How do you get the tone right when expressing enthusiasm?
You don't want to sound too colloquial but equally not overly excited, either.
What is the right balance?
It's a great question.
So let's crack on and take a look, shall we?
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So I've had a few clients recently that have had a lot of doubts about this specific topic.
Feeling confident with this is really important for you as a senior manager, because whether you're in front of your bosses, your team or a client, you really wanna make sure that you're expressing accurately what you want to say, right?
What I'm going to do is walk you through a few really common phrases to express interest and motivation in a business context and I'm going to really highlight the nuances between them so that you can feel really secure that you're using the right one in the right context.
Let's kick off, then, with one of my favorites but actually people I find don't feel very confident with this one and that is to be keen to do something.
Keen is spelt K -E -E -N.
This is such a common phrase in a business context to express interest and motivation, and in terms of the tone, it's really business neutral, very professional, and not really emotional if we compared it with something like to be excited about doing something.
Let's imagine you're starting in a new job and you say, I'm really keen to see how the business works and understand more about it.
Or maybe you're explaining your new strategy.
As a company, we're really keen to explore new markets.
Or maybe you're in an interview, for example, I've got a few clients going through that process right now, and you say, I'm really keen to find out more about your company.
company. As you can see from those sentences they're business, neutral, professional, measured.
Let's try and actually put this into practice right now.
I'm going to ask you a question.
I want you to try and come up with a sentence wherever you are.
Let's talk about your company's or department's strategy.
What is your company keen to do over the coming months in 2020 -25?
Okay, good. Moving on then, let's go a step up to show stronger enthusiasm and also a sense of urgency, maybe even a little bit of impatience.
And here, I want to introduce you to, to be eager to do something.
A lot of people find this quite a difficult phrase to deal with, and I think that's why nobody uses it, you can tell me, but I think that's the case.
It's spelled E -A -G -E -R.
Imagine if you're talking about your new job and rather than saying, I'm keen to see how the business works, you said, I'm really eager to see how the business works.
Eager expresses a much stronger sense of enthusiasm and urgency.
The company is really eager to expand into new markets.
And you can see there how I almost have to stress the eager because I'm trying to show a stronger level of enthusiasm.
I'm really eager to find out more about the company and see what you do here.
It's still very much a business raise and we use it a lot but again I'm coming back to that point and I'm driving this home to you.
It's got a little bit more urgency and a little bit more enthusiasm so it depends on the context as to whether that is the right phrase to use.
Let's try and put that into practice then.
What are you eager to do over the coming months in your job?
What are you eager to achieve?
Okay great! Sounds like a plan.
Now just to note unlike some of the other phrases we're going to look at today, keen to and eager to, you can actually also use those with negative situations as well.
So you could say something like, we're really keen to find out what the problem is as soon as possible, or we're, we're eager to put a stop to this behaviour in the team as soon as we can.
So you can use it both ways if you want to, but I would say it's more common to express enthusiasm, motivation about positive things, but not always.
Let's move on to a slightly different category then and you're probably familiar with this phrase which is to look forward to something or to doing something.
So where does this fit in comparison?
Well it's still professional, it's polite but there's that touch of anticipation and happiness, if we compare it with to be keen to do something, and eager to do something.
I almost imagine it as like, if you're saying you're looking forward to something, you're smiling in your head, there's that element of happiness and joy that aren't built into those other phrases.
Let's compare with the sentences we had before.
I'm really looking forward to seeing how the business works and understanding more about it.
In comparison to I'm really keen to see how the business works and understand more about it.
Keen is like your cool cucumber.
Okay? It's like neutral business.
Whereas I'm looking forward to I'm smiling as I'm saying it.
It's got more of that happy vibe.
The company is really looking forward to exploring more markets.
in comparison to the company's eager to expand into new markets.
Again, eager has got that sense of urgency in patients, whereas looking forward to is more about that anticipation, that happiness.
