This is the Business English Podcast, Episode 200, How to Stay in Your Lane in Business.
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Hey there, Michelle. How are you today? Hey, Lindsay.
I'm good. How are you? I'm doing well. You have a question for me to start off the episode today.
What are we talking about? I do have a question for you.
Do you ever try to talk to someone about something they are an expert in, even if you're not?
Like, do you try and kind of talk to somebody about something you don't know about that they know a lot about and you feel this need to show that you know something too.
No, I so if you're asking about that tone, like do I use that tone?
Yeah, right. That? No, but I do know someone I have.
My late uncle used to do that a lot. oh really say that and that used to drive us nuts about him to be honest so um yeah so that can trigger people a lot so i try not to do that right because obviously a person knows a lot about something so it's good to respect but i like to ask those people questions right yeah right what about you uh yeah same um you know there are certain i mean you know, if I don't know anything about the field, I certainly, I like to learn.
So, but I try not to just become an expert or, um, I like to stay in my lane is basically what I'm trying to say.
You like to stay in your lane. Right. Exactly.
And, and, and speak with authority when it's something you're really qualified at.
I think there's a difference between asking someone who's an expert in something, maybe like pushing back a little in a certain way from a certain perspective, um, versus challenging everything they say when you don't really know what you're talking about.
Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Yeah. So guys, we're going to get into this idea today and teach you this expression that I just mentioned.
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You can get going on Business English. And feel more confident at work, right, Michelle?
That's what it's all about. Yeah, that's right.
That's right. So today we are going to talk about this expression to stay in your lane.
Lindsay, do you hear this one a lot? Yeah, I do sometimes.
I mean, what does it mean, Michelle? What would you say it means?
What's the meaning? Yeah, it's kind of like stay focused on what you can do, what you should do, what you know.
You know, we're thinking about like driving a car. staying in your car lane if you have that image it's like don't try and veer off into other people's expertise um things that they that you know you aren't really specialized in sometimes it's good to just know what what you are supposed to be doing and stick with it Yeah, I mean, there are so many things to do in the world, especially now we're so lucky with technology.
We have we have so many options, so many things we could do with our careers.
But if we're always going in different directions, we can't really go deep into anything.
Yeah, yeah, that's true. That's true. So I like when people use this to talk about their specific skill set and their strengths, so their focus.
And maybe, guys, if you are talking about your focus, you're going to brag a little bit.
Maybe not. I don't know. But if you want to learn how to do it, listen to episode 177 of the Business English podcast is how to brag in the business world. love that yes good stuff so let's go into some examples to make sure our listeners know exactly what we're talking about here all right okay yeah okay here's an example okay so rufus is the expert on programming i'm gonna stay in my lane here and maybe let him take care of it right for example yeah exactly or she had trouble staying in her lane and always wound up trying to lead every project Oh, hard.
Yeah. Or I'm interested in the PR part of our company, but for now I'm going to stay in my lane because I don't have time to become an expert in that area right now.
Right. So it's like, I'm going to stay focused.
I'm not going to try and put too much on myself.
I'm going to know where are my strengths and that's where I'm going to stay.
And in a mean way, do you ever hear somebody saying like, stay in your lane?
Stay in your lane. Yeah. I'm trying to think of when people say that in a mean way, like what scenarios?
Yeah. I mean, I don't know why, but right now what's coming to my mind is the medical profession.
Okay. You know, that it's like kind of a no-no, I feel, like to question a medical professional.
Oh, interesting. Right. And we're kind of supposed to take. doctors at their word and they're the experts and we know nothing about this stuff.
And so that's when I feel like somebody, not that I've been told by a doctor this, but somebody might be like, oh, stay in your lane.
That's not your expertise. Don't even try.
What do you think? I mean, that's not trying to put the medical industry down.
