You're listening to Business English Pod, the Business English podcast for professionals on the move.
Hello and welcome back to Business English Pod.
My name's Edwin and I'll be your host for this episode on getting your ideas across in meetings.
Meetings are a great opportunity to get your ideas across and influence other people.
But doing that is no easy task.
You need the right combination of tact, frankness, confidence, and humility.
And you need some effective language techniques to manage that combination.
In today's lesson we're going to look at several advanced techniques for expressing your ideas and commenting on other people's opinions.
These include leading into opinions, highlighting consequences, and redirecting a discussion.
A lot of these techniques revolve around agreeing and disagreeing.
We've looked at many of these in the first two parts, and today we'll continue by learning about strongly agreeing and disagreeing with negative questions.
We've been listening to a dialogue among four managers who have to find ways of reducing travel and transportation benefits by 15.
They are continuing their debate on how best to achieve this goal.
Let's listen as the chairperson, Alison, leads the discussion with Stuart, Pat, and Nate.
As you listen, try to answer the following questions.
1.
What idea does Pat believe is easier to sell to employees?
2.
What is Stuart's concern about Pat's idea?
3.
What does Alison suggest doing?
Okay, then.
Let me throw something out here.
The way I see it, from an HR perspective, policy changes are easier to sell to employees than outright cuts.
So, for example, we can save a bit by requiring the sales reps to rent a car after 100 miles rather than 150.
Hmm.
I see what you're getting at.
So in that case we'd be forking out less for mileage by reducing how much the salespeople use their own cars.
And they probably wouldn't see it as rolling back benefits.
Exactly.
And another thing.
Aren't there some people who receive a monthly transit pass but still drive from time to time and expect to be reimbursed for parking?
We could change our policy on that as well.
Couldn't agree more.
I'm totally with you on using policy changes rather than direct cuts.
Thanks, Nate.
But aren't we just nickel and diming our employees here?
Don't these little policy changes amount to a drop in the bucket when we have to come up with a 15 savings?
They add up pretty fast.
I don't think it's a drop in the bucket.
Neither do I. And Stuart, what exactly would you propose doing?
Alright folks, let's keep it civil.
There have been some good ideas and I think with the right combination of changes we can do this.
Maybe what we need to do here is run some of the numbers and see exactly how big of an impact these kinds of changes will have on the overall scheme of things.
Now let's listen to the dialogue again and talk about the different techniques used by the four managers.
Okay then, let me throw something out here.
The way I see it, from an HR perspective, policy changes are easier to sell to employees than outright cuts.
So, for example, we can save a bit by requiring the sales reps to rent a car after 100 miles rather than 150.
Pat has been fairly quiet through most of the meeting, but now has some ideas.
Before saying what they are, however, he wants to lead into them.
That is, he wants to introduce or set up his ideas.
He does this by saying, let me throw something out here.
This signals to the others that an idea is coming.
Pat also says, the way I see it from an HR perspective, to qualify his opinion.
Only then does he present his idea, which is to make policy changes instead of outright or direct cuts.
Pat illustrates his idea with an example, suggesting decreasing the distance at which salespeople are required to rent a car.
Leading into an opinion can be a good technique of getting people to listen to you.
It serves as an introduction to what you want to say.
We can hear this in the following examples.
How about this for an idea?
I'd just like to add something on this point.
Let me just expand on this idea a bit.
Now, let's hear how Allison receives Pat's idea.
Hmm.
I see what you're getting at.
So in that case we'd be forking out less for mileage by reducing how much the salespeople use their own cars.
And they probably wouldn't see it as rolling back benefits.
Allison says that she sees what Pat is getting at, or trying to say.
Then she highlights the consequences of Pat's suggestion.
Allison focuses on two consequences.
Firstly, she mentions that the company will fork out or pay less for mileage.
Secondly, she says that employees wouldn't really view a policy change as reducing benefits or rolling them back, as Allison says.
Highlighting consequences is an excellent way of showing how an idea is good or bad.
Let's listen to some other ways of doing it.
Notice the language used to highlight consequences, particularly if then as a result, and what this means.
If we did that, we'd save a whole lot of money.
So, as a result, the entire project would finish ahead of time.
And what this all means is that we won't have to cut the spending allowance.
If we did that, then employees would be much happier.
Now, let's get back to the dialogue.
Exactly.
And another thing.
Aren't there some people who receive a monthly transit pass but still drive from time to time and expect to be reimbursed for parking?
We could change our policy on that as well.
Couldn't agree more.
I'm totally with you on using policy changes rather than direct cuts.
Pat continues explaining his ideas by suggesting another policy change that could help save money on travel expenses.
