimensional space.
For example, if a line is drawn using vector graphics, only the two end points and the
fact that it is a straight line need to be stored. To double the length of the line only
needs information about one end point changed so that the software can fill in all the
dots between. As a bitmap, each pixel would have to be doubled in size, making a
more ‘blurry’ image. (The software doesn’t ‘know’ it is a line and stores information
about all the pixels that made up the line separately.)
bitmap graphic
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vector graphic
vertical farming
Cultivation of plants or animals on or in a vertical space associated with a multistorey
building or vertical, or near-vertical surfaces.
virtual object
A representation of an object, real or imagined, in a digital form. Examples might
include a reproduction of a landmark such as the Eiffel Tower in a virtual world tour,
or of a constructed spaceship in an environment designed to simulate changes in
gravitational force or air density that would not be possible in real-world experiments.
visual programming
A programming language or environment where a program is represented and
manipulated graphically rather than as text. A common visual metaphor represents
statements and control structures as graphic blocks that can be composed to form
programs, allowing programming without having to deal with textual syntax.
Examples of visual programming languages include: Alice, GameMaker, Kodu, Lego
Mindstorms, MIT App Inventor, Scratch (Build Your Own Blocks and Snap).
Note: A visual programming language should not be confused with programming

languages for creating visualisations or programs with user interfaces, for example,
Processing or Visual Basic.
visualisation software tools

Software to help in the recording of ideas as visual representations. Examples in are
computer-aided drawing (or computer-assisted design – CAD) and computer
simulation. Graphic organisers are visualisation tools as are software that display
graphs of data.
warmth
The sensation of being warm. Warmth of a fabric is determined by the arrangement of
fibres, fibre size, shape and structure and thermal conductive properties of the fibres.
Generally speaking, the smaller and finer the fibres, the more insulating the garment,
because more air is trapped between the fibres. Protein-based fibres (wool, fur) and
polypropylene and polyester are the least thermally conductive materials.
water management
A way water resources are monitored and used by humans. This can include the use of
dams, irrigation systems, bores, windmills and testing the quality of water and levels
of pollution.
water-efficient irrigation
Systems that supply water in a manner that maximises the plant growth associated
with each unit of applied water. Irrigation systems may use targeted delivery into the
root zone of plants or may apply water to minimise losses through evaporation or soil
infiltration.
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web-authoring software
A computer program designed to assist in the creation of web pages. Simple web-
authoring software may take a form of a basic text editor, or may contain more
advanced features that allow for editing the content and layout of a web page.
while loop
A set of instructions in a loop with a test at the top – a programmatic implementation
of iteration or repeat. The beginning and ending of the loop may be indicated by key
words ‘while’ and ‘endwhile’; however, this will vary depending on the syntax of the
programming language used. Sometimes it is referred to as a ‘do while’ loop and in
some languages a ‘do’ loop is used instead.
wireless device
A device that transmits and receives data from other sources, using electromagnetic
radiation (for example, radio waves) rather than being connected by electrical
conductors such as wires. A common example of a wireless device is a mobile phone,
which uses radio waves of a specific frequency to connect to telecommunications
towers for the purpose of communication.
wool fibre diameter

The thickness of a wool fibre measured in microns (the millionth part of a metre). The
smaller the measure, the finer the fibre.
working model
Engineering simulation software product that, when run, can be used to test how
virtual components interact. A program can simulate various interactions of the parts
(components) and graph the movement and force on any element in a system. These
working models are also known as prototypes and can be used to evaluate
performance, and make alterations and improvements if necessary.
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REWARDING PERFORMANCE
appraisal
a formal assessment meeting between management and an employee to discuss their
performance at work
During Martin's appraisal he asked for an increase in his salary.
bonus
an amount of money paid to an employee on top of their salary
Traditionally, small companies paid bonuses once a year before Christmas.
commission
an amount of money paid to an employee for selling something
Salesmen receive a 5% commission on all sales.
cut
a reduction or decrease
Due to poor financial performance the company is considering pay cuts.
face
to encounter or confront
The company is facing its greatest challenge.
incentive
a reason to work harder or more effectively
He was attracted to the job partly because of the salary, but also because of the
excellent incentive scheme.
increment
something added or gained by a regular amount
The starting salary was 22,000 with increments of 2.5%.
minimum wage
the lowest amount of payment which a worker can receive by law
Tips are important for waiting staff as they are often on minimum wage.
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motivate
to give someone a reason for doing something
The company used incentives and bonuses to motivate their staff to work harder.
overtime
time spent working which exceeds your contracted time
His wife was fed up with him working overtime every night.
pension
the money which a person receives after they retire
Mary is looking forward to her retirement but she is also worried that her pension will
not be as high as she had hoped.
perk
a non-cash benefit
The company offers excellent perks to its staff including a company car and gym
membership.
praise
written or spoken approval or compliments
Andre was annoyed that he didn’t get a pay rise even though he received praise from
his supervisor.
recognize
to acknowledge with a show of appreciation
The award recognizes Georges’ hard work and dedication.
severance package
monies or other benefits which are given to an employee who has been dismissed
When the company closed all staff received generous severance packages.
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BUSINESS ETHICS
accountability
having responsibility for an action, as well as the obligation of justifying and if
needed correcting it
The general lack of accountability for poor business decisions caused investors to
become fearful and pull out.
bribe
to dishonestly persuade somebody to act in one's favor by giving them money or gifts
He found out that his company had been bribing customs officials for years in order to
advance the passage of goods.
carbon footprint
the amount of greenhouse gases released as a consequence of an individual's actions
Many people don't realize the seemingly innocent actions that dramatically raise their
carbon footprint, such as frequent flying, buying fast fashion, eating meat every day,
etc.
compliance
acting in line with a rule or guideline
It's the compliance officer's job to make sure that all company activity is in
accordance with the law.
confidential
information that is meant to be kept private or secret
The terms of his contract were confidential, so he wasn't allowed to talk to outsiders
about it.
consequence
an effect of an action or occurrence, typically negative
He violated company policy and was fired as a consequence.
CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility)

the idea that a company should positively contribute to societal and environmental
issues
With an increase in awareness of organizations' roles in society came an increase in
the importance of CSR, with companies launching more environmentally friendly
products, etc.
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cultural appropriation
an unacknowledged, disrespectful, stereotypical, or exploitative adoption of elements
belonging to a culture one is not a part of
A coworker dressed up in a Native American costume for our office Halloween party
and was swiftly called out for cultural appropriation.
dilemma
a situation where a difficult choice has to be made, especially when all options are not
desirable
The CEO found himself in a dilemma when he faced a choice between two business
decisions, one favoring the shareholders at the expense of the employees, and the
other benefiting the employees but disfavoring the shareholders.
discrimination
the unjust judgement and treatment of others based on their (perceived) belonging to a
certain group or category, such as race, gender, religion, sexual orientation, etc.
Firing an expectant mother because of her pregnancy is considered discrimination and

