This is the Business English Podcast, Episode 576.
Don't make your English an oversight.
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Hello, Michelle.
How are you?
Hi, Aubrey.
I'm doing well.
How are you?
I'm excited to record with you today.
I know it's been a hot minute since you and I were on the Business English podcast together.
So I'm very excited about this.
I am too.
We are going to have a lot of fun guys.
Lindsay will still be on the show.
Aubrey and I are just recording some episodes together.
So we're going to have some fun.
You're going to hear both of our voices on the show and also Lindsay as well.
Yes.
Right.
Nothing's changing.
We are just letting you hear some different combinations.
It's fun for Michelle and I to be able to record together.
So, yeah, let's dive in here.
Michelle, do you ever think of something that you wanted to say in a business meeting after the fact, after it occurs?
This happens to me all the time.
Yes.
Or or just you know what it is also at like a doctor's appointment or something like that.
And you're just no, I forgot it.
I forgot it.
I hate that.
Yes.
I know you've seen me on our Zoom calls like I'm raising my hand.
I'm like, can we go back to what we were just talking about?
Because I had a thought.
And so yeah, it definitely happens.
So today we are going to talk about a useful word to describe this situation.
So Aubrey, what is that word?
It's an afterthought, right?
This is very common that, you know, you hear it in and out of the business world.
It means something that you thought a little late, right?
A little bit after when it would have been most appropriate to say it, right?
Um, so you might say as an afterthought, or you know, I just had an afterthought and you're admitting that, like I probably should have said this a few days ago, a few minutes ago, but I feel like it's important and I'm going to share it now.
Yes, I love it.
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Yeah, an afterthought.
It's, yeah, something that's thought of after something.
It wasn't really considered or thought of.
And I would say this generally is a word that shows that something wasn't really given attention or somebody didn't plan for it.
And what kind of a connotation do you think this word has?
Do you think it's more positive, negative, neutral?
Interesting.
It does feel there's a slight negative connotation of like it should likely have been thought of initially but it wasn't prioritized.
So, whether that's the slightest criticism of the person that didn't think about it, or the plan that didn't include that right.
But this is subtle.
Usually when you share an afterthought, you're like admitting it.
You're slightly saying like, my bad.
I probably should have said this when it was on the table, when it was more important.
I should have thought of this.
But it is light, right?
It is worth it.
Whatever you're saying, you're almost giving more priority to it because you're like, even though we missed it, it's worth going back to that topic to share it now.
Right.
Yeah, exactly.
Exactly.
So now let's do some examples.
So here's the first one.
It's so important that we don't make schedules an afterthought this quarter.
We need to make sure everyone knows exactly when they're needed.
So this can be used to talk about, you know, history.
Something was an afterthought and it got us into trouble in the past.
And now we're planning to make sure our priorities are aligned for the future.
Yes, or just planning, right?
Be like, let's make sure this isn't an afterthought.
It's just a way to say we want to prioritize it.
We're not putting it on the back burner.
So it doesn't even have to be commenting about history.
You're just looking to the future, making sure to avoid that problem.
Yeah, exactly.
Or I think user experience may have been an afterthought when building this site.
So to comment on something, it's a criticism and you're saying clearly they didn't prioritize how easy it would be for people to find things on the website.
So definitely that could be an afterthought.
And if you're yeah, you were commenting on that.
Something clearly wasn't a priority and so it had a negative impact.
Exactly.
Or you might say it's easy to want to ignore the spreadsheets.
They're dry for sure, but they can't be an afterthought.
We really need that data.
So this is sort of a way to share if someone else is not prioritizing something that you feel is really important, is really valuable.
This is a respectful way to share that at work.
Yeah, yeah, exactly.
So you know it's just used.
It could be used to make decisions or share priorities or, like Aubrey said, even be critical of something.
Um, if something feels like or felt like an afterthought um, it's not a, it's not really a good thing, i guess you would just say feels like an afterthought right, so It can have more neutral connotations.
If it's something like oh, she almost forgot to tell me her plans, but she added them on as an afterthought once I brought them up.
Right.
So it can be a little bit more neutral.
But a lot of times you might hear and this kind of judgmental way.
There's a little bit of judgment.
Sure.
And it is interesting to note that when you share an afterthought in a business meeting, you likely need to justify it.
You need to defend why your thought, whatever you're sharing, is important enough to bring us back right.
Everyone's busy.
