This is the Business English Podcast, Episode 216.
Let's agree to disagree. Welcome to the Business English podcast from All Ears English.
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Good. I agree. I agree. Lindsay, actually, we talked about the word agree last time.
We talked about saying good when you say agree.
That was episode 202 was can you say good when you agree in English?
Remember that one? Oh, right. That was coming from a student question.
Right. Yeah. Really good. Yeah. So we wanted to do a follow up and then we'll even probably do another follow up.
So today we are going to teach one expression dealing with agreeing or disagreeing or I don't know.
We'll talk about it. But before we get into that, we wanted to say thank you to our reviewers.
Yes, I want to call out one very special reviewer who left us a review this year.
Thank you to Cristobal25 from the Dominican Republic.
They said, I love it and great show. So thank you so much, Cristobal.
We so appreciate that review. Guys, if you want your name announced on the show, Michelle, what can they do to hear their name on the show?
Okay. Leave us a review. Yeah. It's that simple.
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All right. So good. Alright, so let's get into it.
Lindsay, how do you feel when you disagree with someone at work?
Oh, it can be pretty uncomfortable at times.
Obviously, it's something I'm working on.
I have to get better at it. And I've gotten better at voicing that I disagree, but it's uncomfortable at the core, for sure.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, of course. Because we always want to be friendly.
But just because you disagree with someone doesn't mean that things have to go sour, you know?
Totally agree. I agree. I agree. I totally agree.
Yes. No, you're right, Michelle. You're right.
It's business. It's not personal. And I think different cultures do this differently, right?
You know, the idea of disagreeing with a coworker, especially maybe someone above us at work, it can be harder depending on where we come from.
True. Yes, exactly. So guys, also go to episode 173 of the Business English podcast.
This is a really fun one. It was how to organize your points in English with letters and numbers.
So that's super fun. So go listen to that one.
But today we're going to talk about this one useful expression that I mentioned when you disagree with someone and you want to move on to the next topic or show that things aren't personal.
Lindsay, what is it? It is agree to disagree.
I like this one because it feels like you're finding a conclusion.
Right? Yeah. Right. As you said, the key word is moving on.
Yeah. Move on. Time to move on. You know, there are so many things.
I mean, this isn't just in business, but in, you know, regular life, maybe you are having a political discussion or you know that you're not going to change someone's mind.
Nothing. We're kind of at a standstill. Yes.
What should we do? Yeah. Yeah. Politics are really a good example of that.
Obviously, we're probably not debating about politics at work or we're trying to avoid that as much as we can.
But there could be other topics that maybe you don't need to make a mutual decision together.
You just see things differently and that's not going to change.
So you agree to disagree and you move on.
Yeah. Yes, exactly. So Lindsay, do you say agree to disagree?
I wish I could say it more. Sometimes I don't think of it.
Like I don't think about using that, right?
It's a good resource. It's a good way to go.
It is. A good fallback, right? Yes. Yeah.
So after today's episode, I will start using it.
Good. All right. Well, so I mean, it's a way of saying that okay, we're not going to agree on this and we can agree on that.
So if we, you mean a little funny, you mean like we can agree on the fact that we're not going to agree.
Is that what you mean? Yeah, that's what I mean.
We both know we're not moving anywhere, right?
We disagree. And so if we can find one piece of common ground, it's that we disagree.
That is common ground. So that's great. That's progress.
Yeah. Yeah. I mean, what do you feel when somebody says that?
What's the tone or the feel of that expression?
Yeah. It's conclusive. It's sort of a way of making peace with the whole thing.
It's kind of calm. It's not mean. It's kind in a way because it's giving them the dignity that we just see things differently and that's okay.
It's good. It's a good thing to use at work, I think.
I think so too. I think it could even be kind of playful.
I mean, depending on how you say it, ah, let's just agree to disagree.
We'll move on, you know, if it's something a little bit lighter.
Yeah, I like that idea. Yeah. When would you use it, Michelle?
What kind of situation? Yeah, lots of different situations, maybe at a meeting or maybe you're making a decision for something like for a presentation.
I mean, big or small decisions. That's the beauty of this expression is I think it can be used for larger things or smaller things like even where to get lunch.
Oh, I want to go to this place. I want to go to that place.
This place is terrible. Let's agree to disagree.
Okay. Yeah. So you're not going together, I guess, right?
I guess not. You're not going to lunch together, right?
Or maybe for a decision that has to come later that you're going to revisit, right?
Like let's say you're starting a whole contract with a company that you're consulting for, and maybe there's a decision you have to make in two years.
For now, you agree to disagree, but you'll revisit later, right?
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Exclusions apply. See details online. Okay, so do you think it, what do you think, Michelle?
You mentioned it's playful sometimes, right?
Could be, could be. But like I said, it could also be used for a more serious scenario or a true disagreement.
So let's give an example. All right, here we go.
Our clients won't be interested in that promotion.
I really think they will. Well, for now, let's just agree to disagree.
Okay. Yeah. And I like how you added in for now.
So, you know, maybe we will have to revisit this.
You know, we don't have to make this decision right now.
So we can just say, all right, for now, like... we'll get back to it basically.
Yeah. I mean, that's the thing about that, right?
Often what this does is it just kicks the can down the road.
I like that expression, a bonus. It kicks the can down the road.
It means later you'll come back to it because if the definition of a team is that you make decisions together, right?
So you're going to have to come back to it, but maybe, so you, maybe you add something in for now or until later, or we'll revisit, just agree to disagree for now.
Yeah. And I think it depends on what the priorities are.
So I think sometimes it's like, OK, well, you know, we don't want to kick the can down the road because we really need to figure this out.
But it can also be helpful in the way of, well, this issue is holding us up and we don't need it right now.