prohibited by law.
equality
all members of society or a group having the same status, rights, and opportunities,
and are treated fairly and in the same way
Every office should provide a safe and inclusive work environment in order to ensure
equality.
ethical
following moral values, dealing with right and wrong
Today more than ever before, ethical decision-making is a vital part of business, and
can actually lead to more success, as ethics have a big impact on company image.
fraud
intentional trickery or deceit to achieve a dishonest gain or profit, often criminal in
nature
If you get an email from someone claiming to be a Wakandan prince and asking for
money, that's definitely fraud and you should not engage.
glass ceiling
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an intangible barrier or hurdles in an organization that prevent women or members of
minority groups from advancing to higher level positions, despite their qualifications
and achievements
There are several factors that contribute to the glass ceiling beyond corporations
refusing to promote minorities, such as different wages for comparable work, work
environments that are incompatible with family, etc.
idealistic
the unrealistic belief in and striving for perfection
Some call the demand of shorter work hours and longer weekends idealistic, but
studies actually show that more off time raises worker morale and productivity.
information privacy
relating to the protection of personal data that is collected by organizations
Authentication, encryption, and data masking are effective steps to protect

information privacy.
integrity
having and consistently adhering to strong moral principles, showing backbone
After openly criticizing his supervisor's decision to lay off 10% of staff, he thought he
would be fired, but was instead promoted for showing integrity and grit.
morality
a code of conduct, or set of standards that determines what is acceptable or even
admirable within a social group, referring to both actions and character
When doing business across borders it is important to remember that morality and
ethical standards vary across cultures, and what is considered acceptable at home may
not be okay abroad, or vice versa.
nepotism
the practice of favoring family or friends in a professional context
They say he only got the job because of nepotism, not because he was the person most
qualified.
shareholder
one who owns a part of a company
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I am invited to Apple's annual shareholder meeting, as I bought company stock last
year.
stakeholder
one with a vested interest in a company, who impacts or is impacted by the company's
performance
A company typically has many stakeholders, including investors, employees,

suppliers, customers, etc.
transparency
disclosing in depth information about a practice or commodity, such as ingredients
manufacturing details, environmental impact, revenue, etc.
With consumers demanding product transparency of brands, some companies have

used it for marketing purposes, advertising their products to be especially
environmentally friendly or similar.
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MANAGING TIME
Part 1: Savor the Irony (0:00)
To begin, Laura gives us a look into her daily, and normal, life. She describes her
relatable and rocky relationship with time management.
While sharing these thoughts, Laura uses the following words and phrases:
To be on time (phrase)
Def: to arrive, happen, or do something at an appropriate time; to be punctual
Context: “One is that I’m always on time, and I’m not.”
Alternative Example “The plane wasn’t on time, so our layover was 5 hours long.”
Tardiness (noun)
Def: the quality of being late or slow
Context: “I have four small children, and I would like to blame them for my
occasional tardiness.”
Alternative Example “I apologize for my tardiness; there was a lot of traffic!”
Irony (noun)
Def: the use of words to express something opposite of the literal meaning; a situation
that produces an opposite or different result than the one intended or expected
Context: “We all had to just take a moment together and savor that irony.”
Alternative Example “The irony is that the situation will actually improve the
situation.”
To shave off [sth] (phrasal verb)

Def: to cut a very thin piece from an object or surface; to deduct or reduce
Context: “And the idea is that we’ll shave bits of time off everyday activities, add it
up, and we’ll have time for the good stuff.”
Alternative Example “Kate looked for ways to shave off some expenses from the
event.”
To come up with [sth] (phrasal verb)

Def: to suggest or think of an idea or plan
Context: “…but I’m always interested in hearing what they’ve come up with before
they call me.”
Alternative Example “I need some more time to come up with a good solution.”
To have [sth] backward (idiom)

Def: to understand something in the opposite way; to be lacking in development
Context: “But after studying how successful people spend their time and looking at
their schedules hour by hour, I think this idea has it completely backward.”
Alternative Example “She had the situation backward and thought everyone had
forgotten her birthday.”
To keep track of [sth] (idiom)

Def: to be aware of something, including all changes; to monitor or follow through
Context: “I had them keep track of their time for a week…”
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Alternative Example “I always keep track of my expenses to make sure I’m staying
within my budget.”
Aftermath (noun)
Def: a situation that is the result of an accident, crime, or another unfortunate event
Context: “So she’s dealing with the immediate aftermath that night…”
Alternative Example “There are calls for another election in the aftermath of the
recent scandal.”
To wind up (phrasal verb)

Def: to end up doing something; to finally be somewhere
Context: “All this is being recorded on her time log. Winds up taking seven hours of
her week.”
Alternative Example “If she doesn’t get here soon, she’ll wind up missing her
appointment.”
To accommodate (verb)
Def: to have enough space for something or someone; to compromise and/or do what
someone wants
Context: “We cannot make more time, but time will stretch to accommodate what we
choose to put into it.”
Alternative Example “We cannot accommodate more than 100 people in this theater.”
Elastic (adjective)
Def: Adaptable to the demands of a particular situation or need.
Context: “And what this shows us is that time is highly elastic.”
Alternative Example “Several months ago in the Confident Women Community, we
discussed the idea that friendships are elastic..”
To have it all (idiom)

Def: to have or get everything one wants
Context: “I was getting in touch with her to set up an interview on how she “had it
all” — that phrase.”
Alternative Example “It’s easy to assume that someone has it all: money, success, and
love.”
Part 2: It’s Not a Priority (4:00)

In the second part of her talk, Laura redefines what we really mean when we say we
don’t have time for something or someone.
To reframe our thoughts on time, Laura uses the following words and phrases:
To catch up with someone (idiom)

Def: to learn/discuss the most recent news; to meet with someone
Context: “So of course this makes me even more intrigued, and when I finally do
catch up with her, she explains it like this.”
Alternative Example “I can’t wait to catch up with my friends and family during my
vacation.”
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Priority (noun)
Def: something that is highly important and takes precedence over others; something
that is assigned the most attention
Context: “…I don’t do x, y or z because it’s not a priority.”
Alternative Example “At the moment, my priority is to spend more time with my
family.”
To figure out (phrasal verb)

Def: to solve or completely understand something/someone
Context: “Well, first we need to figure out what they are.”
Alternative Example “These cookies are delicious; I need to figure out how you made
these!”
To look back over (idiom)

Def: to think about a past event or review something
Context: “You look back over your successes over the year, your opportunities for
growth.”
Alternative Example “When you’re learning a new skill, it’s important to document
what you learn and look back over what you’ve learned.”
Part 3: Break It Down (7:00)
To break down [sth] (phrasal verb)

Def: to deconstruct or divide into parts/categories
Context: “And now we need to break these down into doable steps.”
Alternative Example “Would you mind breaking down how to write this report?”
To think through [sth] (phrasal verb)

