Hello and welcome to a brand new season of Confident Business English.
My name is Anna, I'm a Neural Language Coach and I've selected some of my top phrases to help you feel more confident to speak at work.
Let's crack on then, shall we.
Here we are again.
It's wonderful to be back with you.
If you've been listening for a while, you're going to love this episode.
It's a classic confident, business english style.
If you're a new listener, this is going to give you a really good taste of what this podcast is all about.
And just in case it wasn't clear, this podcast is all about building your confidence.
But I really want you to think about it less as a podcast and more as a weekly training program.
Because what I really want you to do is take the stuff that you learn on this episode and then put it into practice at work.
For this season.
I really wanted to break this down into three steps and that's the first part, which is learning, and that's what you get on the podcast here and with my other courses.
The second step is take action, and this is really the part where you can do with me here on the podcast, but it's also over to you.
If you want to build your confidence, you have to take action, even if you don't feel very confident, you've got to put in the work to get the results that you're looking for, and the third step is to repeat that.
It's a constant cycle of learning taking action, repeat.
So that's the framework about building your confidence and i'm going to reference that during the episodes.
Now let's move on and have a look at the phrases i've picked out for you today.
I'm going to go through three with you, but I've actually got a challenge that you can sign up to to learn these three and another two in more depth.
It's called the five-day commuter challenge, which you can do on your way to work.
That's what a commute is, on your way to work and on your way back home.
It's going to be short exercises and you're going to learn five new phrases at the end of it.
If you want to get on the wait list for that challenge, which is going to be starting on the 22nd of September, go into the link in the description box and sign up.
So let's look at these phrases.
And you know me, I'm not just picking any old phrases.
I'm really thinking about what you might actually use as a senior manager.
And I've selected all of these because they're going to help you sound really natural.
It's also going to give you a chance to have something more elevated than the basic vocabulary, which I know is important for you, because I know that you still want to feel like you're moving forward.
And they're really universal, so it's not specific to a sector or a role particularly.
The key point is I'm going to show you one set phrase which is going to be much easier for you to actually learn it, for it to stick and then use it in practice.
Let's start with the first one.
And we're in the world of decision making and next steps.
And of course, this is essential for you as a senior manager because you're driving things forward.
You're establishing next steps.
So I definitely think this is a phrase that you might want to use.
The phrase is this.
And we can take it from there.
This is the second part of a sentence.
So what you would end up saying would be something like OK John, put together the report and we can take it from there.
So what does it mean?
Let's get this first step done and then we can decide the next steps after that, which is something that comes up a lot at work, right?
So let's imagine, for example, you're in a meeting with a supplier and you agree that they'll send over the initial pricing.
And then after that, you'll decide the next steps.
So you could say something like OK, send us across the initial figures and we can take it from there.
Now, I'm sure that if you work with English native speakers, you will have heard them say this.
And maybe you thought, oh, that sounds great.
And I'd really love to use it, but I don't know exactly what it means.
I don't feel very confident to say it.
Well, now you know what it means.
And it's actually pretty simple to put together.
In fact, a lot of my clients always tell me they love this phrase whenever I show it to them or teach it to them.
They're like, oh, I love that.
So that's another reason why I wanted to share it with you.
Let me touch on some technical points and then you can practice.
The way you form the sentence is the first part is the action and then the second part is the phrase.
So for example, I'll put together the draft, action, and we can take it from there.
Here are some sentences and I want you to practice and this is step two, taking action.
Practice these out loud wherever you are.
Okay, John, I'll put together a draft and we can take it from there.
Okay, Maria, let's start with a quick call and we can take it from there.
John, why don't you send me the figures and we can take it from there.
Let's move on to our next one and, of course, in the podcast we're just going to touch these a high level, and if you want to go into more depth and get more practice, you can sign up to the five day challenge, the next piece of vocabulary.
We're moving into a different context here, and this is asking for input, or checking your ideas.
Why is this important for you as a senior manager?
Well, I'm imagining you in a situation where you have to talk to your boss or an executive.
You need their approval or you need them to give feedback on an idea before you move forward.
That's something I can really imagine you doing.
The sentence is this.
I just wanted to run something by you.
I just wanted...
To run something by you.
For example, you might say something to your boss if you are working on a presentation and you want their perspective before the meeting.
You could say, I just wanted to run something by you before the presentation tomorrow.
Or, I just wanted to run something by you so we're on the same page before the meeting tomorrow.
Here are some examples and I want you to repeat them out loud.
This is about you taking action.
You need to practice if you want to feel more confident.
Hi John, I just wanted to run something by you before the meeting tomorrow.
Hi Maria, I just wanted to run something by you, so we're all on the same page.
Hi Dan, I just wanted to run something by you for the meeting tomorrow to get your perspective on it.
Let's move on to our final phrase then, which is about expressing your opinion when you're indicating a preference.
This is so important for you as a senior manager because you're constantly having to guide decisions and give your opinion, but in a way that's not closing off input from anyone else.
So this phrase is a really gentle, diplomatic way of to express your preference.
And the expression is, and it's a phrasal verb actually, I'm leaning towards.
So you're sharing your current preference or option you're more likely to choose.
If you were to say I'm leaning towards giving our staff a three-day work week, for example well, that would be great.
Maybe three days working at home.
That means you're indicating a preference for it, but you're not closing off the conversation for input.
You're just saying, okay, this is what I prefer, But let me hear what everybody else has to say.
So let's imagine that you're discussing a software to adopt and you haven't decided yet.
But you have a preference.
You could say well, I'm leaning towards the new system because it seems more flexible than the old one.
Or in another context.
Maybe you're deciding on a timeline and you might want to show your preferred option.
And in a meeting you could say well, I'm really leaning towards starting in October rather than November, just because I think we really need to get ahead of the game here and get more things done before the end of the year.
Another scenario could be imagine you're choosing between two vendors and you want to signal your choice, but you want to keep the conversation open.
You could say, I'm really leaning towards vendor A, but I want to get your feedback too.
Here are the technical parts and then I'll get you to do a couple of sentences.
I'm leaning towards.
So I am.
And then leaning, just the spelling, is L-E-A-N-I-N-G.
So it's that smiley E, leaning towards.
And you can either use a noun.
So you can say, I'm leaning towards option A. Or you can use the verb in gerund.
I'm leaning towards starting in October.
Here are your sentences then to repeat out loud.
This one is about deadlines.
I'm leaning towards extending the deadline.
Then imagine we're talking about hiring.
I'm leaning towards hiring an external consultant.
And lastly, if you were choosing between vendors, you could say I'm leaning towards vendor B because they have more experience.
Great, those are your three for today.
So let's recap.
I've shown you three phrases at a high level that you could essentially go away and use from today.
Number one, and we can take it from there.
Number two, I just wanted to run something by you.
And number three, I'm leaning towards.
Today we've had a look at three, but I've got five phrases in my five-day commute challenge.
So today we've just had a look at the high level, but if you want to go into more detail and learn those extra two phrases, join the challenge.
You need to sign up to the waitlist.
Go to the link in the description box and we're gonna be starting on the 22nd of September.
Let's see how it goes.
This is something new that I'm trying out.
So it'd be great to have you on board.
And what I'm really interested in is to see if it helps you learn the vocabulary.
It's going to be set phrases.
A set lesson every day, short in the morning in the.
Make sure you get on that wait list.
All right, you're done.
Thank you so much for squeezing in your training session with me today.
I hope that you took something away from that and I will see you again next week.
Bye-bye.
