This is the Business English Podcast, Episode 176.
Two phrasal verbs that make for better company culture.
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Hey there, Aubrey. What's going on? How you doing?
Not too much. I'm great, Lindsay. How are you?
Feeling good. I'm excited to talk about business a little bit today.
Let's get into it. So I have a question to start off with.
So in your opinion, Aubrey, what makes for a positive company culture?
Ooh, that is a great question. Culture in a company is so important to me.
And I can mostly just think about this company, right?
Allers English. I feel like we do have a positive company culture.
There are a lot of things that go into it, like really good communication and feedback.
Strong leadership, strong goals, right? We are clear on the direction.
And we have a clear North Star, right? And then passion, for sure, for all of us to love what we do and be excited to help others.
That's huge. It's tricky. It's hard to choose just one thing.
Yeah. And we'll ask our listeners in our poll today to choose one thing that matters the most for sure.
But I think it comes down to happy people.
You know what I mean? Happy people create a good company culture.
So people feeling respected at work, feeling like they have a nice work-life balance.
That's my opinion. Oh yeah, that's big too, right?
If you could have all of these other things going well, and if no one has work-life balance, it would still not be a good company culture for sure.
Yeah, kind of, kind of. So what did we say, what did I say in my question to you today?
Yeah, you used this really interesting phrase, makes for.
What makes for a positive company culture?
And we had a great question from a listener about this phrase and another one, so we're going to teach them both today.
But we for sure first want to share the results from a recent poll.
A lot of people responded. I think people have feelings about this.
So we're going to share. The episode was Business English 160.
Should you flirt with business clients? And a lot of you had opinions.
Yeah. Yeah. And guys, by the way, if you're not listening in Spotify, you can't participate in these polls.
So if you do want to be part of these polls and also submitting questions to us in Spotify, which questions have been getting better and better over there, Aubrey, that we're getting.
So go over and listen to Spotify. It's a great way to engage with us and make your voice heard.
Yes. And we look at the results of these polls and we share them here.
We love them. So this one, we just asked that question.
Do you think it's acceptable to flirt with clients?
And 24% said yes. And 76% said no. So I was fascinated by this.
I guess I shouldn't be surprised at the number of no's, but even 24%, I was kind of surprised at how many yeses.
Higher than you think or lower than you thought?
Yeah, higher than I would have thought. I wondered if it would be like 0% yes.
So it's very cultural, I think. And I'm sure anyone who's marking yes is thinking like kind of depends on the situation, like they would probably want to have a conversation about when it would be OK.
Yeah. And I think the definition of flirting could be different across cultures, too.
Absolutely. Right. That's a really good point.
Yeah, guys, hit follow on this show wherever you listen so that you can make sure the show drops right into your listening queue.
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There you go. Yes. All right, Aubrey, should we read the question?
Could you read us the question? So this was a comment on YouTube.
Aisha Olanad said, Hi, Jessica, Aubrey, Michelle and Lindsay.
Thanks for all you do for English learners.
You're welcome. Thank you for the comment.
Can you make an episode on make for and lend itself to?
I heard these expressions a couple times on the podcast, but I am struggling to figure out how to use them.
I love comments like this where you're hearing us use something and it's so native and natural that we're not even stopping to it because we're just speaking the way we speak.
So yeah, pull that out. Yeah, write your comments on YouTube or wherever you listen, guys.
We love your high quality questions, right?
Very specific questions. Yeah. Okay, so we're going to break it down for Aisha and all of our listeners today.
Yes, absolutely. These phrasal verbs do have similar meanings.
They're on the more formal side. They definitely add polish and professionalism to speech.
Like if we just look at that question at the top of the episode, where you said, what makes for a positive company culture?
There are, of course, more informal ways to say this, right?
Yeah, what gets you right. The company culture, but this sounds so much more, just a little more refined, wouldn't you say?
Refined. We like to be fancy here. We want our listeners, we want you guys to be able to be refined and fancy when you want to, and then bring it down to the human level.
But this one is nice because yes, it's refined, but it also could work for casual conversations.