Def: to carefully consider all outcomes or aspects of something
Context: “We do this by thinking through our weeks before we are in them.”
Alternative Example “Let’s take a few days to think through the different options.”
Low opportunity cost (noun)
Def: the minimal amount of resources or energy that is required to take advantage of
an opportunity
Context: “Friday afternoon is what an economist might call a ‘low opportunity cost’
time.”
Alternative Example “Recreational reading has a low opportunity cost for improved
well-being.”
To minimize (verb)
Def: to lessen or reduce; to underestimate something or someone intentionally
Context: “And, I don’t want to minimize anyone’s struggle.”
Alternative Example “Perhaps, we should minimize the time we spend on social
media.”
To putter around (idiom)
Def: to spend time in a relaxed way doing small jobs and other things that are not very
important
Context: “Otherwise, we’re puttering around the house or watching TV.”
Alternative Example “I didn’t do much this weekend; I mostly puttered around.”
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CHANGE MANAGEMENT
Change Management:
The process of planning, implementing, and guiding organizational or individual

transitions to achieve desired outcomes.
Change Agent:
A person or group responsible for driving and facilitating the change process.
Change Initiative:
A specific project or program aimed at bringing about organizational change.
Change Readiness:
The preparedness of individuals or teams to embrace and adapt to change.
Resistance to Change:
The reluctance or opposition of individuals or groups to accept and adopt changes.
Change Strategy:
The overall plan or approach for managing the change process.
Stakeholder Engagement:
Involving and communicating with all parties affected by the change.
Change Communication:
Sharing information and updates about the change with stakeholders.
Change Implementation:
The actual execution of the change initiative.
Change Impact:
Assessing the effects and consequences of the proposed change.
Change Leadership:
The ability to guide and inspire others through the change process.
Change Vision:
A clear and compelling picture of the future state after the change is implemented.
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Change Resistance Strategies:
Techniques to address and overcome resistance to change.
Change Monitoring:
Tracking and evaluating the progress of the change initiative.
Change Evaluation:
Assessing the success and effectiveness of the change after implementation.
Change Adoption:
The acceptance and integration of the change into the organization's culture.
Change Plan:
A detailed roadmap outlining the steps and timeline for the change initiative.
Organizational Change:
Changes that affect the structure, processes, or culture of an organization.
Individual Change:
Changes that impact individuals' roles, responsibilities, or work routines.
Change Culture:
The prevailing attitudes, values, and beliefs towards change within an organization.
Change Impact Assessment:
Analyzing the potential effects of the change on various aspects.
Change Management Team:
A group of individuals responsible for leading the change effort.
Continuous Improvement:
Ongoing efforts to make incremental changes for better outcomes.
Change Sponsor:
A senior leader or executive who supports and champions the change initiative.
Change Metrics:
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Specific measurements used to track the success of the change.
Change Communication Plan:
A structured approach for communicating about the change to stakeholders.
Change Training:
Providing instruction and guidance to individuals to adapt to the change.
Change Resistance Management:
Strategies to identify and address sources of resistance.
Change Impact Mitigation:
Techniques to minimize the negative effects of the change.
Change Barrier:
Obstacles that hinder the progress of the change initiative.
Change Resilience:
The ability of individuals and organizations to bounce back from setbacks during
change.
Change Facilitation:
Assisting individuals and teams in adapting to the change.
Change Success Factors:
Key elements that contribute to the success of the change initiative.
Change Integration:
Incorporating the change into existing systems and processes.
Change Sustainability:
Ensuring the change's long-term viability and impact.
Change Decision-making:
Making informed choices about the change strategy and implementation.
Change Effectiveness:
Evaluating how well the change achieves its intended outcomes.
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Change Control:
Managing and regulating modifications to the change initiative.
Change Alignment:
Ensuring the change aligns with organizational goals and values.
Change Ambiguity:
Uncertainty or lack of clarity during the change process.
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PROJECT:
COMPANY POLICY
constructed based on the structure of the business.
a set of guidelines for employers and employees to follow the defined procedures.
a set of rules established for the business interest of the employer and right of
employees.
set in place to establish the rules of conduct within an organization, outlining the
responsibilities of both employees and employers.
Determine the right policies for your company
- General company rules on the most appropriate way to behave (dress codes, email,
internet policies, or smartphone use)
- Guidance for handling common circumstances (standards of conduct, travel

expenditures, or purchase of company merchandise)
- Legal Issues for the company (head off charges of harassment or discriminatory
hiring and promotion)
- Compliance with governmental laws and agencies (Family and Medical Leave Act,
Disabilities Act, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, or minimum wage)
- Establish consistent work standards, rules, and regulations (progressive discipline,

safety rules, breaks, or smoking rules)
- Provide fair treatment for employees (benefits eligibility, paid time off, tuition
assistance, bereavement, or jury duty)
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COMPANY VALUES
Company Core Values
the set of ethics and principles that govern a company's decision making and actions.
serve as the foundation for the company culture, and the behaviors expected by its
workforce.
main reasons why the core values of a company are essential
help to define and create the organizational culture by providing guidance and
direction for employees on how to behave and make decisions in the workplace.
provide a framework for decision-making. When employees face a tough decision,
they can refer to the organization’s values to guide their actions.
attract top talent with similar values.
build trust with stakeholders such as customers, suppliers, and investors.
have a better reputation.
A short description for identifying your company’s core values:

Step 1: Assembling a Team
Careful thought needs to go into setting up a team that must come up with the core
values that will become the identity of the company.
Step 2: Brainstorming
This step would involve coming up with several ideas and then narrowing them down
to the few most important ones that are the right fit for the organization.
Step 3: Condensing and Finalizing
It is essential that the core values are manageable in number and can be remembered
easily.
Step 4: Unveiling
Rolling out the compiled list of values to the entire team is an exercise aimed at
familiarizing all employees with the organization’s core values.
Step 5: Delineating
The company’s well-being lies in its employees and the company would do well to
highlight those employees who are examples of the values for others to appreciate and
emulate.
HG
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DISRUPTIVE TECHNOLOGY
Steps to build a Disruptive Marketing strategy
Knowledgeable about the industry.
Understand customers
What is the customer's pain, what do they really need (both emotional and rational,
tangible and intangible product benefits).
What do they expect from the brands they choose?
How do customers evaluate the brand's products or services?
Does the brand's selling price satisfy customers?
What are the factors they care about most when making purchasing decisions or
choosing a brand?
What are their personal values or worldview?
Meeting new (better) expectations
To make Disruptive Marketing more successful, strategies or campaigns need to be
more relevant to customers
Add a little inspiration and entertainment to your content => “Don't Make Ads, Make
TikToks”
Break the stereotypes
are young companies founded to develop a unique product or service, bring it to

market and make it irresistible and irreplaceable for customers.
Rooted in innovation
aims to remedy deficiencies of existing products or create entirely new categories of

goods and services, disrupting entrenched ways of thinking and doing business for
entire industries.
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READING
WORK-LIFE BALANCE SCHEMES
Employee retention
the organizational goal of keeping productive and talented workers and reducing
turnover by fostering a positive work atmosphere to promote engagement, showing
appreciation to employees, providing competitive pay and benefits, and encouraging a
healthy work-life balance.
the 3 R's of employee retention
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WRITING
PROJECT
project /ˈprɒdʒekt $ ˈprɑː-/ noun [countable]
1 a carefully planned piece of work to get information about something, to build

something, to improve something etc
The project aims to provide an analysis of children’s emotions.