Yeah. well i think it's something we have to question as a society right because i mean there's a lot of medical shows out there where we see examples of how that thinking leads to major problems right but yeah i do think there's definitely a bias of like whatever the doctor says is right um so that could be one place i'm thinking if we stay in medical i let's imagine if i'm like a a surgeon like i do surgery on ear nose and throat and then all of a sudden i have an idea to start cosmetic surgery or something which is completely different and like maybe my partner says you know you can't go into that stay in your lane like focus on what you do because cosmetic surgery is totally different right right right right exactly and i feel like there's a fine line though between you know how can we know when we should stay in our lane because we also don't want to just say okay well i'm never supposed to learn anything new i just stick to what i know and that's it i'm staying in my lane um but at the same time we don't want to just all the time be reaching for something else and thinking oh no i i know what i'm doing or i'm going to do this i'm going to do everything it's so hard or just if you are a mind that likes details that wants to consume details like you know that can get very stressful if you think maybe you've gone to the doctor they've given you some kind of diagnosis but now you're going to go and research the whole web and find out everything about any other possible diagnosis that it could be and you're gonna lose sleep and it's gonna be crazy that's also not healthy right so how are you guilty of that lindsay do you ever uh look online and find out you're dying when yeah usually usually happens before i go to the doctor yeah usually you google it and you never yeah you know and the answer is always you're dying right yes exactly exactly yeah i think our listeners are probably going to resonate with that yeah that's a human thing you know now that we have access to that i think more so in the past Yes, yes, exactly.
Exactly. So we have to think about when is it appropriate to stay in our lane?
And when should we feel like no, I'm I want to learn something new.
I want to try something new. I am it's okay to question this authority on this topic.
Exactly. I think where it gets challenging is like, you know, in a small business.
Right. So for me, I have to kind of get into every lane and I don't necessarily do well in every lane.
It's hard. It's really hard. Yeah. Big companies, they can have lanes.
And, you know, you can be in a department and you do X and you don't do Y and it's that simple.
But with small businesses, we all kind of do everything.
Yeah. That becomes more complicated. Yeah.
Yeah. Interesting. Yeah. Good point. Yeah.
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So one I would say is going over tasks that aren't my job with someone who is working on them, but being intrusive about it.
Like, let's say I, you know, talk to Jessica one day and she is working on some course she's building and I don't know.
And instead of being like, oh, how can I help with this?
I'm like... oh, Jessica, no, we really need to do this.
We really need to do that. And I'm being too intrusive.
And then it's kind of like stay in your lane, Michelle.
Yeah, for sure. And it's a waste of time, right?
It doesn't make sense. Yeah. I mean, that's why here we've tried to talk about primary role.
I mean, we've tried, right, to move towards that.
We're talking about primary roles, where we add the most value in a business.
And we're getting into that. We're going to get into it more, you know, in the future.
Yeah. Um, so businesses try to do this, but it can be hard, but that would be a good example of where it wouldn't make any sense.
Right. Yeah. Right. Yeah. Right. Yeah. Um, what about, do you think like giving too much advice to someone in a different industry?
Like probably. Yeah. I mean, Sometimes I think this comes from a good place.
We feel that we need to help all the time.
Maybe our friend is talking to us about their position and that they're having trouble with something.
And we just always are, I feel like we're very solution-based in our culture.
And I've heard people say things like, oh, if you're complaining to someone, they should know, do you want advice or do you just want to be listened to?
And this kind of goes along with that. Yeah, for sure.
No, that's true. Totally. Yeah, I think it's, you know, it can be tough.
It's a fine line. We got to figure it out, know how to respond to people in that moment.
Right, Michelle? Yes. Yeah. I mean, have you ever had an experience that you can think of where you either wanted to tell someone to stay in their lane or where you felt you had to stay in your lane?
Yeah. Well, there have been times when someone has mansplained or womansplained things to me, right?
And maybe we will define those terms womansplained and mansplained in another episode.
I want to be careful with the gender stuff and there's no pointing fingers at anyone gender, but there is a term we have. uh where that means basically like telling someone about their expertise like when you know very little about it right and that has happened a number of times and i just kind of step back i'm like oh my gosh it's it's challenging so that's that's that's where i would want to say you know stay in your lane but i'm not really that confrontational in conversation It's a confrontational thing to say, for sure.
Yes. I think it's also good. Well, we're going to do this kind of example in the role play, actually.
