Do you ever have meetings where the topics are difficult.
There's differences in opinion.
People don't always agree.
And you wish you just knew some phrases to reduce the tension a little bit.
Well, today is your lucky day because that's what we're going to have a look at on the episode.
Let's crack on then shall we?
Hello and welcome back to Confident Business English.
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So the inspiration for this episode comes from a client and maybe this is a situation that you can identify with as well.
They work on big projects with lots of different people.
But the thing is that a lot of the meetings that they have to lead are where people are arguing a little bit, they're not happy with things, they have to manage issues and problems, and at times people can get generally really annoyed, they felt like it was hard to control and they just didn't feel like they had the vocabulary in order to reduce the tension a bit and get everybody focused on what's important.
Therefore, as a senior manager that could come up against this situation in the future I'd really like to walk you through some phrases that you can use time and time again.
Let's start first of all then with some phrases that acknowledge tension.
You could either use these at the beginning of the meeting if you want to set the tone or throughout the meeting if there's any point where it gets a little bit heated.
I'm gonna steer you towards some classics which is I know, I understand and I appreciate.
For example, I know this is a challenging topic everyone but let's try and make this an open and constructive discussion.
I fully understand that we may not all agree but I would really like to make sure that everybody has a chance to give their thoughts.
Just by using we may not all agree rather than we don't agree it comes across better because we don't agree is kind of fact right it's black and white but while we may not all agree it sounds better in this context especially if it's a bit of an inflammatory situation.
I fully appreciate there are some differences in opinion, however, I hope we can find a way to come to an agreement today.
To have a difference in opinion or to say that there are differences in opinion is a beautifully diplomatic way to say none of us agree, but let's try and work something out, shall we?
If you wanted to modify those phrases a little bit for in the middle of the discussion, it could sound something like, look, everyone, I understand that there are some differences in opinion here, but let's try and focus on the solution.
I fully appreciate that we may not all agree, but let's try and come back to the point that we were discussing.
Let me just take a moment as well to touch on the verb appreciate, because I might be confusing you a little bit there.
Appreciate pops up in two contexts.
it can be thankful or grateful for something, which in a business context is, really appreciate your help, thank you so much, but it also means to understand or to recognize, which is why you're hearing it in this context.
I fully appreciate that we may not all be on the same page, but let's try and focus on how to sort this out.
You'll notice as well that I've used the adverb fully.
I fully appreciate, I fully understand", it sounds very natural to use that adverb with those verbs, however, I wouldn't say I know fully or I fully know, so we would use it with appreciate and understand only.
Moving on, let's imagine a situation where you've said that at the beginning, you're like, let's be open and constructive, but as the meeting goes on, surprise, surprise, people start making little rude comments at each other you know that kind of back and forth, right?
And you're like okay this is this is really not productive what can you jump in and say there.
My recommendation here is just to get in there quickly because you've got to control the situation with a let's sentence.
Okay guys let's try and focus on the solution rather than going around in circles.
Sorry, everyone, but let's try and focus on getting to an agreement here, because I really don't feel that we're getting anywhere like this.
Sorry to interrupt, but let's try to keep all the comments constructive, please.
Okay let's move on, because I don't feel that this is very productive right now.
or maybe you wanna invite a moment of reflection.
Let's just take a step back for a moment because I think we're starting to go into a discussion that probably isn't appropriate for right now.
The key thing is speed.
You've gotta be quick and nip it in the bud.
That beautiful business expression I did an episode about that in the last season if you're interested.
But here you just need to get in there.
simple sentence with let's guys let's just take a step back for a moment everyone let's try and keep this focused on the problem oh no sorry the solution oops a good point perhaps to bring up here is the use of guys because really from the context what I'm imagining here is a situation where you know these people quite well, it could be an internal team or it could be a project team that you're working with really closely.
If you were in a more formal context, perhaps with a client and you don't want to sound as colloquial, rather than using a let's statement, I would make it into a question.
First of all, I would just use the classic I'm sorry to interrupt or may I interrupt, But could we please try to ensure that the comments are constructive?
Sorry to interrupt, but can I ask that we try to keep all the comments constructive and respectful, rather than pointing fingers.
Pointing fingers is a great expression, and it's actually really literal.
You know like when your younger brother or sister is like, it's your fault.
You did it. And if you point fingers at someone, you're placing the blame on them.
Maybe you've heard somebody say that at work as well.
And I mean, at a certain point, it doesn't really make much sense to keep pointing fingers.
Right? It's like let's just move on and try to solve the situation rather than just keep going back and forth between each other.
Moving swiftly on then let's have a look at the last bunch of phrases.
and really this is about closing out the meeting.
And even if you've had a difficult discussion, you want to end it on a positive note as much as you can.
And here really what we're gonna focus on is some sentences with, I'm glad.
Thank you all for your time.
I'm glad that we could come to some kind of an agreement, or it could simply be, I'm glad we could discuss this further even though we didn't come to an agreement today, hopefully we can manage to sort this out in the next meeting.
Hopefully it's a beautiful adverb that I really think people don't make the most of but definitely something that you could say at the end of this type of meeting to just end on that positive note.
I'm really glad we were able to get to the bottom of this issue and hopefully going forward things are a little bit clearer for everyone.
Another example could be thank you so much everyone for your time and your input today.
I appreciate there were some differences in opinion but I'm glad that hopefully we were able to answer some of your concerns.
So some key patterns there I'm glad and also the use of hopefully sound really nice there.
Just to finish what may have been a tense meeting on a positive or a slightly more positive note.
Let's wrap up then.
And I hope that you found that useful and really as always, the underlying objective here is to build your confidence with some of the phrases.
So maybe you hear something you think, Oh, okay, well yeah, I'm already using that so I can feel secure that I'm saying it Or maybe you heard me use something today and you thought oh, yeah, definitely I want to use that next time.
You can feel secure that OK, I know what I'm saying is right, it's the right tone and that's just going to help you feel a little bit more confident when you're in that interaction.
There were quite a lot of longer sentences today.
So if you want to have a look at those in more detail, you can go to the full transcript.
You can get that if you are a member.
Link to join in the show notes.
Thank you as always for taking the time out of your busy day to have this session with me and I look forward to seeing you again next week.
Bye bye.