a three-year research project
The scheme will now be extended after a successful pilot project (=a small trial to
test if an idea will be successful).
How to carry out a project: 10 tips
Define your project scope:

=> start with the goal in mind.
Define your timeline:

=> Determining your project timeline is a critical step: when should the deliverables
be delivered? How much time should be allocated to each phase?
Consider your available resources

=> help you prepare to begin your project. Assess your available human resources,
investments, machinery and equipment is necessary to pinpoint any bottlenecks in
project execution from the very start.
Define your milestones
Don’t forget how important communication is

=> In order for a project to run smoothly, communication between stakeholders must
be coherent, consistent, and effective.
Assess your team members’ strengths and weaknesses
Use a project management tool

=> A project management software is an extremely useful tool for a project manager.
Manage potential risks
=> To ensure that your project will be successful, potential risks must therefore be
pinpointed in advance so that effective measures can be taken if necessary.
Think about your project

=> Conducting regular analysis contributes to gain a more thorough understanding of
project specs.
Keep learning
=> The modern world is extremely dynamic and business sectors are no exception.
BLOG
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Definition | Meaning of blog:
A blog (a shortened version of “weblog”) is an online journal or informational

website displaying information in reverse chronological order, with the latest posts
appearing first, at the top. It is a platform where a writer or a group of writers share
their views on an individual subject.
What is the purpose of a blog?
There are many reasons to start a blog for personal use and only a handful of strong
ones for business blogging.
Blogging for business, projects, or anything else that might bring you money has a
very straightforward purpose – to rank your website higher in Google SERPs, a.k.a.
increase your visibility.
Blog structure
The appearance of blogs has changed over time, and these days blogs include a wide
variety of items and widgets. However, most blogs still include some standard
features and structures.
Here are common features that a typical blog will include:
Header with the menu or navigation bar.

Main content area with highlighted or latest blog posts.
Sidebar with social profiles, favorite content, or call-to-action.
Footer with relevant links like a disclaimer, privacy policy, contact page, etc.
What differentiates blogs from websites?
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Blogs need frequent updates. Good examples of this include a food blog sharing meal
recipes or a company writing about their industry news.
Blogs also promote reader engagement. Readers have a chance to comment and voice
their different concerns and thoughts to the community. Blog owners update their site
with new blog posts on a regular basis.
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MAKING PLAN
7 basic elements of a strategic plan:
vision,
mission,
SWOT analysis
=> SWOT: Strengths (thế mạnh), Weaknesses (Điểm yếu), Opportunities (Cơ hội) và
Threats (Thách thức)
core values,
goals,
objectives,
action plans.
=> Phân tích SWOT là một trong 5 bước tạo thành chiến lược sản xuất kinh doanh
của một doanh nghiệp, bao gồm:
1. xác lập tôn chỉ của doanh nghiệp
2. phân tích SWOT
3. xác định mục tiêu chiến lược
4. hình thành các mục tiêu và kế hoạch chiến lược, xác định cơ chế kiểm soát chiến
lược.
The five stages of the process:

goal-setting
analysis
strategy formation
strategy implementation
strategy monitoring.
The five stages of the process:
goal-setting
analysis
strategy formation
strategy implementation
strategy monitoring.
10 tips to improve training and development

1. Set a goal
2. Create metrics to measure progress
3. Engage with your employees
=> Questions employers can ask employees include:
What aspects of your job role interest you most?
What responsibilities do you find challenging?
What resources do you need to succeed in your role?
Do you feel like you’re learning new things?
Are there projects or positions that interest you and your growth?
What new areas or skills would you like to explore?
4. Match training and development with employee and management goals
5. Create a formal program
6. Start small and stay small
7. Provide various training types
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8. Set aside time for regular constructive feedback
several ways to capture feedback about your training and development programs,
including:
Employee engagement surveys
1:1 meetings
Group discussion
Evaluations
9. Amend training and development strategies based on employee feedback
10. Measure the outcomes
The Guide to Team Building: Planning your event

1.Set the timeline : how far in advance you start depends on the size and type of
eventnt is coming up soon.
2.Create a task list : help you stay organized and on top of everything you have to do
to get ready for the event.
3.Get your team involved: invite your team to participate in planning and organizing
the event. This has the added benefit of aligning your team building event with the
rest of the team, and getting everyone on the same page and working together.
4.Determine your goals : make your goals for the program clear and defined. This will
ensure that your event fits your team’s needs, and also that team members enjoy
themselves while participating in it. To make this process easier, we suggest using the
“5Ws” method: Who? When? Where? What? Why?
5. Make a list of participants
You can use the following questions to help give you a clearer picture of your list of
participants for your team building event.
Participation: Can anyone participate, or only a specific team? Is participation
mandatory or can people choose whether or not they want to participate?
Capacity: What’s the maximum number of people that can join, given your budget
and venue?
Are there participants who will require any special accommodations?
Will you include remote team members? If so, can they join remotely or do you want
them to participate in-person?
6. Create a detailed budget

Transportation, parking and hotel fees.
Deposits for event locations and venues.
If you’re contracting externally, event planner fees.
Food or meal expenses.
Insurance fees.
Costs for souvenirs.
7. Decide the date and time of your event: figure out a good date and time for your
event as soon as possible. This becomes easier when you figure out who the
participants are, and who the major stakeholders in the event are (who stands to
benefit the most).
8. Select a location/venue for the event
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Here are a few questions to help you decide which venue is right for your team
building event:
 How many people can the venue hold?
Does the venue provide internet access? Is audio-visual equipment available for use?
Does the venue allow you to bring in or set up equipment or materials before the
event?
If the event is outdoors, do you need any special permission?
Is there parking available nearby in the case where team members use their cars or
you hire a bus?
Will the weather affect the event?
9. Create a logistics checklist

