This is the Business English Podcast, Episode 215, How to Say You're Reliable in English.
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Hey there, Michelle. How's it going? Hey, Lindsay.
Good. How are you? I'm feeling good today.
So we have an interesting topic for Business English today.
Michelle, what is it? What are we talking about? we're talking about being reliable.
I mean, Lindsay, how important on the list of, you know, things that are priorities, do you think it is that somebody is a reliable worker?
Well, it's, I mean, certainly at All Ears English, it's super important, but I also think that it's kind of a, it's one of those things like a, You know, sometimes you you maybe let's say you move in with a partner and you go and maybe you didn't grow up making your bed and you go to them and you say, look, I made our bed like the bed is made.
It's amazing. And they'll be like, that's baseline.
Like, I expect you to make a bed. That's how I think of reliability.
Like, yes, it's important, but it's also.
It's baseline, right? Right, right. Just because that's true.
That's a good point. That makes me think of like when sometimes, I don't know, have you ever heard this where like somebody says, oh, if they see a mother at a park with their kids and it's like, oh, you know, oh, you know, no one thinks about it or might even criticize her, but they see the dad playing with his kids and it's like, oh, he's such a good dad, right?
Yeah. Right. That's a great example, too, when it comes to gender, the gender angle on things.
A hundred percent. So, yes, it's important, but it's also a non-negotiable when it comes to working and getting paid.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You're not reliable.
You lose your job. Basically. Yeah. It's not something that makes you necessarily shine.
Sure. Sure. Sure. Sure. Unless there are two co-workers and one is reliable and one is not, then it's like, wow.
Right, right, right, right. But this is a great topic because the truth is some people aren't reliable sometimes or some people you want to emphasize that they actually are reliable.
Right. So this is what we're going to get into today.
But do we have any other episodes we want to make sure our listeners check out?
What do you think? Yes, yes, yes, yes. Ooh, well, this goes along with being reliable.
So it's episode 187 was need to cancel a work appointment.
Don't break the connection with these phrases.
Ooh, and sometimes, yeah, so this really does go along with being reliable, doesn't it, Michelle?
It's a moment where you might lose trust when you have to cancel something.
So there are very specific things we need to do.
So go back and check out 187 and then come back to today's episode.
Good stuff. Perfect. Okay. Well, today we're going to talk about how to describe someone as reliable.
You know, this is in the way more that it makes you shine.
It's not that baseline. It's somebody is known for being very reliable.
So we're going to talk about how you can describe somebody like this at work.
So here are some expressions. Lindsay, what's the first one?
All right. I love this expression, go-to.
So go-to guy or go-to girl, go-to man, go-to woman.
Someone is kind of an expert in something.
So for example, Paul gets the job done. He's your go-to guy for all things design.
So this is not so much about delivering something on time or showing up to work.
It's more about that person can be counted on to be good at something.
Right. Exactly. So there are different kinds of reliability.
One is just the baseline of showing up for work.
I'm here on time. I'm going to sit here.
That's one kind of reliable. That doesn't make you necessarily stand out.
But then if you're reliable for something specific, that can make you shine.
You're known for being the reliable person to go to.
Yeah, because if you're good at something and you're the only person that's good at that in a company, that does raise you up to another level, right?
Right, right. And then the next one would be, this person won't let you down or will never let you down.
What are we saying here? Let someone down, Michelle.
Another episode we could do that expression, right?
To disappoint someone. Yeah. It could mean that you didn't do something.
Yeah, usually when you think of to let someone down, it's like, You're disappointing them in some way.
Maybe, I don't know, you're breaking up with them.
They're not getting something that they were hoping for.
But that would be a good follow-up, potentially also for All Ears English.
Right. Or if you go to them for help with a project and they say, yeah, I can help you with this by Wednesday, and it's Tuesday night, and all of a sudden, Wednesday morning, you realize they're not going to come through for you.
Another good expression for that topic, come through.
Yeah. that would mean they've let you down, right?
Yeah. Okay. So not good. By saying someone won't let you down, it's another way of saying they're reliable.
