This is the Business English Podcast episode 358.
Why and how to talk about the new year at work.
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Hey Michelle, I am excited because New Year's is here.
Actually, we are in the New Year by now.
That's true. Yes, 2025.
Do you typically like to do a lot of fun things from New Year's Eve or around the holiday time?
Yeah, I think this year, you know, going to the mountains and, you know, right now we're recording this before the New Year.
So it's hard for me to say what I did exactly, but I believe the plan is to go to the mountains and just spend the night up there, just do something a little different.
But I'm not a big partier when it comes to New Year's.
Are you a partier, Michelle, when it comes to New Year's?
No, no, no, no. I think we're going to a friend's and we're going to all sleep over there.
But it's like a house party.
And but we don't want to drive.
We don't want to drive anywhere.
On New Year's Eve. So we're just all like everybody sleeping over there.
There's going to be kids and it's going to be a little bit of a squeeze.
So it should be interesting.
Okay, that sounds great.
Well, that sounds like a great time, though.
That'll be fun. That'll be fun.
It'll be fun. It'll be fun.
Sorry. No, go ahead.
I think this is just a really good thing to connect with your coworkers about, right, how they spent their New Year because a lot of times offices are closed for the weekend between Christmas and New Year.
So people may be kind of still adjusting at this point, getting back to the workplace at the hall after the holidays.
100%. It's a huge connection moment.
People may have stories.
You need to say something when you're first just coming back into the office, which might be happening this week if people again have been on vacation.
You need to make some kind of remark about the fact that it is a new year.
People maybe did something interesting, right?
That's how we build connection at the office.
And this is a few days after still where we got into 2025.
But, Lindsay, how long do you think you can still say Happy New Year for?
This is a good question.
I think this is on curb your enthusiasm or something.
It's a great question.
I think I'd say two weeks.
Two weeks. So mid -January.
By mid -January, we're really getting into kind of the dead of winter.
And that's another topic.
Or the dead of summer if you're in Australia, for example.
So they're not here.
But yeah, I think you got a couple weeks of mileage there and then kind of tone it down.
We got to take down our Christmas trees at some point if we do Christmas trees, right?
That's funny. Yeah.
So we want to be able to connect with our co -workers after the new year, after a winter break.
So this is a great way to do it.
So we're going to give you some steps in order to start this connection.
So the first one is just the intro.
So Lindsay, what are some ways that you can wish somebody Happy New Year after you haven't seen them for a while?
Yeah, you could say Happy New Year, right?
That's an opener right there.
Or you could say, Happy 2025.
And that's a more creative use of instead of saying Happy New Year, Happy this, Happy that, Happy Monday, Happy Wednesday, Happy 2025.
I think we may have done an episode on that.
I would think so. Yeah, it was a good one.
Or you have an option to say, hey, good to be back, right?
So meaning back, meaning back at the office, right?
Assuming people took a little time off.
Yeah. Exactly. And then you can be like, if you want to say something more general, you can say, how was your holiday week, right?
So interesting. All of these questions are starting with how.
Right. So how was your holiday week or what's another one, Lindsay?
How was your New Year's Eve?
Or how does it feel to be back?
So very different questions.
Right. But how, so how is kind of an open ended way of starting a question?
I like it. You're just looking for them to share something.
Right. Exactly. And most people of the time, people will just say, oh, it was good.
It was good. And then you might want to get a little bit more specific.
So how can you do that?
Yeah. If you have a little more time in that conversation, say something like, what did you do for Christmas or New Year's or New Year's Eve, right?
Or whatever holiday, what did you do for X for that event?
And this next one is a how question as well, but it's a little more specific because maybe you know that the person went away.
Yes. So you're saying maybe, you know, they went to California for, you know, New Year's the whole break.
So you could say, how was your vacation or how was California, right?
Something that shows that you know, something specific about them, something they did.
And that's especially powerful for connection.
When you take the time to know and to remember and to remark on the specific thing they did, not just the broad event of the New Year, it's even better, right?
For building that connection.
And then if you want to keep it quite neutral, did you have a restful break?
Also good. Maybe you don't.
That one feels like you're trying to create a little bit more distance maybe or something.
Maybe not as specific.
Maybe it belongs in one of the first slots.
No, it's good, though.
It's good to have a variety of options.
I mean, when we come back from the break, we're going to talk about why this matters and when this is going to come up at work.
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All right, Michelle.
So why I think this is really important is because 99 % of the time this is going to be the way your meetings, our listeners meetings are going to open for the first two weeks of January.
This is the way this is the opener.
Oh, right. Exactly.
Yes. It's not necessarily, you know, just for socializing when somebody's walking down the hallway.
It might really be used more formally in meetings to open and you want to be prepared to talk about your break, to ask people about their breaks or sometimes, you know, everybody's sitting around before the meeting starts.
100%. You want to be able to have something to say to them.
Yeah, don't be that person that just especially if you're leading the meeting, don't be that person that just goes right into the business at hand.
People are human beings.
Yeah, human beings at work.
We need to connect with each other need to feel somewhat of a home where they're working.
And part of that means sharing personal life aspects and whatever they want to share.
Right. Yeah. Yeah. Exactly.
And I just think that this is good because this is the time of the time of year where people are starting fresh, maybe they have resolutions.
Maybe they say, oh, I started, you know, always exercise is one of the big ones, right?
Oh, and then maybe they say, oh, should we start like a group or something like that?
But yeah, there's this feeling of newness.
