This is the Business English Podcast, Episode 155, All Deferred to You, How to Show Confidence in Others at Work.
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Hello, Michelle. How's it going today? Good, Lindsay.
How are you? It's nice to see you. I know.
It's amazing. We haven't recorded in the last couple of weeks, but of course, our podcast has been publishing continuously.
Michelle, what are we getting into in today's episode?
Well, Lindsay, today we're going to talk about decision making and how to talk about it a little bit.
Do you like making decisions? Well, it can be hard.
I know we've talked about this before, you and I, Michelle.
I know you've shared that sometimes you're really challenged when it comes to making decisions.
I yeah. So it depends when I feel strongly about it.
It's very refreshing when I've gone ahead.
I've made that decision and I can move on.
But making the decision is really tough.
I second guess myself a lot. And I think one of the best parts is when you kind of make that decision and it's done, I feel like my brain kind of just quiets.
It relaxes. There's nothing I can do anymore.
And, you know, it's out of my hands. I totally agree with you.
But getting to that point where you can say this is what we're going to do and this is why and I'm done.
It's a process. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, for sure.
For sure. So we're going to talk about a special expression today that you can use in business.
So but before we do that, we want to remind you, hit follow wherever you are listening to the Business English podcast so you never miss anything.
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We will come to you. All right, Michelle.
So what is this magical expression that we can use?
Let's just give it to our listeners right away.
All right. So the expression is I'll defer to you.
To defer to something. So defer. Lindsay, is that a pretty useful word, do you think?
I think this word is professional. It feels professional, especially this phrase, I'll defer to you.
It feels like a just clean, professional, something that's a little more formal.
I might not say that to a family member unless I were joking.
And sometimes we do that. We're sarcastic.
We bring like a formal register from work into the household, right?
I'll defer to you on that. Yeah, exactly.
Yeah. So you could, you could, but today we're going to talk about it in business.
So, but what does that mean? What does it mean to defer to someone?
It kind of means I'll let you make the decision, which is not always a good thing to hear, right?
Because then that person is burdened with making that decision.
That's true. Yeah. That is true. That is true.
But yeah, so this is instead of saying something like you decide, right?
This sounds extra professional. It sounds polite.
It's good. And we're going to do some examples in a minute.
But guys, if you weren't listening yesterday, go ahead and listen to the Business English podcast.
Episode 154 was how many direct reports do you have leadership terms in English?
And that's a good one to go along with today, right?
Because we're talking about decision decision making and you know you're you know being a leader things like that yes yeah you decide that expression that other expression Michelle it feels much more informal it feels more like something I would use at home by the way right yeah yeah and I'm sure we'll get into more ways to say it and everything let's get some examples going shall we all right let's do some little role plays maybe mini role plays here we go all right so what time should we start the meeting um i'll defer to you i know your schedule is swamped okay so that that kind of deferring is good because you're basically letting the person say you decide on the meeting time that's not a big decision where there's so much brain power that's required to make the decision right michelle Right.
And I think that this in this example, it shows a little bit of respect, right?
Because it's showing, okay, you're I know your schedule, I care about your schedule.
And you're the one who is, you know, super busy, and I'm a little more flexible.
So it's showing a little bit of respect, I think. yeah let's do it do another one so michelle how many invitations should we send for this event um i'll defer to you on that you're the pro okay so what would be the context here is it that maybe i have experience running events or something right right okay so maybe you have some experience where you know in event event planning or something like that and Maybe I'm more with design or something like that, but I feel that it would be more appropriate for you to give the number.
And now that I think about that, I love that example because that is where we use this.
It's when... Because in a company with multiple teams... you know, cross-collaboration is happening, you might have a developer working with a designer to build an iOS app.
That developer, of course, is going to defer to the designer on the color palette and the font, right?
Yeah. That makes total sense. Or the UI UX.
Yeah. Yes, yes, exactly. But do you think it shows any weakness to like, if you're gonna say, Oh, I'll defer to you?
Like, do you think it shows weakness to be letting someone else decide?
Well, I think it depends on if it's your domain.
Usually in a company, especially a small company, there are certain expertise that people have.
And so you should own, you should take responsibility for deciding to make the decision on the things that you know better.
But does it show weakness? I don't think so.
I don't actually think so. I think it shows intelligence.
It shows self-awareness of your skills. Yes.
Right. Exactly. You know, you know, the other person's strength or, you know, the other person's schedule.
It shows that you care. Now, if you're using it, like you said, on something where you should be the expert, you should be the one making the decision.
Or I think if you use it too frequently when, you know, then it's like...
Well, you know, it does this person not feel confident.
So I think it can show either like either a lack of confidence or a real sense of confidence just being like, you know, this is this is you and I you know, I don't need to I don't need to prove myself.
Yeah. I mean, a well-run company allows people not just at the very top to make decisions.
People at all levels can make decisions.