Once you have the main elements of your event in place, it’s best to make a logistics
checklist. This will ensure that any important logistical issues don’t fall through the
cracks.
Transportation: How is everyone getting to the event? Will transportation be
provided or is everyone responsible for getting there on their own?
Food and beverages: Are any meals or snacks going to be included in the event? If
they are, will they be provided by the company?
Consent Agreement: Will participants need to sign a consent agreement for the
activities?
Hotels: Will your event require people to stay overnight somewhere?
What to bring: What do participants need to bring with them for the event or prepare
beforehand (e.g. raincoats, water bottles, etc.)
Extra accommodations: Will you need to provide extra support for team members
with disabilities or injuries?
10. Choose your activity
There are a wide variety of team building activities out there today, and we at Invite
Japan have a few of our own that we will recommend in just a bit. However, first you
should consider the points below before making any decision:
Budget: Your budget will really determine what your team can and can’t do. That’s
why it’s important to come with a realistic budget, as we mentioned earlier. Do the
best with what you have, and remember that the most expensive activities are not
always the best.
Date and time: What time of year your event is will influence whether you want to
do an indoor or outdoor activity. Similarly, different times of day might be better
suited for certain activities over others.
Goal: What do you want your team members to get out of this event? If you have a
clearly defined main goal, then you should be able to find a suitable activity that helps
achieve it, and that fits your team’s needs. For example, you might want to have
discussion sessions, or an awards ceremony, or an educational lecture.
So once you have thought about these questions, it’s time to select your activity. Here
is the main lineup that we offer at Invite Japan.
11. Determine the plan for the day (create an agenda)
After confirming all the details so far, you should come up with a plan and schedule
for the day of your event. This should include what time participants should arrive at
the venue, the start time of the activity, the address of the venue, where participants
will meet, etc. Make sure you create the agenda a few weeks before the event, so that
you can pass it around to all the participants.
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12. Get your team excited
Unfortunately this is something that a lot of event organizers tend to overlook. You’ve
planned a great event for your team, so you need to play it up and get them motivated
to participate.
This should involve a bit of PR and creativity. Use emails, fliers or text messages.
Mention it at meetings. And try to communicate important information about the
event while giving it an air of mystery to entice team members.
Event follow-up
Your event succeeded without a hitch and everything went according to plan. You
may be satisfied with how it went, but there’s still more to do if you want to get the
most out of it. This is where follow-up comes in, and it can be just as important as the
event itself.
13. Distribute souvenirs or momentos
Show some appreciation to participants by giving them little prizes or momentos after
the event. These don’t have to be anything too expensive, what’s important is that
they relate to the event and give participants a little fun reminder of the experiences
they had together. This could include pictures that you took, little chocolates or
energy bars, or even t-shirts.
14. Collect feedback

The most effective thing you can do after the event is collect feedback. You want to
know how participants felt about the event and the activities that they did, so that you
can find out what worked well and continue to plan better events for them in the
future.
Did participants have fun? What did they learn? Would they want to do something
similar again? What would they change about the program? Getting answers to these
types of questions will be beneficial for both you and your team moving forward.
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EMAIL WRITING
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LETTER
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A MEMO OUTLINING ACTION POINTS
A memo, or memorandum
a written document that businesses use to communicate an announcement or
notification.
a short message that's typically used to communicate official business policies and
procedures within a company.
usually meant as mass communication to all members of an organization rather than a
one-on-one personal message.
=> There are many types of memos, but they typically provide a progress report,
asking someone or a team for something, confirm an agreement between parties) or
request input on how to solve a problem.
8 November 2022
To: The Marketing Team
From: Paula Evans, Head of Content
Subject: Starlight Project Deliverables
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Dear all,
I'm writing today to follow up on our previous communications regarding the

deliverable expectations of the Starlight project. We are currently 70% of the way
through generating the content for this campaign, but an additional three days may be
necessary to complete the outstanding deliverables. As we've previously discussed,
it's not possible for the team to complete their current objectives in line with a 24-hour
turnaround due to communication errors. To achieve this timeframe, we may need
significant help from your team, including all materials made available at short notice.
Following this request, we have arranged daily meetings to update each other on the
project's progress, and we ask for the marketing team to be available at 4:15 p.m. for
the next three working days to ensure we have greater visibility on our respective
workloads. The aim of these meetings is to resolve the existing communication issues
between the project teams. If you have any issues with availability at this time, please
contact me or Michael Slater, Head of Marketing, to discuss it. We appreciate your
work on this project so far.
Thank you,
Paula Evans
pevans@email.com 03 2376 5278
When you should write a memo

Informing employees about company policy or process changes
Providing an update on key projects or goals
Making an announcement about the company, such as an employee promotion or new
hire
Reminding employees about a task that needs to be completed
Making a request of all employees
Communicating a message that employees will refer to more than once, such as a
detailed proposal or recommendation
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ANNUAL REPORT
COMPONENTS OF AN ANNUAL REPORT

Letters to shareholders
Management’s discussion and analysis (MD&A)
General corporate information or business profile
Operating and financing highlights
Financial statements
STEPS IN WRITING AN ANNUAL REPORT
Plan and Prepare. Before writing, make a list of what you need to include in the
report. ...
Collect Data, Stats, Forms, and Statements. ...
Outline Goals, Projects, and Future Plans. ...
Outline Your Annual Report. ...
Write. ...
Format. ...
Edit and Proofread.
HOW TO PREPARE AN ANNUAL REPORT

1. Compile the Business Profile
The business profile is the section of the annual report where you summarize key
information about your business. It typically includes information about:
Your company’s key products or services
Your company’s mission and vision
The board of directors and other business officers
Your investor profile
Your competition
Opportunities and risks
This section is also sometimes referred to as the general business information section
of the annual report.
When writing this section, remember your goals: to quickly provide new, current, or
potential investors the information needed to understand your business and industry.
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2. Generate Key Financial Statements
The purpose of the annual report is to provide data and analysis regarding your
company’s operations and financial performance. As such, the financial statements it
contains are essential.
Important financial statements include your company’s:
Income statement
Cash flow statement
Balance sheet
Statement to shareholders
=> While you can compile the report’s other sections before generating financial
statements, it’s best to avoid doing so because your letters to shareholders,
management’s discussion and analysis, and other narrative elements should be backed
by financial data. Not creating financial statements first makes it possible to tell an
inaccurate or incomplete story you’ll later need to correct.
3. Select Operational and Financial Highlights

After generating financial statements, select highlights for your report’s narrative
elements. Incorporate a mix of operational and financial highlights. Some examples
include:
The launch of new products or services
The opening of new facilities
Major contracts or partnerships
News about mergers and acquisitions
Rate of revenue growth
Whether the company turned a profit or loss for the year
4. Write the Management Discussion and Analysis

While the financial statements included in the annual report allow investors and
analysts to analyze your business, the management discussion and analysis section
offers you and your team the opportunity to present an internal analysis of financial
performance and statements.
The MD&A section also typically contains information regarding key issues your
company faces, such as compliance with laws or regulations, systems and controls
recently put in place, and new or emerging risks.
While the MD&A section is more subjective than financial statements, it must meet
the standards set by the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB). This includes
ensuring the MD&A is balanced, based on fact, and has both positive and negative
information.
5. Write the Letter to Shareholders