At the same time, people might be feeling a little sad to be back, a little sad the holidays over because as Lindsay said, now we're in the dead of winter.
Summer. Right. I get sad when the holidays are over because I love the holiday season and now it's just kind of.
Yeah. No, you're right.
It's a tough time of year, January, February, March.
Very intense. But the other piece that you mentioned here, Michelle, that's important is when if people do extend that conversation and share that they've decided to get in shape or they've decided to start eating better, whatever it is, there's a level of vulnerability they're showing.
And you want to be there to mirror that and maybe share something similar.
So it's a really important moment when we start to share these things at the beginning of the year.
Right. And you know, you're looking for things in common.
And we talk about this a lot.
Just like the goal of a lot of our conversations are looking for, especially when you're getting to know someone is to look for things in common.
So maybe both people went on a trip or watched a holiday movie.
Lindsay, I'm sure you and I will both be watching Love, actually, right?
I'm planning on watching that on the flight back to Boston.
Yes. That is my cue and my mental cue.
That's good. Yeah, exactly.
It has to be done. Have you ever seen the movie Elf?
Yeah, that's a great one, too.
That's a great one, too.
Dan just watched it for the first time we showed my son, too.
And it was. Yeah, that's that's a great one.
I mean, it's not quite Love, actually, but it's good.
No, I mean, these rom coms, they are just there's something warm and fuzzy about them, watching them, you know, there's a lot of them.
The Family Stone is a good one.
I think I love that one.
I've got to know that, especially airplane movies.
Right. These are just like, we're cuddling up by the fire with a hot cocoa movies, that kind of thing.
It's just it's a great time of the year.
Timely and yeah, we love this stuff.
So this is a great way to bond and connect with your co -workers.
And especially when we're thinking about that context of that meeting getting started, you need these tools.
So and this can also be useful for talking to if you have clients, right?
You're talking to a client for the first time after the new year.
You definitely want to have a warm up and it would be it would be a little strange if you didn't talk about the winter break or talk about, you know, the new year.
100 percent. Let's show our listeners what that could look like, Michelle, in a role play talking.
So, well, this one is co -workers.
So two co -workers coming back into the office and in the next role play, we'll we'll do the client one.
All right. Okay. Here we go.
All right. Hey, Michelle.
Lindsay, Happy New Year.
Thanks, you too. How does it feel to be back?
The way it always feels after being off.
Oh, man, I know. Well, I'm glad to see you.
Did you have a restful break?
Yes, it was perfect.
Good to see you too.
Yeah. So maybe I'm not thrilled to be back, right?
It sounds like I'm implying that.
But, you know, we said some important things and this is a necessary conversation.
Right. That's the point.
Maybe you don't want to have the conversation, but you do need to have it.
It's going to happen.
It's being social. So I opened.
You opened by saying, Lindsay, Happy New Year.
And then I said, how does it feel to be back?
And actually, Michelle, we could do another episode on greeting someone just by their name.
Michelle. Lindsay. Oh, that's true.
That's the same thing as saying, Hi, Lindsay.
Or, Hey, Lindsay. All right.
Yeah, that might be an all -there's English topic.
So guys, if you're not if you're not listening to all there's English podcasts, head on over there and hit the follow button to wait for that episode.
And then again, you said, how does it feel to be back?
And then I kind of implied, you know, it doesn't always feel great.
But, you know, we end on a positive note, right?
Which is recommended in the workplace.
Ending on a positive note.
And you said, Oh man, I know.
Well, I'm glad to see you.
Did you have a restful break?
And I said, Yes, it was perfect.
Positive way. Should we do a role play number two?
Let's squeeze in this next role play.
So here, Michelle, you are talking to a client on the phone.
So different contexts, but still need to address the fact that we're back for.
And it's a new year.
Okay. Exactly. All right.
Hi Lindsay. Happy 2025.
Oh, thanks so much.
I appreciate that. Happy new year to you too.
Thank you. How was your holiday week?
I was really nice. Thanks, yours.
It was great. What did you do for the break?
I actually went to Nashville to see my family.
That's great. Yeah.
So you definitely took on a bit more of a professional tone there.
I can hear it in your voice.
Really interesting, right?
Yes, exactly. Yeah.
And so you said, Hi, Lindsay.
Happy 2025. And yeah, it's hard to describe, but it is a shift.
And I think our listeners heard it too.
Right? Yes, exactly.
And then I said, how was your holiday week?
Mm hmm. And then you said it was, and I asked you how yours was and you said it was great.
What did you do for the break?
So now I'm coming back to you with questions.
No, no, no, I asked.
Oh, sorry. Vice versa.
But I think also sometimes maybe when you have a client, you're kind of trying to lead the questions really warm things up.
So I think that's a little bit of the difference.
Yeah. And you took on that role for sure.
Michelle, is there another episode our listeners should check out?
Guys, check out episode three through Oh, 350.
That was how to ask for brevity in English.
Love it. I think the final takeaway here is what we've said.
It's important to build relationships at work, especially before meetings, before important phone calls.
And everyone has gone through this event, which is that we've turned into the new year.
Right? So this is, this is almost like required.
Right. Pretty much every opening conversation for the first two weeks or at least the first conversation you have with certain people.
It's going to come up.
I am true. Absolutely.
Yep. So definitely be prepared for that.
Give it a try. And we hope you guys had a happy new year and we'll talk to you on the next one.
It's going to be a good year, Michelle.
You have a good one.
You too. Bye. Take care.
Bye. Thank you for listening to Business English, a podcast just for you, the high achieving global professional.
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