So I'll just save it for then. But another context in which, you know, how you would say it.
So let's do the role play here. So here we work together.
So yeah, let's do it. All right. Here we go.
Hey, can you help me out with this project?
Sure. Well, I think you should really pay more attention to the design here.
Oh, yeah. You know what? I'm just going to stay in my lane because I really don't know much about this area.
Okay. I appreciate your comments anyways.
Oh, this is a great example. I'm actually glad that you brought up design and design's an area that I've struggled with.
I'm not a designer, but I sometimes need to get feedback on designs.
And if you elicit feedback on a website design, you're going to get a thousand different responses.
Yep. Because I like it. I don't like it.
Oh, I don't like that color. I like that color.
No, that's not good feedback from a conversion perspective, right?
The purpose of a website. And another place we get this a lot is in armchair psychology.
So I have a lot of empathy for psychologists. you know because like that's an expertise that's a profession but I think everyone has a brain everyone has a mind and so they they think that they know certain things and they do as a human but then do you know what I'm saying here yes they don't have the actual like true knowledge about it but it seems like something oh you got it it seems like to some people it could be intuitive or something like that yes exactly exactly so that's what we're talking about here Yeah.
So what do you do? Do you like do you ask a bunch of people for their thoughts on designs or do you just save it for how do you handle that?
Because that's tough. I think what websites can do is they can install code on their site to actually like understand how users what users are doing on the website.
And that's ultimately the answer, right?
Like, what is a user doing on my site? Like, what are they not clicking on?
Where are they clicking on? But if I can't do that, I would say try to well, ideally speak to a designer who understands marketing, like a designer who wants who wants to work towards marketing success.
Right. Yeah. And so that's a challenge. Yeah, exactly.
Well, so here I was going to give you some advice and then I realized, you know what, I'm just going to stay in my lane here.
So sometimes you might say stay in my lane or sometimes somebody might say stay in my lane here.
And being honest, like, I don't know. I've had... students where I work with them on job interviews.
I work a lot of times with students on job interviews and sometimes it's for an industry I don't know anything about.
And I'm, I can do my best with certain things, but sometimes I'll say, you know, I just want you to know that this is not, this specific industry is not my expertise.
I can give you general like interview ideas and things like that, but I will have to stay in my lane and, you know.
Yeah. so take make that what you will right well i think that's really good that's already enough right just saying like hey i'm not an expert in this industry if you really want like uh english for a nasa interview let's say aeronautical science right then you should hire an english teacher who does that yeah but you're admitting what you can do and what you can't do and that takes the stress off yourself takes the stress off the whole situation i think that's really smart and humble and professional Well, thank you, Lindsay.
For sure, for sure. So yeah, so you said stay in my lane.
So we went through that. What's the takeaway for our listeners today?
We went into a really interesting topic today.
Yeah, this is a deep topic for business, right?
This idea of, well, we taught this idiom to stay in your lane, thinking of a car, but it's really in this, it's something else.
It's a philosophy. And sometimes there are going to be moments where we really should stay in our lane.
And you might not ever branch out or learn something new.
You might not learn anything new. Yeah, we have to find, there's a fine line and we have to learn through experience of what's the right thing to do.
And Michelle, I think this episode could actually have a part two that we could do on All Ears English. which is how do you learn from an expert at a party?
Let's say, cause that's, those are the conversations I like to get into at parties is I wanna find the person that is the deepest and the most interesting topic.
Like I wanna learn about insects in Argentina, right?
This person is an expert. I'm gonna ask them a thousand questions.
It's fascinating, right? Something very specific.
Why do they do that about them and how they got into it and also about the topic.
Like how would we open that with, in a way that respects their expertise, Right.
Yeah. Yeah. That would be fantastic. Okay.
Well, I am taking notes at the bottom of the document.
So guys, if you aren't listening to All Ears English, look out because this episode will be coming to you on All Ears English.
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All right, Michelle. Good stuff. This was fun, Lindsay.
All right. Have a good rest of your day and I'll talk to you soon.
All right. Take care. Bye. Bye. Thank you for listening to Business English, a podcast just for you, the high achieving global professional.
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