The final step is to write the letter to shareholders. This letter is drafted by the CEO,
chairperson, or company owner and offers a high-level overview of the business’s
operating activities and finances for the previous year.
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The letter to shareholders ultimately acts as the introduction to the entire annual report
and is the first piece of information investors review. While each component of the
annual report is essential, the letter to shareholders is one of the most important to get
right.
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TELLING AND REPORTING A STORY
Phrases and 6 Analysis Steps to interpret a graph
=> needs basic knowledge in creating and interpreting the graphs produced
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the 6 Analysis Steps to interpret a graph
Analysis 1: Reading basics

First you have to read the labels and the legend of the diagram. What does it
visualize?
In our example…
x-Axis: You can read what years the animals have been sighted.
y-Axis: You can read the numbers of sightings.
Blue line: The number of sighted kestrels.
Green line: The number of sighted field mice.
=> So this diagram visualises how many kestrels and field mice have been sighted
over the years by Roy.
Analysis 2: Reading important numbers
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First we have to read the most important points. Important points are peaks, lows,
turning points and intersection points.
1952: A peak of the mice line and a low of the kestrel’s line. A turning point for both
lines.
1954: An intersection point between the kestrel’s line and mice line.
1962: A low point of the mice line and a highpoint for the kestrel’s line. A turning
point for both lines.
Analysis 3: Define trends

Now it is important to define all significant trends.
Sightings of kestrels:
From 1950 to 1952 they drop.

Since 1952 they rise steadily.
Since 1962 they drop slightly again.
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Sightings of field mice:
From 1950 to 1952 they rise significantly.

Since 1952 they drop significantly.
Since 1954 they drop much slower.
Since 1962 they rise again slowly.
Analysis 4: Compare trends

Knowing the trends, we can compare them, to find out differences and relations.
Are there common trends?
Is there a pattern?
When there are many sightings of field mice, there are fewer sightings of kestrels.
When there are many sightings of kestrels, there are fewer sightings of field mice
Analysis 5: Analyse trends

Finally we can establish hypotheses how the data is related. These hypotheses have to
be questioned and assessed.
A) “Mice eat kestrels. Therefore there are many kestrels when there are less mice.”
According to our diagram this is possible. But: We know that mice do not eat kestrels.
B) “The kestrels hunt the mice. Therefore there can only be a lot of mice when there
are fewer kestrels.”
Mice are typical food for kestrels. This hypothesis could be correct.
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C) “The Mice hide from the kestrels. When there are many kestrels to see, we cannot
see many mice.”
Prey animals often shelter from their hunters. Also this hypothesis could be correct.
D) “The relation between sightings of kestrels and mice is only a translucent

connection. The numbers of sightings have very different reasons.”
Very often there are only translucent connections. There can be many reasons why
Mr. Varney sights a certain number of animals each year. Also this hypothesis could
be correct.
Analysis 6: Predict a development

- Based on the development of the diagram and the established hypothesis we can
predict future developments of the diagram.
- But be careful: Predictions are always only speculations!
Towards the end the lines become closer again. If they continue like that there will be
an intersection at some point.
In the coming years there might be more sightings of mice than kestrels.
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HOW TO WRITE A BUSINESS PROPOSAL
A business proposal outlines what your business does and what you can do for your
client.
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How to write a business proposal step by step
Business proposal title
A compelling title could mean the difference between someone reading your proposal
or ignoring it in favor of a competitor’s.
What makes a good title page? Here are the essential elements to include:
Your name along with your company’s name

The name of the prospect (or their business)
The date you’re submitting the proposal
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Table of contents
makes your proposal scannable and easy to read
Executive summary
a staple in all kinds of annual reports, leadership development plan, project plans and
even marketing plans.
a concise summary of the entire contents of your document.

The goals of your executive summary are:
Introduce your company to your buyer
Provide an overview of your company goals
Showcase your company’s milestones, overall vision and future plans
Include any other relevant details
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The problem statement
* Your goal is to outline the problem statement as clearly as possible.
- This develops a sense of urgency in your prospect.
- They will want to find a solution to the problem. And you have that solution.
A well-defined problem statement does two things:
It shows the prospect you have done your homework instead of sending a generic
pitch
It creates an opportunity for you to point out a problem your prospect might not be
aware they had in the first place.
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The proposed solution
show how you can alleviate your prospective buyer’s pain points
=> This can fit onto the problem statement section but if you have a comprehensive
solution or prefer to elaborate on the details, a separate section is a good idea.
- explain how you plan to deliver the solution

Include an estimated timeline of when they can expect your solution and other
relevant details.
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PERFORMANCE REVIEWS AND HOW TO CONDUCT THEM EFFECTIVELY
What is an employee performance review?
also known as a performance evaluation or performance appraisal
a formal assessment of an employee’s work in a given period.
managers evaluate an individual’s overall performance, identify their strengths and

weaknesses, offer feedback, and help them set goals.
Employees typically can ask questions and share feedback with their manager. They
may also complete a performance evaluation self-assessment as part of the
performance review process.
annual reviews, quarterly, monthly, or even weekly feedback => depend
Performance review importance and benefits
Workers will gain a better understanding of what they’re doing well and where they
can improve, and they can ask questions or provide feedback to their managers.
In turn, managers can communicate expectations to their team, identify the highest
performers, and correct issues before they escalate.
What should a performance review assess?
Communication
Collaboration and teamwork
Problem-solving
Quality and accuracy of work
Attendance, punctuality, and reliability
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The ability to accomplish goals and meet deadlines
A review should also include:

Any company-specific or position-specific competencies
The employee’s accomplishments and contributions to their role or organization
Performance reviews and how to conduct them effectively

1. Provide regular, informal feedback to employees.
typically happen once or twice a year, don’t limit feedback to review periods.
Consider the following when incorporating informal feedback:
Offer consistent assessments throughout the year. “Don’t catch your people off guard
in a performance review,” => “This should not be the first time that they are hearing
from you that they are not performing as expected.”
Take notes on employee performance. “Employees deserve a robust assessment of
their work for the entire period being covered,” => “Far too many performance
reviews are based only on what the manager can remember from the last few weeks
before the evaluations are due to HR. Managers have to be intentional about taking
and filing notes.”
Don’t neglect your top performers. Suppose you’re only addressing issues or focusing
on the employees who aren’t performing as well as others. => you’re missing an
opportunity to express gratitude and show appreciation to employees who shape your
company’s innovation, creativity, and culture.
=> “Highly valuable employees who do their job and do it well are often not the
priority of concern in performance review cycles, resulting in missed opportunities to
communicate how much the organization values the drive and the results of the top
performers,”
=> “An unexpected ‘keep up the great work’ email [or] a quick phone call or text
sends a consistent signal to your employee that you are paying attention and value
what they do.”
2. Be honest with employees during a performance review.
No worker is perfect, and there will always be room for improvement. When
delivering constructive feedback, be honest and consider the following:
Don’t skirt uncomfortable issues.

