42 Spotlight 14/2019 BUSINESS ENGLISH
Planning and strategizing
Read the following dialogue and choose
the best answer to the questions about
the highlighted phrases (A–F).William: Catherine finally answered me,
so I think we should now sched-
ule a kick-off meeting.
Chris: I agree. We should get down to
business as soon as possible.
Let’s do some back-of-the-
envelope calculations and
meet on Friday.
Jane: One priority we have to discuss
is identifying low-hanging
fruit.
Chris: Jane’s right. We have to be
realis tic. We shouldn’t boil the
ocean here.
William: Yes! Let’s find a strategy that
would end in a win-win situa-
tion.D. When Jane says the team
should identify “low-hanging
fruit,” she means...- they should set goals that are
easy to achieve. - they should raise their stan-
dards. - they should get rid of the rot-
ten bananas in the kitchen.
E. When Chris says they shouldn’t
“boil the ocean,” he means...- they shouldn’t have a heated
discussion. - they shouldn’t try to do the
impossible. - they shouldn’t get side-
tracked by thinking about
their holidays.
F. “A win-win situation” is a sce-
nario that is...- good for everybody involved.
- good for business.
- good for the winner.
sidetracked: get ~
[(saIdtrÄkt]
, abgelenkt werdenA–3B–2C–3D–1E–2F–1AnswersA. A “kick-off meeting” is...- a meeting to decide which
ideas should and should not
be used. - a meeting to decide who
should or shouldn’t be
kicked off the project. - a first meeting to establish
some common ground.
B. “To get down to business”
means...- to talk to the financial de-
partment. - to focus on the work that
needs to be done. - to lower the business stan-
dard.
C. “Back-of-the-envelope calcula-
tions” are...- highly secret — no one else
should see them or find out
about them. - very detailed — they cover
everything you need to
know. - fairly rough — they are only
quick estimates.
Let’s not get
sidetracked!
What about
those back-of-
the-envelope
calculations?Illustrationen: Top Vectors, Skathi/iStock.com