So we're not going to spend time debating this any longer at this moment.
You know, this is all about priorities, really.
And when to know when to move on, you know, having that having that wisdom to know when when do we move on and when do we really hash it out?
Oh my gosh, totally. I mean, time is a resource.
And if you don't realize that, you're not going to do well at work, right?
You need to respect people's time and understand what is the most pertinent decision we need to make at that moment.
And then everything else can be done later.
Okay. Good. Yes. Exactly. And then just one other good disagreement expression is, we already mentioned it.
Lindsay, what is it? It's just business.
It's not personal. Yeah. Yeah. We could come back to that another day.
I bet. Yeah. That could make a great whole episode in itself.
Context where this might come up. That is a good one, Michelle.
Yeah. Yes. Definitely. So should we do a role play using this one?
Let's do it. So here you and I are coworkers and we are in a meeting.
All right. So lots of meetings here. Here we go.
Meeting. So these charts prove my point, but it's not worth putting more money into this.
Really? I think we need to take some more time on this.
Well, let's just agree to disagree. Well, I worked really hard on this.
Oh, Michelle, it's just business. It's not personal.
Okay. Tricky, tricky. Right. So I can see that people are personally invested in a project and I'm asking to pull the money out.
Right. So you got to be careful in this kind of scenario.
Right. Yeah. Yeah. Well, I mean, just there are so many decisions that are made in the workplace, big picture and smaller.
And there's a lot of emotions that can be involved.
Yeah. And that, you know, I think that goes along with things that we've talked about in our business course, like EQ.
Right. Yeah, for sure. We talked about EQ a lot.
We can't be blind to that. We have to know how to deploy that and have it and how to grow it in ourselves.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And we do also have to have this idea of some things are just business, but it's hard when you get emotionally attached when it seems to when the lines blur a little bit.
Yeah, for sure. So here you said, so I'm saying we should pull, not put any more money into something.
So I'm talking about ending a project, right?
And I don't like that. You don't like it?
You said, really, I think we need to take more time on this.
And then I said, well, let's just agree to disagree.
So it's, again, it's not a good, like, at some point, like, if I'm making a decision on this, right, if I'm the decision maker, why?
It depends, yeah. Someone will have to make the decision and then we'll have to come back to you and we'll have to talk about it and I'll have to explain.
But if we're coworkers at the same level, there's going to have to be another conversation about this, right?
This is just delaying it a little bit. Mm-hmm.
And it's interesting because we were talking about how this expression is generally good because we're just saying, let's move on.
It's okay. We just disagree on this. But in some cases, and I feel in this role play, that's what happened.
It almost just dismisses the other person too much.
It's like, it's just like trying to like quiet them.
Like, all right, enough. Like, I don't want to hear it anymore.
So let's just agree to disagree. Let's move on.
I don't want to talk about this. And so that can be a little frustrating.
So you don't want to do that. Yeah, it doesn't really leave the decision in any place.
We haven't made a decision. We haven't gotten any closer to making a decision.
It's just kind of, yeah, I don't know if it's the most strategic use here, right?
Yeah, it's not. It's like, I don't know.
It just sounds like you're just trying to...
Get this person to be quiet and you're not you don't feel like talking about this.
And and then I feel I say, like, well, I worked hard on this.
And it sounds like I'm not ready to agree to disagree.
I still want you to agree. Right. And so maybe if it's a manager making this decision, the manager needs to look at the work and see if the work can be repurposed in some way or something can be like taken from the work that we can benefit from as a company while still pivoting.
If a project's not profitable and it's never going to be, there has to be some thought behind that.
How can we not waste that work that's been done really hard?
Yeah. Wow. And I said, oh, Michelle, it's just business.
It's not personal. So careful there. Yeah.
I mean, yeah. So I think you might be coming out of this meeting a little annoyed.
Right. Yeah. I don't think that you're being like that nice, Lindsay.
No, I'm not. The one place that I feel like this would, that we didn't mention that this would be useful is if the conversation gears at work gears to politics or something political leaning, that's a good place.
I think, cause you don't want to get into political debates with your coworkers unless everyone's all in a hundred percent all in.
Like for example, yeah, maybe if, I think that in England, they talk more about politics at work.
I have a feeling based on people I know that have done business in London.
Maybe that's great. Like, go for it. But I'm talking about in American business culture, you probably want to really touchy subjects with your coworkers.
Let's say you're having lunch. You probably just want to agree to disagree and move on back to business or back to other small talk topics.
Yeah. Right. Yes. If it's a very controversial issue like politics and then you realize because you might think somebody has the same viewpoint as you.
Right. You know, say something at lunch about politics and you're just assuming that the person agrees with you and then, oh, actually, you've touched a nerve.
You've hit a nerve. Totally. Then you're in trouble.
Right. That's when you might want to use this as you're out.
Yeah. So I feel like this phrase is better for things that aren't going to have any productive final result.
And so use it for more for situations where you just have to stop that conversation and pivot to something else.
Right. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's a good point, Lindsay.
Oh, man. Well, I agree with you. So we don't have to agree to disagree.
Okay, good. We'll agree to agree. Okay. Oh, I like that even better.
I like it. Guys, hit follow if you love Business English and check out our other show too, All Ears English, as well as IELTS Energy.
There are three podcasts from All Ears English and they are all ready for you to hit follow and, you know, focus on connection, not perfection this year with us.
Right, Michelle? That's what we're all about.
We love it. Guys, we are here for you three days a week over here, four days a week at All Ears English.
Listen in. Connection, not perfection. That's the good stuff.
All right. Talk to you soon, Michelle. Have a good day.
Bye. You too. Bye. Thank you for listening to Business English, a podcast just for you, the high achieving global professional.
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