You can trust them. They will do it. So you could say something like, Shari would be great for this position.
She will never let you down. Yeah, or I can handle this.
I won't let you down. And I feel like our listeners may have heard that in movies or something.
I won't let you down, right? I won't let you down.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. So you might hear that on TV or movies, guys.
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Exclusions apply. See details online. Okay, Michelle, we have another way our listeners could say this.
This one is more about speaking the truth, like holding to what you say you're going to do.
Accountability. Right, right, right. So like all of these are under the umbrella of reliability, but there are so many different ways that you can be reliable.
So this one is a man or a woman of his or her word.
So a man of his word, a woman of her word.
Right. Like I have the utmost confidence in Myra.
She is definitely a woman of her word. Yes, exactly.
So to be a person of your word, again, means that you do what you say you're going to do.
It's about making promises and actually fulfilling them.
Right, Michelle? Yes. Or I'm a man of my word.
I will always be on time. And if you do make promises and you go and say you're a person of your word, you really need to make sure you deliver on time.
Yes, that's a heavy statement. That's a heavy statement.
Yeah, for sure. Anything else, Michelle, that we could say?
Yes. So the last one is, you might have heard this one, you can count on someone.
So that's, I mean, that's basically saying you can rely on someone, which is something else you could say, but you can count on someone.
So you can count on him to get the job done on time.
Or you can count on me. I will complete everything in a timely fashion.
And again, I think when it comes to being reliable, we just have to be mindful.
This is just my opinion. in life, be careful when you say things like this.
Be sure you can actually deliver. Right?
Yeah. Yeah. And this makes me think of, have you ever seen somebody with a math teacher with a Halloween costume of you can count on me?
No, I haven't seen that. Oh, sometimes I've seen teachers where they just have numbers like six, seven, one, two, and then the meaning is you can count on me.
Get it? The double meaning. I think our listeners got it.
They got it. But yeah, I mean, Lindsay, how can you prove to someone that you're reliable?
Or I mean, how can you start to stand out as a reliable person in something at work?
Honestly, I think the only thing you can do is be reliable and prove that over time.
Right, right, right. And that makes me think of another key word for today, which is track record.
Yes. Right? Yes. Your track record. That's exactly what Lindsay just said.
I mean, a track record is what's your history?
What's your history over time? Have you been reliable in the past?
Yeah. And so and yeah, go ahead. Go ahead, Michelle.
Yeah. No, no, no. That's a track record.
Yeah. No, I was gonna say the thing we can do is be reliable.
And then maybe in the beginning, let's say when we start a new job, we want to be a little conservative about the promises that we make.
You know, when we're not sure what would entail to deliver on that promise, maybe hold back on saying you can count on me.
You know, I'm a woman of my word. Maybe just wait until you understand what you're promising to deliver.
Obviously, if you get assigned something, you have to deliver it.
But I'm thinking of extra things. Like if a colleague comes to you and says, oh, can you help me with this on the side?
Maybe you're already going to have a big workload.
Right, right, right, right. So I think that that's definitely key.
Don't just throw these expressions around willy-nilly.
And maybe you think of yourself as a person who is reliable and maybe you are reliable.
But when you're first starting out, Take a little bit of time.
Just make sure you know what you're doing.
Don't say, oh, you can count on me. I'm going to get all of this done by the end of the day.
And, you know, what is it like over promise and under deliver or under promise over promise?
It's better to under promise and over deliver.
I agree with that completely. Right. It's a really good motto to live by.
Be a little conservative, a little realistic in what you say you're going to do and then do more.
People would rather see that than the opposite.
Yeah. Yes. Yes. Yes. So we can always do a follow up on something about being unreliable or how you would describe that.
So but guys, definitely consider all of what Lindsay mentioned, especially about at the beginning is, you know, just everything.
Make sure that you actually are reliable.
Yeah, because I think talk is cheap, right?
I mean, you could say in the interview, I'm reliable.
I always get my work done. I always do. It doesn't mean anything, especially when it comes to reliability.
They need to see it. And you can scale that up over time.
Well, okay. That's, I just have a quick question before we get to the role play then.