He points out that some employees receive a transit pass, which covers the cost of public transportation, but still expect to have parking paid for when they drive.
It's clear that Nate likes this idea.
He agrees very strongly, using the expression couldn't agree more.
Nate also says I'm totally with you, which is another way of saying that he completely agrees.
What other expressions can you use when you want to show strong agreement?
I couldn't agree with you more.
That's exactly what I was thinking.
You said it, Nancy.
Bingo!
You've hit the nail on the head.
I couldn't have said it better myself.
Nate agrees with Pat, but Stuart is not so sure.
Thanks, Nate.
But aren't we just nickel and diming our employees here?
Don't these little policy changes amount to a drop in the bucket when we have to come up with a 15 savings?
Stuart's concern is that the changes being discussed are just nickel and diming the employees.
What he means is that the amount of money being discussed is small.
Stewart uses another expression to mean a small amount, a drop in the bucket.
The technique Stewart uses to disagree relies on negative questions.
He says, aren't we just nickel and diming?
And don't these policy changes amount to a drop in the bucket?
Stuart isn't really looking for anyone to answer him.
These are just statements of disagreement, dressed up as questions.
Let's practice some more examples of this technique.
Wouldn't that just put us even further behind?
Isn't that just what we want to avoid?
Won't they just refuse to negotiate if you ask for that much?
Don't you see the damage that will do?
Pat and Nate reject Stuart's concerns.
They add up pretty fast.
I don't think it's a drop in the bucket.
Neither do I. And Stuart, what exactly would you propose doing?
Nate and Stuart have opposed each other this entire meeting.
And at this point, Nate is challenging Stuart to come up with his own ideas rather than just rejecting others.
And once again, it's time for Allison to step in and take control.
All right, folks.
Let's keep it civil.
There have been some good ideas, and I think with the right combination of changes, we can do this.
Maybe what we need to do here is run some of the numbers and see exactly how big of an impact these kinds of changes will have on the overall scheme of things.
Alison asks everyone, or folks as she calls them, to keep it civil.
She doesn't want the situation to become tense or for Nate and Stuart to become rude.
Alison praises the ideas and shows a positive attitude.
Then she suggests running the numbers on the proposed changes.
This means they can try to calculate exactly how much they'd save and resolve the debate over whether it's a drop in the bucket or not.
Allison is redirecting the discussion, a skill necessary for anyone sharing a meeting.
To do this, Allison uses the expression, maybe what we need to do.
Now, let's hear some other expressions you can use to redirect a discussion.
Let's change our focus and talk about the plan for next week.
This is all well and good, but let's figure out how it impacts the bottom line.
Fantastic discussion, everyone.
But now we have to turn our attention to marketing.
Whatever the reason for the drop in sales, we need to figure out what we're going to do about it.
Now, let's practice some of the language we've learned for disagreeing with negative questions.
You'll hear a statement, then you'll hear a prompt.
Use the words in the prompt to disagree with the statement using a negative question.
For example, if you hear... Here are the changes I am proposing.
Won't.
Changes.
Too long.
You can say, Won't these changes take far too long?
We'll play an example answer after each exercise.
Ready?
Let's give it a go.
Wouldn't.
Just.
Waste of money.
Example Answer Wouldn't that just be a waste of money?
This plan will increase competition in the market.
Isn't Something Want Avoid Example Answer Isn't that something that we want to avoid?
We need to put more money into research.
Won't reduce profits.
Example answer.
Won't that simply reduce our profits?
I think outsourcing customer service will save us money.
Don't, think, approach, hurt us.
Example answer.
Don't you think that this approach will hurt us?
Now, let's practice useful vocabulary and idioms.
You'll hear a series of sentences with a word replaced with a beep.
Repeat the whole sentence, saying the missing word.
For example, if you hear... You can say...
After each response, we'll play the correct answer.
Let's begin.
Last month we had to... out a lot of money in fees.
Example answer.
Last month we had to fork out a lot of money in fees.
Yes, Dan.
I'm completely you on that idea.
Answer yes dan, i'm completely with you on that idea.
To find out how much we'll save, let's run some answer to find out how much we'll save, let's run some numbers.
That tiny increase in sales is just a drop in the Answer.
That tiny increase in sales is just a drop in the bucket.
We've reached the end of this episode, the last in our three-part series on getting your ideas across in meetings.
We've looked at how to lead into opinions, highlight consequences, and redirect a discussion.
We've also learned how to agree strongly and disagree with negative questions.
These techniques should definitely help you improve your meeting skills.
Thanks for listening and see you again soon.
