This is the Business English Podcast, Episode 476, Mastering Business English, Way to Go.
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Hey, Aubrey, how's it going?
I'm great.
How are you, Lindsay?
Good.
What are we getting into on the show today?
Well, I have a question.
What is the last goal you accomplished?
Wow.
So 4th of July weekend, I ran a 5K, but it wasn't just an ordinary 5K.
My goal was to complete the 5K, but we were at 10,000 feet above sea level.
So we're in Buena Vista, Colorado, which is just a town in southern Colorado.
And it's not the same thing, Aubrey, as running at sea level.
Oh, way to go.
That's an amazing goal.
I have tried to run at high altitudes and it is no joke.
Like you just can't catch your breath.
I'm having to walk way more often.
It's difficult.
But the good news is if you live at altitude, then you go to a place like Boston to sea level.
Running is so easy.
It's like, this is nothing.
It's true.
But if you go from sea level to high altitudes, you really struggle.
It's so hard.
It's so hard.
So you said way to go.
That's interesting.
That's one way we could commend someone, right?
Yes.
This is such a great connection episode today because when your colleagues, the people you work with, are successful at something, when they share a goal accomplished, you want to be able to say something that congratulates them, that recognizes that.
We're going to share a few really good ways to do that today.
We got a great question about this, about how to use way to go.
All right, let's do it.
So here's the question from Julia.
Hi, this is Julia.
I just wanted to say thank you.
I love your podcast so much.
I came.
Okay, that's great.
First of all, thank you, Julia.
Yes, thank you.
We love that you love the show.
Excellent.
Here's the question.
I came across the phrase way to go recently and I was wondering if you could teach us how to use it in a conversation.
Thank you so much.
Warmly, Julia.
And I like that way of ending a letter, by the way.
Warmly is really nice, I think.
I do too.
I agree.
You maybe wouldn't use this for clients you don't know, people you don't know, but if any co-workers, people you do know, this is a really it is nice warm link Julia.
It's a good one.
Yeah, maybe we'll cover that another day, how to end an email or a letter or something, right?
Absolutely.
Yeah.
Let's dive first into way to go.
We're sharing five, no four total of great ways, really four five six, because three are really similar ways that you can congratulate a coworker.
And we're also going to share a couple of ways that are outdated, right?
That you may have heard in older TV shows, but you wouldn't want to use that work now.
Yeah, because we need to know what's modern, what's older.
What is the connotation of what we're saying?
That's the level that our listeners are at here.
Right.
Exactly.
Yeah.
So let's first dive into way to go.
This is similar to saying well done or good job.
It's used to express approval, congratulations or encouragement when someone has done something well.
A little more emphatic.
Right.
Yeah.
Way to go.
It's usually about bigger things.
Yes.
Here's a quick role play here for us.
I'll start us for it.
Hey, I just found out my proposal got approved by the board.
That's amazing.
Way to go.
Thank you.
I was nervous about it, but I'm really glad that all that time paid off.
Yes.
Okay.
Yeah.
And I like that one.
It's straightforward.
It's not outdated.
It works.
Right, Aubrey?
Yeah, it really works.
And it is interesting to think about the connection here.
If you just responded, that's nice.
That's great.
Not only would I maybe feel like not congratulated, there could be an assumption that who knows you're envious, you're jealous, you're not happy for me?
The way we respond.
When someone shares, you know that they've accomplished a goal, something exciting.
They're sort of it's sort of vulnerable to kind of brag on yourself a little bit.
Share something, an accomplishment.
And the way someone responds is huge.
Yeah, you want to show people that you are someone that they can come to when they've had a certain accomplishment and you're not going to be jealous or, you know, feel bad or something, or make them feel bad.
You're going to support them.
That's connection.
That's how you build these great relationships at work.
Absolutely.
Because this is exciting, right?
And if you have coworkers you know well, you have connections you trust you want to be able to share it and know that they're going to be excited for you.
Exactly.
And that's why we recommend the next one is nice going.
Also a good one.
Yes.
Also a good one.
So for example, I finally fixed the bug that was crashing the app.
Awesome.
That thing's been driving me crazy.
Nice going.
Thanks.
Let me know if you notice any other issues.
So technology is always pushing our buttons and causing us to stretch here.
But it's good.
If we have a little win, we can celebrate it together.
Absolutely, right?
If ever there's something that's been bugging everyone and one person fixes it, I think we would all be excited.
Like, Way to go.
Nice going.
Yes.
And then the next one is probably ones that our listeners have heard.
Good job.
Great job.
What else, Aubrey?
Yeah.
Nice job.
Awesome job.
All of these very synonymous or great work, good work, nice work.
So there are so many options.
You wouldn't want to use the same one over and over and over.
You want to switch these up.
Yeah.
But these are everywhere.
These are very commonplace.
Yeah.
We'll do a little role play here too.
My presentation went really well, I think. great job.
You spent a lot of time working on it.
So I had a feeling you'd knock it out of the park.
Yeah.
And it's also interesting to think about looking at these role plays.
We're not just saying, great job.
Nice going.
Way to go.
We're adding something else.
Because if you do just stop there and don't share something a little more, like you know, recognizing their hard work or whatever it else is that we're saying, it still might show a lack of care.
Oh, totally.
You need to supplement it.
And we talk about this a lot on the show.
What else can you say?
To add?
That you were paying attention, that you were tracking their progress maybe, and that you're proud of them, you're excited for them.
Exactly.
Right.
Share that you were listening when they first told you what the struggle was about it.