Exactly. Right. And they I think both of these expressions really are perfect in business English, because when you are leading a meeting or giving a presentation, that's when you do want to up level, have a little more refined, polished speech.
But neither of these are so formal that it's taking us out of it.
Right. It's just they're perfect. Yeah, we've done other episodes before, Aubrey, about how we want to be choosy about using huge words so we don't set ourselves totally apart and make ourselves not understandable.
Right. But that's another episode for another day.
You're thinking of sesquipedalian, right?
Yeah, sesquipedalian. Yeah, that episode on all ears English.
Yes. If you guys are following Allers English as well, we had a great question about using very rare, fancy words.
And the question is, when should you use them or should you use them?
So definitely check out that episode. It's such a weird... That word makes me feel... It makes me think of like a...
Some kind of an animal, like a snake or a... It's true.
Cold-blooded... Seems like it would mean something else.
It's a squidalien. It's fun to say. Yeah, or dinosaur or something.
I don't know. Anyway, so makes for... Let's start with that for our listeners today.
What does it mean exactly? Yeah, so this means... creates, right?
To cause something to happen or to make it more likely.
So just like you said, what makes for a positive company culture, like that's the same as what creates a positive culture.
What makes a positive company culture more likely to happen?
Right. So for example, a strong team makes for the best results, right?
So it just means it's loosely meaning a strong team can help you get the best results.
Exactly. Or following these instructions will make for an easier process.
That's why we do SOPs, standard operating procedures at All Ears English, so we all know exactly what to do.
It works to varying degrees. Exactly right.
So if you're leading a meeting and you want to ask someone to, you know, brainstorm about a goal, a group, to say it this way, to say what makes for a specific goal or what makes for a successful goal and have people throw out some ideas, this is a great way to say it.
And just to add on for our listeners who are leaders at work, you know, it's important to let your teams know why you're doing things, right?
Because we're not just robots just taking instructions.
Let's do it. Let's do it. So you might find yourself using this to explain why it's important that we take this initial step to brainstorm before we make our decision as a team on something.
Give everybody that buy-in, right? Let them know why we're doing something.
What's the end goal here? And then we're all more interested, more excited.
We all feel like we're a part of the decision-making process.
Yeah, that's so important. When we come back to company culture...
It's important. It matters. Absolutely. Okay.
All right. Let's do number two here, which was lend itself to.
This is similar. It really means for something to be good for a purpose.
So for example, this strategy lends itself to effective teamwork.
So you can see how it's like we're saying this strategy is really good for the purpose of creating an effective team, creating effective teamwork.
Would you say there's a difference between these two to help our listeners understand the difference between these two?
Well, let me read the second example and then we'll see if we can kind of pull it out.
Her design skills will lend themselves well to creating our logo.
There is a little bit of a difference because if you try to interchange them, if I were to say her design skills make for great creation of logos, we wouldn't say it that way.
It's a little more specific saying lend itself to means like really good for this specific purpose.
All right. It's more specific. I love that.
And then guys, watch out for the irregular verb in the past when it comes to the verb lend.
What do we need to know, Aubrey, our grammar expert here?
Yes. This is a kind of a strange word that irregular in the past is lent.
So we use this phrase a lot in the past.
You might say the wording of the contract lent itself to be misunderstood.
And the reason this can be so confusing is we also have lend being loaned as well in the past, which is a different meaning.
So a little bit of confusing grammar. So when we're using it this way, to lend itself to, the past tense will always be lent, L-E-N-T.
It lent itself to. Maybe we'll do another episode someday.
Guys, hit follow on Business English. We'll come back to it to make sure we fully understand that.
Lent and loaned. Why are there two? What is the difference?
This is weird. For sure. See details online.
Okay, Aubrey, let's show our listeners a role play.
I like that today we just have two clean, clear expressions, right?
Yes, absolutely. So this role play, you and I are discussing some changes at work.
I'll start us out. Those changes yesterday made for an interesting meeting.
Definitely. Our new plan will lend itself well to increasing sales numbers.
I agree. What do you think about the new VP?
She seems like she's doing a great job. The icebreaker game she ran made for a great introduction to her personality.