Everyone is wanting to move to the next agenda item.
So you need to immediately share why it wasn't considered, why it wasn't thought of, why we're like justify it.
Otherwise people might just be frustrated if nobody's see like if that's something that we could have skipped, we could have not gone over and moved on.
So that's going to be important if you're sharing an afterthought to immediately share why.
Why do you feel it's important to go back?
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Okay, so we are going to now share some ways that we can express this.
They're not necessarily quite the same, but similar.
So what's the first one, Aubrey?
Yeah, so oversight.
You know, this is something that was missed or not realized.
I might say, oh, I see we didn't include the citation.
That was an oversight.
So you might have to include the citation as an afterthought because there was this oversight.
Yes, exactly.
I'm putting that together.
Then there's...
After the fact.
So this is after something occurred.
So he only mentioned the changes in the agenda after the fact.
It really confused everyone.
So a little bit different here.
But yeah, also just this feeling of something something wasn't prioritized that should have.
And now something's a little wonky.
Um, but why do you think these are important?
Well, sometimes we need to admit mistakes or just express mistakes in general.
When there's a situation where something has been missed, something wasn't prioritized, often the biggest mistake is to not want to admit that and skip it, and then later we end up regretting it if it was truly important.
It's worth using these phrases highlighting that something was missed, something should be prioritized and go back and make sure that all bases are covered.
Yeah, exactly.
Let's put it together in a role play.
All right.
You and I are in a meeting.
Here, you want to start us out?
Let's go.
Okay.
So we didn't ever send over the files?
No.
Unfortunately, that was an oversight.
I think it should be okay still, but we really can't think of these things after the fact.
I know I have to talk to my team about why it seemed to be an afterthought for them.
It should be a much higher priority.
That would be great.
Thanks.
Yeah, this is so interesting because we often have these conversations at work and many people's personalities struggle a little bit more with negative feedback, criticism like how can I especially if you have good relationships your friends at work?
That can be awkward and difficult.
I love this role play.
Everything here was respectful.
This is great vocabulary to do this.
When there's an oversight, when something has been missed, we have to be respectful in the way that we communicate that to colleagues.
Absolutely.
Because otherwise you are going to sorely hurt the connection.
So, okay.
I said, so we didn't ever send over the files and you said, no, unfortunately this was an oversight.
So it was a mistake.
Yeah.
And right here, I'm not throwing anyone under the bus.
It could be me.
It could be someone else.
There's no naming of names of where the oversight was.
And this is pretty common.
Often, we're like, let's not focus on who made the mistake.
Let's fix it.
And then someone's supervisor, whoever they're reporting to... be responsible to have that conversation with them to understand why it happened make sure it doesn't happen again yes exactly and then i said i think it should be okay still but we really can't think of these things after the fact so after it already occurred we need to be prepared we need to be planning ahead Yes.
And this is a respectful way of saying that, right?
There are some managers, some people at work.
You have heard them use vocabulary that is less respectful, that is more critical, accusatory.
And that's not helping anyone.
Like often we're recognizing this mistake.
Whoever did it is going to feel terrible.
We can use this better vocabulary to point it out, recognize, right?
This is a good way to say that, oh, we can't think of these things after the fact.
What can we do to make sure that we see this in advance next time?
Mm hmm.
Exactly.
And then you said I know I have to talk to my team about why it seemed to be an afterthought for them.
So you're you're saying why it wasn't on higher priority.
It seems like they didn't make this a priority and it should have been.
Exactly.
Right.
Such great vocabulary.
This especially is so important for connection at work.
Like you said, Michelle, this can be devastating for a connection with clients, colleagues.
If you are more critical and accusatory, everyone makes mistakes.
Things will always happen at work where someone has dropped the ball.
Something was an afterthought.
There are oversights there.
How you handle it determines if the connection stays strong or not.
Love it, Aubrey.
That was a great takeaway.
And also guys listen to episode 572 of the Business English podcast.
That was afraid of saying no.
How to under-promise and over-deliver in business.
Aubrey, thanks so much for chatting with me about this today.
And I will see you again very soon.
Yes.
Awesome.
See you guys next time.
Bye.
All right.
Bye.
And hit follow to get...
Four new episodes per week on fluency, American culture, grammar, and so much more.
Or tap the link in the show notes.
Remember, we believe in connection, not perfection when it comes to learning English.
Follow the All Ears English podcast now.