So that's a good thing to hear from a boss, for example, that you have the latitude to make that decision.
They trust you. Right. That's right. That's right.
Yeah, exactly. So, yeah, it's good to let someone know, you know, decide if they are the expert. or for whatever reason so let's talk about some other ways to say a similar idea okay okay i like this one to go with someone to go with someone or something michelle is it both or yeah i mean either oh that makes sense someone something it can be either because you could say oh i'll go with you or you can say i'll go with whatever you think whatever you think right yeah I like that.
I'll go with whatever you think. So to go with is that other expression?
That's a good one. It's a little more casual, right?
Would you say? Yeah. Yeah. This one is a little more casual.
Yeah. So I think it could be. Yeah, I'll go with you.
I'll go with whatever you think. I'll go with the plan you decide.
Right. So, yes. Yeah. And then one more, Lindsay, what's the next one?
To make the final call on something. Right.
So I'll let you make the final call on this one. yes to make the final call yeah so i mean this is great for meetings projects even something like setting up lunches even something more casual in business yeah this makes me think a lot about management styles right so there are some bosses out there who will say to their team i'll go with you i'll defer to you but then at the last minute they might change what the person's decided or might swoop in yes and have to do a final evaluation.
And that's what we call a micromanager, right?
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Exclusions apply. See details online. okay michelle let's get deeper into this for our listeners i know our listeners here on business english love a good role play shall we give yes let's do it so here we are and we are co-workers and let's go for it all right so we're in a meeting here we go okay so looks like the lunch is at 12. does that work for you uh that's fine i'll defer to you on meal selection i know you always know the best stuff to get thanks i can make the final call awesome i think tracy will also go with whatever you decide thanks clearly i am a connoisseur of yes you are so smart on food and meal lunch catering for the corporate world yes exactly exactly all right so what did we do here we used a few of them you said michelle I said, I'll defer to you on meal selection.
So seems like we're planning maybe a lunch and learn or just some sort of maybe thing for clients, whatever it is.
So we decide on the time and that said, I'll let you know, basically saying I'll let you choose the meal.
And again, because you are the pro, you know, the food, maybe you usually choose the food, whatever. or maybe I'm a chef in my other life or something I don't know maybe maybe a foodie at some level did you when you worked in radio or any of your other 10 000 internships that you said did you do lunch and learns was that a thing I feel like that was kind of trendy in the in the yeah you know um I did do I I sometimes had like a lunch meeting or something but I never felt like I did a lunch and learn was sometimes like a lunch meeting or something like that but i i remember um one of my former roommates she always it seemed like there was a lunch and learn every two seconds i'm like he's getting so much free food free food and free knowledge right so good yeah yeah yeah yeah So there was sometimes a lunch, but not so much a learn.
Not so much a learn. OK. Yeah. All right.
And then I said, ha ha. Thanks. I can make the final call.
Right. Mm hmm. And then I said, I think Tracy will also go with whatever you decide.
So maybe that's our maybe that's our supervisor or something like that.
Right. So you can see, guys, we've given you three different ways to say the same thing, meaning giving the other person the power or just that.
The ability to make that decision. You're doing more than just saying you decide here, Michelle.
What are we doing on a connection level here?
It's kind of deeper in a way because it shows that awareness, like you said.
Awareness of someone's strength, someone's schedule, someone's time.
It just shows that you are realizing, okay, no, I'm not the best person for this choice.
You are the best person. Oh, it's huge.
And to be a good professional, successful in your career, you need that self-awareness of what you do well.
You need to give your coworkers the ability to make decisions so they feel a sense of power at work.
A sense of fulfillment, I guess, is more the word.
Right. Would you say? Right. Right. Because I and if you're always the one who's like, OK, let's do this, let's do that.
Right. Yeah, that's good. But this shows like I'm taking a step back and this is not my you know, this is not my area.
And this is for you, even if it's something as small as, you know, deciding on lunches. you know 100 and a special call out to our listeners who are at management levels or leadership levels yo do a survey do a little audit of your speech how often are you saying this or something like this how often are you empowering your team to make their own decisions right because that ultimately will create a stronger company And that's something that we all want to work on.
So I love it. I love it. So, yeah, well, I mean, I think that goes along with the takeaway, right?
We've been talking about it this whole time.
Have that self-awareness, have that self-confidence to know when to use these expressions, but also, you know, realize that you don't want to do it all the time or especially not when you're the one who should be making the decision.
So, yeah, think about it. Think about it and show that you have the confidence to use this expression.
All right, guys, if you love our style here on the Business English Podcast, hit follow on this show.
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On that show, we do four days a week. Good stuff, Michelle.
All right. Good to hang out with you again.
I'll talk to you soon. You too. Bye, Lindsay.
Take care. Bye. Bye. Thank you for listening to Business English, a podcast just for you, the high achieving global professional.
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