Yes, it was so fun. I think her managing style will lend itself well to the company.
Nice. What do you think about icebreakers?
Aubrey, do you like them? I love them. Yes, I love them so much.
Whenever we do a fluency party, guys, we always have an icebreaker game.
And often it's just an interesting question like, what's your favorite dessert?
What's your favorite sport, right? Just something people can answer kind of quickly to share something interesting about them.
Some icebreaker games are a little more complex and they're still fun.
I just think it's so fun. Oh, so fun. Next Fluency Party is coming up soon, by the way.
And all of our students in any of our courses are always invited to the Fluency Party.
So guys, check out our courses at allearsenglish.com and join us so you can join those Fluency Parties too.
So good. Yes, they're so fun. We always play a game and then we have great speaking practice.
It's such a good way to meet speaking partners.
So yes, get into one of our courses so you can come to the parties.
Yes, fun. Okay, so here, Aubrey, you said those changes yesterday made for an interesting meeting.
And again, we're not saying made for unless you're isolating it.
Really, you're saying made for, made for, right?
Good point, right? We often, this is maybe more of a regional dialect thing, but we usually will in America say made for kind of quick.
Those changes yesterday made for an interesting meeting.
We're going to run it all together. Because we're just jamming it all together quickly.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. What else? Good point.
And then you said our new plan will lend itself well to increasing sales numbers.
So this is a more specific meaning of we have this purpose of increasing sales numbers and the plan will will what's the word? satisfy that purpose.
Yes. Yes. Fulfill that purpose. Fulfill.
There you go. A little word game there. And then you added well, right?
Which we didn't have to. You could say our new plan will lend itself to increasing sales numbers, but you can add something in there just to emphasize if you want to.
Yes. Right. We'll lend itself well to increasing sales numbers.
And this is one of those times where often we will just say good instead of well, this would sound bad.
Our new plan will lend itself good to increasing sales numbers.
No, no, no, no, no. We'll lend itself well to it.
That would sound really bad, especially in a business context.
We don't want to make that mistake there.
Absolutely. How great do we have a poll for our listeners?
Bring our listeners to the next big poll for today.
Yes, guys, we are going to have the poll in Spotify be what is most important for building a positive company culture.
We'll have some options, communication, good leadership, work life balance.
This is where it's a little tricky. You have to choose what do you think is most important of all of these options?
You can't choose all of the above, right?
So we want to know really what do you think?
And we'll get a nice picture of what people think around the world.
What really is that one most important thing?
So I'm actually kind of excited. I know we will share the results for this poll in an upcoming episode.
So be sure to follow and fill out that poll so we can get your opinion.
Awesome. Where should we leave our listeners today for Business English?
Yes. These phrases today are so native and natural.
Thank you so much for the question. Aisha, such a good one.
Leave your questions on YouTube. Just a great way to connect at work.
Yeah. And I mean, what do we, what do we come away with for these phrases though?
What do we, I mean, what's the most important thing here?
What do you think? I really think these do add a little bit of polish and professionalism to your speech, which is why I think we're recommending them, especially for business English.
They are a little bit more formal. They add this level of professionalism.
Yes, you can use them anytime. But when you're thinking about, OK, I'm running a meeting, I'm doing this presentation and I want to up level and add that polish.
This is a great way to do that. Yeah. And I think also what we said earlier, guys, if you're a leader at work or if you have to convince people to buy into something, these are a really good way to explain why you're actually doing something.
Because otherwise, you might know in your head, you're convinced this is an important thing to do, whatever the task is.
But if your employees don't know, you're not going to get the same quality of work.
That's true. Yeah. And it's really forcing us to focus on positivity because we don't use these phrases to say like, oh, that made for a really boring meeting, or at least I don't.
We usually use this to talk about how something was improved, how something is positive and exciting.
Absolutely. I love it. So utilize it, guys.
Put it into action right away and send us more questions.
We love your questions. Good stuff. Aubrey, have a good day.
I'll talk to you soon. See you next time.
Bye. Thank you for listening to Business English, a podcast just for you, the high achieving global professional.
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