You could use both of them but again, it just depends on the tone that you want to give which is why I'm really trying to show you the nuances between them.
One of the questions I get a lot about this phrase to look forward to is isn't it too formal no you can dress it up you can dress it down good morning everybody thank you for being here today I'm really looking forward to meeting you all this afternoon that could be in a formal presentation but equally I could be chatting with one of my colleagues and saying looking forward to the weekend so it goes both ways and it's super versatile so don't feel intimidated by it it doesn't have to be formal if you don't make it formal.
Also, just a little point to remember as well, it's look forward to doing something with the verb in gerund, this is also a common question I get a lot, maybe you had this in your head.
Why? Well the two is a preposition and 99 .9 % of the time when we have a preposition, the verb is in gerund.
Let's try and put this into practice for you then, tell me what are you looking forward to in a business context over the next few months?
Are you looking forward to a conference?
Are you looking forward maybe to finishing a particular project that's been very challenging?
What are you looking forward to over the coming months?
Great. Let's move on.
And another phrase we do use in a business context to express even more anticipation, positivity, and emotional energy, let's say, is to be excited about something.
I'm really excited to start in this new role and see how it goes.
The company is really excited to explore new markets.
Let's compare that then.
The company is looking forward to expanding into new markets.
Okay, we've got some positivity there but the company's excited about exploring new markets.
There is more of that emotional attachment and energy and that is the nuance between the two.
Again, let's practice and put it in context for you because this is one of the best ways to really internalize vocabulary.
What are you excited about over the coming months?
Are you excited about a project?
Are you excited to go on a specific team building event?
What are you excited to do over the coming months?
Now, to finish, you might be thinking, okay, well, Anna, what about enthusiastic?
The whole podcast we've been talking about expressing interest, enthusiasm, so can't we say, I'm enthusiastic about something?
It's a really good question and this came up with a client the other day.
The thing is, you could say, I'm really enthusiastic about starting in the company and I would understand you perfectly.
It just doesn't sound natural.
We're much more likely to use enthusiastic to describe somebody's character rather than your state.
Does that make sense?
Imagine you're assessing some candidates, and you say wow this person seems really enthusiastic, really motivated, very driven.
That would sound natural, but what doesn't sound natural is to say the company is enthusiastic to expand.
totally understandable, the world's not going to end, nobody's going to die if you say it like that, but it just doesn't sound natural, that's all.
Then, to finish, a small point about another phrase which you might hear in a business context is, I can't wait.
I can't wait is a much more colloquial phrase and we would only really use it if we were talking about personal things.
Imagine somebody asks me, are you looking forward to your holiday?
Absolutely, I can't wait, it can't come soon enough.
Have you got any plans for over Easter?
Yeah, actually, I'm heading back to the UK.
I can't wait. You see what I mean?
It's not something that we would say, Oh, are you looking forward to the conference next week?
Yeah, I can't wait.
Well, I mean, you might get some people saying that, but maybe only if they were being ironic or sarcastic.
and if you work with British people you might recognize that where you'll say something like, are you looking forward to the meeting?
And they're like, yeah, I can't wait.
We love a bit of that sarcasm and irony.
Anyway, let's wrap it up.
The company's keen to expand into new markets.
Motivated, interested, business neutral.
We're eager to expand into new markets.
stronger enthusiasm, a little bit of urgency and impatience.
The company is really looking forward to expanding into new markets.
Anticipation, it's polite and we're smiling, we're happy.
It's got that joy element.
The company is excited about expanding into new markets.
High energy, emotionally engaged, we're smiling.
And that is the nuance and difference between them.
I hope going through that at a bit more of a granular level helps build your confidence about which phrase to use in the right context to really help you get the tone right.
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Thanks, as always, for squeezing me into your busy schedule and to make a little bit of time for this business English session today.
I hope you enjoyed it, and I will see you again next week.
Take care. Bye -bye.