If it were it was a lack of time, a stress.
Right.
If you say, oh, I know you were stressed about blank and share.
So they see you listened.
You cared.
Yes, I love it.
All right.
And then there's another set of phrases that we've talked about, I think, a few times on the show Aubrey.
But we like these ones.
You killed it.
You crushed it.
You rocked it.
Exactly, right?
They're all kind of similar, but you can use any of these.
So let's do a little role play here.
I just finished the final round of interviews.
I feel good about it.
I bet you crushed it.
I'm sure they'll offer you the job.
Nice.
Love that.
And I like to say this is I'm sure you did well, right?
I bet you killed it.
I bet you crushed it means I'm sure you did well.
And you can also, you know, use this to refer to how things went on your end.
Like if someone says, how'd the interview go?
You could say, if you're feeling really confident yourself, you could say crushed it.
Crushed it.
I crushed it.
As in, does that make sense?
Yeah, absolutely.
And I agree.
I think you can drop the I. We'll be like, nailed it.
Crushed it.
Killed it.
Yep.
We use all of those just to mean like, I think I did well.
Yeah.
And there's nothing wrong with that.
There's nothing wrong with feeling confident about the work you've done.
Now, there are some outdated ones though, right?
That we want to probably stay away from.
Yes, exactly.
You might hear these on older TV shows or maybe see these in like a textbook about business English, but we don't use them anymore.
The first one is kudos.
Back in the day, they would say this to mean like congratulations.
Oh, kudos.
Kudos to you.
We don't hear this anymore.
It would sound really outdated if someone said this.
Isn't it also a candy bar or am I thinking of?
It was like a granola bar, but I feel like those have been discontinued as well.
I think it's definitely off the market now.
I haven't seen it in ages.
So both the phrase and the candy bar are off the market.
Exactly.
And then props to you.
This one I feel like was really hot when I was in high school or college or something in the 90s.
Yeah.
I would say props or props to you, but I don't hear this anymore at all.
Do you?
No.
And I also don't even know what props was short for.
What was it supposed to mean?
Proposition?
I don't know.
I don't know if it was short for anything.
Props.
What does that mean?
Props.
I have no idea.
So that one's dead too.
So don't use those.
Those are old.
Go with the ones we talked about today.
Awesome.
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Okay.
Role play time, Aubrey.
Here we are.
So I'm a team lead and I'm sharing client feedback with the team.
All right.
So team meeting time.
All right.
All right, team.
We just got the client's feedback on the proposal.
They loved it and want to move forward.
That's amazing news.
Way to go, everyone.
Shout out to Aubrey for pulling that data together so fast.
Nice going.
Thanks.
Glad it helped.
And Marie killed it with that presentation too.
The visuals were spot on.
Awesome job, team.
Let's keep this momentum going.
Nice.
Yes.
We got a few of them here, but yeah, this is so important at work.
If we don't acknowledge wins and congratulate people when it's due, they might feel like why am I trying so hard?
Should I be bothering if no one really cares?
Yes, 100%.
So this is a real management skill.
Also.
It's just a skill for anyone in the workplace, because we're also congratulating our peers next door, right in the cubicle next to us.
They also need our support.
So it needs to come from all directions.
Absolutely, exactly.
So if we go through this, you first said, way to go, everyone.
You're sharing this amazing news.
We're celebrating a team win.
And you're acknowledging everyone played a part.
And this is a great phrase for that.
Way to go.
Way to go, everyone.
And then at the end, I also added on and you can never do too much of this.
I don't think I added on nice going.
I specifically called out you, Aubrey, for pulling data together.
And then I said, nice going.
So that one was for you specifically.
Yes.
And this is if you think, you know, it's like way to go, everyone.
And then Aubrey especially did this.
You could just leave it at that.
But we do stack them this way.
Right.
Give someone a specific shout out.
Nice going.
Well done.
Specifically to one person that you're acknowledging.
Absolutely.
And then what else did you say, Aubrey?
I said, and Marie killed it with that presentation.
I could have said crushed it, rocked it, nailed it.
All of these mean she did a great job.
Yes.
And then I said, awesome job team.
Let's keep this momentum going.
And I could have said, great job, amazing job, nice job.
There's a lot we could have said that we went through earlier in the episode.
Exactly.
And we do want to switch it up, right?
You don't want to be saying the same one over and over.
It feels robotic, right?
You want to switch it up.
Don't be the awesome job person, right?
Don't get a label of always saying the same thing.
She always says awesome job.
Does she mean it if it's what she always says?
Feels like it could be an episode of The Office or something, right?
Totally.
Totally.
All right, Aubrey, what's another episode we could go for?
Yeah, don't miss 471.
Soon versus quickly in English.
What's the difference?
This was a great episode.
Scroll up if you missed it.
Yeah.
And just as a takeaway today, this is connection right here.
I mean, you could spend hours memorizing the dictionary.
It's not going to get you any closer to good relationships than doing this, right?
Sitting and understanding.
What are the keywords that I can deploy to build relationships and create team morale.
Exactly, right?
You want to congratulate co-workers for a job well done.
And you also don't want to use outdated phrases.
So if you are reading that dictionary or old textbooks, you might learn kudos and props and these words that we don't use anymore.
Yes, stay relevant, right?
Stay modern.
That's what we can do for you over here on the podcast.
So guys hit, follow right there on Business English and come back for the next episode coming out very soon.
All right.
Awesome.
I'll see you next time, Lindsay.
All right.
Take care, Aubrey.
Have a good day.
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