Decide what’s worth addressing, and don’t hesitate to bring it up. If you know an
issue is affecting your team, tiptoeing around the subject won’t get you anywhere.
be tactful with honest feedback.

Bailey encourages being honest with workers – but not brutal. Deliver feedback how
you’d want to receive it. The discussion is unavoidable, so choose an appropriate
approach and stick with it.
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Be abundantly clear about expectations. Good managers must demonstrate and expect
clarity
=> Without setting clear expectations, nothing you discuss during the evaluation
will help the situation, and you’ll find yourself revisiting the same topics at the next
performance review.
3. Conduct face-to-face employee performance reviews.
A written review should be a brief but direct overview of discussion points, making
for a more nuanced face-to-face conversation.
You might want to schedule a meeting in a coffee shop or out-of-office location to
provide a comfortable atmosphere.
After outlining any shortcomings or mistakes, discuss resolutions and invite

employees to comment on the issues you raised.
4. Use tangible, pertinent examples during the performance review.
When discussing areas for improvement or what an employee has done well, ensure
you reference clear examples to show you’re paying attention.
5. End the performance review on a positive note.
Your review should end with mutual understanding and respect.

You don’t want your employee to feel like they’re in the dark going forward.
equip them with achievable business goals, a sense of optimism, and an employee
performance plan moving forward.
Encouraging your employees and expressing your appreciation boosts a good review
and lifts an employee’s spirits after a less positive evaluation.
Positive reinforcement and constructive professional feedback can help give workers
the confidence and drive they need to perform better.
6. Choose your words with care during evaluations.
Pay close attention to how you phrase your evaluations.

Excellent leadership language includes meaningful and action-oriented words with a
far greater impact than standard phrases like “good” or “satisfactory.”
Here are five words and expressions that will help you effectively highlight an
employee’s contributions:
Achievement: “achieves optimal levels of performance.”
Communication skills: “effectively communicates expectations” or “excels in
facilitating group discussions” go a long way with an employee.
Creativity: “seeks creative alternatives,” followed by specific examples and results.
Improvement: “Continues to grow and improve” and “is continuously planning for
improvement”
Management ability: “provides support during periods of organizational change”
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How to measure the employee’s performance
up to you and your company’s needs.

use a grading system of A through F
numerical scoring
percentages,
written descriptions (e.g., “most of the time,” “some of the time”).
=> Whichever system you use, ensure it’s objective and easy to understand.
=> Once you finish the grading process, set up a time to discuss your findings with
each employee and build an employee performance plan together.
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ACTION PLAN
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Parts of an Action Plan
Goal or Objective: Write a clear and specific statement of the goal or objective to be
achieved.
Tasks or Actions: Break down the goal into specific tasks or actions required to
achieve the goal.
Timeline: Create a timeline or schedule for completing each task or action and for
achieving the overall goal.
Resources: Identify the resources needed to complete each task, including personnel,
materials, and equipment.
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Responsibility: Assign responsibility for each task to a specific person or team.
Monitoring and Evaluation: Develop a plan for monitoring progress towards the goal
and evaluating the effectiveness of the action plan.
Risks and Challenges: Identify potential risks and challenges that may impact the
successful completion of the action plan, and devise strategies for managing them.
Key Performance Indicators (KPIs): Establish specific metrics to measure progress

towards the goal and evaluate the success of the action plan.
steps to write an effective action plan

Define Your Goal: Clearly state the objective or goal you want to achieve, ensuring it
is specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART).
2. Identify Tasks: Break down your goal into smaller, manageable tasks that are
necessary to achieve the overall objective.
3. Set Timelines: Establish deadlines for each task, and determine the overall timeline
for accomplishing the goal.
4. Identify Resources: Determine the resources required to complete each task

effectively, such as tools, equipment, and personnel.
5. Assign Responsibility: Allocate responsibility for each task to a specific individual,

team, or department.
6. Download an Action Plan Template: Use an action plan template to organize tasks,
set priorities, and track progress towards your goal.
7. Monitor Progress: Regularly monitor the progress made towards the goal and make
necessary adjustments to the action plan.
8. Measure Success: Define key performance indicators (KPIs) to measure progress

towards the goal.
Types of Action Plan Templates
Action Item Templates: Use an action item template when you need to keep track of
specific tasks, responsibilities, and deadlines that are essential to completing a project
or achieving a goal. These templates include a structured format for progress tracking,
accountability assurance, and resource management.
Corrective Action Plan Templates: Employ a corrective action plan template to

diagnose and remedy issues or problems encountered during a project or within a
business process. These templates aid in promptly and effectively resolving issues,
diminishing the risk of future complications, and enhancing overall performance.
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Performance Improvement Plan Templates: Consider a performance improvement
plan (PIP) template to guide underperforming employees in enhancing their work
performance. A PIP template helps employees concentrate on particular improvement
areas, while managers can provide support and guidance to facilitate better
performance.
Mutual Action Plan Templates: Use a mutual action plan template to encourage
collaboration and consensus among individuals or teams with a shared goal. These
templates offer a structured format for detailing specific tasks, timelines, and
resources needed from each party, assigning responsibility, and tracking progress
towards the shared goal.
Marketing Action Plan Templates: Utilize a marketing action plan template when
creating a comprehensive plan to reach marketing goals and objectives. These
templates provide a structured format for detailing marketing strategies, tactics,
timelines, and resources necessary to achieve these goals.
Microsoft Word Action Plan Templates: A Microsoft Word action plan template is
ideal when creating a customizable plan to achieve a particular goal or objective. This
type of template saves time and effort by providing a pre-designed format that can be
modified to meet individual needs and specifications.
Excel Action Plan Templates: Implement an Excel action plan template to organize
and track tasks, timelines, and resources. These templates can assist individuals or
teams in overseeing progress towards their goal, adjusting timelines and resources,
and ensuringthe plan remains on track.
141
COMMUNICATION SKILLS
BUILDING RELATIONSHIPS
FUNDAMENTAL REASONS TO BUILD RELATIONSHIPS:
Community building occurs one-to-one. You need to build relationships with people
one-to-one if you want them to become involved in your group or organization. Some
people become involved in organizations because they believe in the cause. However,
many people become involved in a community group or organization, just because
they have a relationship with another person who is already involved.
We need relationships in order to win allies to our cause. In order to get support from
people outside our organizations, we need to build relationships in which people
know and trust us.
Our relationships give meaning and richness to our work and to our lives. We all need
a community of people to share the joys and the struggles of organizing and making
community change. A little bit of camaraderie goes a long way.
AN 11-STEP PROGRAM
Build relationships one at a time. Fortunately or unfortunately, there are no short cuts.
Sending out a newsletter helps you keep in touch with lots of folks, but it's no
substitute for getting to know a real person.
Be friendly and make a connection. This may seem self-evident, but a friendly word
or smile can make someone's day. Try to find something in common: all of us want to
have close connections with our fellow humans.
Ask people questions. People love to talk about themselves and about what they think.
If you ask people about themselves and then take the time to listen attentively, they
can become your fast friend.
Tell people about yourself. People won't trust you unless you are willing to trust them.
Tell them what you genuinely care about and what you think.
Go places and do things. When asked why he robbed banks, the robber replied,
"Because that's where the money is." If you want to make friends, you have to go
where the people are: picnics, conferences, events, fundraisers, parties, playgrounds,
bowling alleys, little league games, bake sales, etc..
Accept people the way they are. You don't have to agree with them all the time in
order to form a relationship with them. No one likes to be judged.
Assume other people want to form relationships, too. Underneath the crabbiest
looking person is often a lonely soul hoping someone will make a crack in their shell.
142
Overcome your fear of rejection. Most of us suffer from a fear of rejection, and there's
only one thing to do about that: get over it. If you want to form relationships, plan on
being rejected some of the time. You will be richly rewarded the rest of the time with
the new relationships you have made.
Be persistent. People are often shy and suspicious. It takes a while to win trust. You
can almost always form a relationship if you stick with it.
Invite people to get involved. People want to become part of something bigger than
themselves. Many people are looking for an opportunity to meet other people who
share common goals. At the worst, people will be flattered that you invited them to
join.
Enjoy people. If you genuinely enjoy people, others will be attracted to your attitude.
People will more likely want to be around you.
HOW DO YOU BUILD RELATIONSHIPS WITH PEOPLE OF DIFFERENT