So would you say like if somebody is asking you on a job interview, Oh, like what are, you know, tell me about yourself.
I mean, or asking you a question is, should you highlight that you're reliable or is that, not something you should mention because that's a baseline thing.
It's not really a strength. I think you could highlight it in the context of saying something else.
Do you know what I mean? I think it's not really a strength because it's a baseline.
It's just expected. Right. And yeah, if you just say, oh, I get my work done.
It's like, oh, yeah, well, everyone does it.
Right. Exactly. Exactly. I would I would focus because you only have a certain amount of things you can say to answer that question.
I wouldn't waste your time with things like saying I'm reliable.
Right. Because there are other things you could say about results you've created for a company or something. contracts you've won or ways that revenue went up or you save costs for the company that mean more to the person hiring you.
Yeah. Right. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Cool. So should we do a little role play, Michelle?
Let's do it. Okay. So here we work together and we are talking about how to assign tasks for a project.
Okay. Here we go. So I think Amelia would be best for this.
She won't let us down. Yeah, she's great.
And I know we can count on her. Definitely.
So for the design, Peter says he can get it done by Tuesday.
And he's a man of his word. So I believe him.
Yeah, he's our go-to guy for all things design.
Nice. So we got them all in here. It seems like we really trust Peter here.
Peter, he's great. Yeah, he's great. He's great.
And so I said she won't let us down. So I think Amelia would be best.
She won't let us down. Yes. And I said, she's great.
And I know we can count on her. So, and like, again, you know, when you said be best for this, it could be a certain aspect of a project.
So you can be reliable just in the fact of, do you get your work done?
Yes or no. But you can also be reliable in the area of design, in the area of social media, whatever it is.
So you're saying... It's not always like, oh, she will just do the work.
It's like, oh, she will be the best one to do the work because we've seen her track record of her prior work.
Yeah. Creating results, right? She creates results better than anyone else in the company.
And that's what people care about, right?
Is the results for sure. And so reliable results.
In that case, the results are reliable. Yeah.
I love that. And then where are we, Michelle?
Which one did we say? OK, we said and he's a man of his word.
So I believe him. So this one is more about just like getting his work done.
He says he can get it done by Tuesday. So I'm saying, you know, he we can rely on this because he's a man of his word.
He wouldn't say it unless it were true. Totally.
And then finally I said, yeah, he's our go-to guy for all things design.
And we know, and again, again, this means we know he's going to not just be reliable, get the work done, but he's going to do a good job on the design, right?
It's going to be a product we can actually use.
Yeah, go-to guy. Right. Go-to. Love it. I don't know if we've ever done an entire episode just on the term go-to, but I feel like we could do that in 2024, Michelle, as an idea.
I'd love to check it out. It sounds familiar, but maybe not.
We've done a lot of episodes. Maybe in like 2016 or something, but where are those episodes?
We don't know. Yeah. So guys, make sure you hit that follow button right now here on Business English, right?
We probably did it on All Ears English, but we could do a business version of GoTo in another episode.
That's true. That's true. Yeah. So we will do it, guys.
Hit follow. Don't miss those episodes. Yeah, guys.
What's the takeaway here, Michelle? What do we think for our listeners?
Guys, be reliable, but don't just be baseline reliable.
Find out something that you can get a track record for and A reputation for being reliable about something specific, something that people will know that you're the go-to guy, you're the go-to gal or man or woman.
And start working on that reputation because that's going to make you stand out at work.
Right. And sometimes this means that we need to maneuver ourselves within a company.
We know our skills. We know where we can actually eventually carve out a niche for ourselves in a company.
Let's say we're serving as a project manager, but we actually would do better as a marketer, right?
We need to try to make that lateral move, that maneuver within the company and talk to people to figure out how that's done so you can become the go-to guy or the go-to gal for that kind of work. right?
Yeah. Yeah. Good. Yeah. Know yourself, know your strengths.
Love it. Good stuff, Michelle. I will talk to you very soon.
You have a good day. All right. You too.
Bye. Bye. Thank you for listening to Business English, a podcast just for you, the high achieving global professional.
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