CULTURAL BACKGROUNDS THAN YOUR OWN?
Learn about the person's culture.
Put yourself at the center of another person's culture.

Especially if you are getting to know someone who is not a part of majority culture,
try going to their cultural events where you are the minority. If you are willing to take
risks and put yourself in a situation in which you might feel uncomfortable, people
will be more inclined to want to get to know you.
Take a stand against the person's oppression.

Actions speak louder than words. People who experience oppression need allies to
speak out against injustice. Strong relationships are forged when people act
courageously on behalf of each other.
It's okay to make mistakes.

You may have to make mistakes as you build relationships with people who have
different cultural backgrounds than your own, but people are generally forgiving,
especially if your intentions are good. Remember, hang in there even if you feel
rejected.
HOW DO YOU BUILD RELATIONSHIPS WITH PEOPLE WHO HOLD

POSITIONS OF POLITICAL POWER?
Don't be intimidated.
People who hold titles or positions of political power are humans, too. They like to
form relationships just like everyone else does.
Listen and withhold judgment.

People with titles rarely get a chance to be listened to. They rarely get a chance to
think through an issue without someone pressuring them to vote one way or another.
143
One way to befriend such a person is to take the time to listen to them. See what you
can offer them, not just in a political context but as a sympathetic human being.
HOW DO YOU SUSTAIN RELATIONSHIPS?
Pay attention to people. Check in with people when you need to. This may take only a
few minutes a week, but those few minutes can make the difference in helping your
friend or co-worker remember the importance of the work you are doing together.
Communicate openly. People need to communicate. It's a good idea to set aside some
time just to talk about the way things are going. When people don't have a chance to
talk about important issues, misunderstandings can occur and tensions often build up.
Communication is a discipline that has to be practiced regularly; it's like taking
vitamins or doing push-ups.
Appreciate each other. Everyone needs to be appreciated in order to keep

relationships going. If you notice that someone did a stellar job of collecting the
necessary data for the committee, say so. If you enjoy working with someone, let
them know. We are all human beings and appreciation helps us thrive.
Extend yourself. Go a little out of your way, at least once in a while. If your co-
worker needs to spend some extra time with his daughter, you might tell him go home
early and you'll finish up the grant proposal.
Volunteer to do some work for their organization (if they are not already in yours). If
you lend them a hand, they are likely to think well of you and give something back in
return.
Challenge each other to do better. We all need a buddy to help us stretch ourselves
beyond what we think we can do. We can also build stronger relationships by
challenging our work partners to take on bigger challenges.
Back each other when things get tough. Loyalty is essential to keeping relationships
healthy. We may not agree with a co-worker or friend, but we can stand by him or her
when they are in a jam.
WHEN RELATIONSHIPS GET MESSY
Take time to listen to each other.

Put yourself in the other person's shoes.
Look at what is true about what the other person is saying.
Continue to appreciate and respect each other.
Speak from your heart.
Don't give up your principles.
Hang in there when things get hard.
144
TEAM COMMUNICATION
Recommended strategies
- Structure of the conversation

+ Opening
+ Discussing content
+ Closing
- Communicative strategies
+ Take turns to ask and answer questions
+ Maintain eye contact
+ Show speaker’s interest
+ Show listener’s attention
+ Regularly check listener’s agreement
+ Regularly show listener’s agreement
145
FUNCTIONAL LANGUAGE
BUILDING TRUST
How to build trust in the workplace:
146
BUSINESS SKILLS
PRESENTING YOURSELF
147
148
149
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INTERACTION STYLES IN THE WORKPLACE - BUSINESS PARTNERS 2

Find out how happy your employees are!

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High-growth startups often have more progressive work environments.

Encourage employees to celebrate each other with peer-to-peer recognition initiatives

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See what your employees would change

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Different types of workplace training programs for employees

3. Compliance Training: educates employees on the laws and regulations applicable to

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Cybersecurity training: These programs include how to manage sensitive and

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10,000 hour rule

Adult learning theory

AICC (Aviation Industry Computer-Based Training Committee)

API (Application Programming Interface)

ATS (Applicant tracking system)

Biologically primary knowledge and skills

Biologically secondary knowledge and skills

BYOD (Bring Your Own Device)

Collaborative learning strategy

Computer-based training (CBT)

Curiosity, creativity, critical thinking

Data fluency and literacy

Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI)

Double loop learning

eLearning / e-Learning / ELearning

content intelligence CTA

Employee experience (EX)

curate faster CTA

Four stages of competence

Graphical user interface (GUI)

Human Capital Management (HCM)

spend better CTA

Human Resources Information System (HRIS)

Human resources (HR)

Internet of things (IoT)

Instructor-led training (ILT)

Kirkpatrick’s Learning Evaluation Model

Learning content management system (LCMS)

Learning content libraries

Learning & Development (L&D)

Learning experience platform (LXP)

Massive open online course (MOOC)

Modern learning platform

Neuroscience (in learning design)

Objectives and Key Results (OKRs)

Open source software

Personal learning network (PLN)

Question distribution engines

Single loop learning

Subject matter expert (SME)

Talent management system

Tin Can API

Training needs analysis

User experience (UX)

Video content management system (Video CMS)

Virtual training system

Virtual reality (VR) for learning

VUCA (volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity)

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