This is the Business English Podcast, Episode 252, Change Your Mind and Pivot in Business English.
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Hey, Michelle, I have a question for you today.
What is it, Lindsay? All right. So here's a good one.
So do you tend to change your mind all the time in life or in business?
Are you always going back and forth? Yes, no, maybe so.
Yes. Really? I think more in my personal life.
I tend to question things. Oh, should I do this or should I do that?
It's more than I have a hard time making decisions.
Now, as far as changing my mind, I might question the decision that I made, but I won't necessarily always change my mind.
Right. Actually make an official change.
What about you? Um, yeah, I also need to run my decisions by someone.
I need to, my partner or something at home.
Oh yeah. I'm asking for help quite a lot because it's hard to make decisions on your own.
It is. Yeah, it is. Um, so we are going to be talking about actually changing our mind or saying that we don't want something and, In this episode.
Yes, in the business world. So this is going to be an interesting one.
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Yeah, it's human nature to change. And in your career, if you're looking for the best results, it's okay to change sometimes.
Yes. Especially if something is not complete or you haven't fully committed to a decision, it is good and you need the words to voice what's going on in your head, right?
To connect with your colleagues. So there was another episode of Business English, Michelle, that our listeners might want to check.
What was that? Yes, this was a good one.
246 was that tracks. Two business English phrases from the Golden Globes.
Fun. That was really good, right? That was really good.
I love it. We can learn so much from media for our business life.
Yeah, it's true. It's true. So Lindsay, again, this is very useful for business.
It could be good for giving directions, maybe expressing your thoughts in a meeting, so many different things.
Yeah, it's vital to have the words so you don't confuse your colleagues so that you can make them still be confident in you, even though you're kind of wavering a little bit in the decisions you're making, right?
Right. It's showing that a change is coming.
It's a signal. And exactly. Otherwise, people, if you just change your mind and don't give these signals.
Right. People, what's going on? It's very choppy and confusing.
And people won't trust you. They won't feel 100% confident in any decision you make if you're just going to go and reverse it and not use any language around acknowledging that you're reversing a decision.
Okay. Yes, exactly. So guys, we are going to go into these signal words and expressions that you can use in these situations at work. so yeah this episode was inspired by this first one because i noticed myself using it and it's pretty informal but it's it's very useful for business lindsay what is it well just to say just to look at what we're going to show our listeners first michelle we have a nice range here going from casual it seems like casual to more formal is that was that on purpose the way it was planned michelle because it looks like the first few ones are casual and then we get into more formal ones a little bit.
That's true. That's true. A little bit. It just happened.
It just happened. Okay. Well, the point is, our philosophy here is that you're still a human being going into work.
And so we don't become robots. We don't become like a textbook all of a sudden when we go into work.
So we'll show you what crosses over into the business world.
And this is one of them, right? Scratch that.
Scratch that. So it can be used at work for sure.
I think it probably comes from maybe if somebody is writing something down and it's like scratch that, right?
Maybe scratch that out or something. I don't know if that's where it comes from, but it can be used in that way.
So Lindsay, what's an example of that? Yeah, you could say, so maybe I'm making a call to a corporate meal service delivery, right?
Corporate catering. So I'll order 20 meals, scratch that 30 meals for the lunch and learn, right?
Or you could say, no, scratch that 30 meals.
So it's a quick order, making an order. Yeah, right.
Because without the scratch that, it would just be, I'll order 20 meals, 30 meals.
Maybe you could say, no, 30, I'll order 20 meals, no, 30 meals.
But you could scratch that, adds a little bit of personality, a little rapport with the person you're talking to.
Yeah, right. Or this one, our listeners have probably heard before.
It's just, nevermind. This one's very universal.
Yes. Yeah. And this one is pretty neutral.
It's not really casual. It's not really formal.
It's kind of in between, right? Yeah. Exactly.
Yeah. But it's very common. Never mind. Never mind.
Never mind. And then I could say, well, we should call our donors to ask what they think.
Never mind. Let's just send them an email.
And I think that, Michelle, I want to make sure our listeners know tone of voice really matters here.
Right. Right. And you keep on when you're You seem to want to add a little bit something.
I want to add a little something. Or no.
No. Some sort of grunt or a small word to show that it's almost like.
You're letting that person into your brain in real time.
Yes, I love that image. Like you're a robot.
It's like we're stepping on the brakes and turning around.
Yeah, no, it's true, Michelle. It's true because I think this is a key principle of what our listeners want to be able to do.
It's the spontaneity. And so you're narrating what's happening as it's occurring to you in your brain.
Yeah, right. It's not pre rehearsed. It's not reading from a script.
It is spontaneity in English. You're letting you're letting someone in.
You're letting someone into that thought process.
Yeah, which builds connection because it makes you more human.
Okay, yeah, for sure. So what's the next one?
All right. We could say, oh, forget what I said or forget I mentioned it or forget it.
All right. Yeah. With forget. So, for example, OK, so forget what I said about working Saturday.
Enjoy the weekend. OK. Or forget I mentioned working Saturday.
Enjoy the weekend. Or even just forget I mentioned it.
So you might say something and then realize you didn't want to say it.
You might say, oh, forget I mentioned it.
I didn't say that. Right. And I think when you just say forget it, that's more casual.
Yeah. Right. Forget it. No one's working on Saturday.
Enjoy the weekend. More casual. Right. Good news.
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Now this one is formal, truly formal. This one is very formal.
And this one, you might even see this more in writing.
Yes. So it really depends here. But this is disregard.
So, for example, disregard the last sentence.
I need to make a change. Maybe here we're looking at a report and we're proofing it or something.
I end up using this a lot when I say something incorrectly by email.
Maybe I gave them the wrong information.
Oh, disregard my last email. this is the correct information.
Right, right. Yeah, for sure. And now we have one more, which is ignore that or ignore me.
You can say casual for sure. Right. Yes, exactly.
Just ignore me. Just ignore me. I'm not here.
If our margin increases, we might have to think about the products we use.
Actually, ignore me. I don't think that will happen.
Yeah, this is kind of just being silly. A little self-deprecating.
A little silly. I would say don't use this in front of a serious sales conversation in business, maybe a coworker.
You're really self-deprecating here quite a bit.
Ignore that. Ignore that. Ignore me. But that's a fun one.
So, Lindsay, why are these all so important?
Why is this so helpful for business? It's the fluidity.
It's what we just said, right? It's the spontaneity, the natural aspect of bringing.
I love the imagery you used, Michelle, meaning you're bringing someone into your brain and seeing as you're going in that direction and then screech. turning the car around going left turn right turn 180 turn right so we're changing things in real time and we need to let people in on that so we become more human to build the relationships yeah yeah very very well said should we do a role play yeah so here we work together and we are preparing for a big meeting okay here we go all right so i can write out the agenda items no ignore that i can ask jeannie That's a good idea.
Oh, and tell her to disregard what I wrote in the third column.
Will do. Now let's talk about our visuals.
No, scratch that. We need to first review all the data.
Right. And forget what I said about the follow-up emails.
We don't have time for that. Right. I mean, I can delegate that to Thomas.
Oh, never mind. He's on vacation. Okay, let's forget that.
This strikes me as just a very real conversation because when you're at work, you're dealing with constraints.
Someone's on vacation. The deadline has been changed.
The product, your budget changed. All these things are constantly changing in real time.
So this is one of the most practical episodes we've done.
I think the key word there is in real time.
I think that that is really important. You are making these quick decisions in real time and you have to show sometimes you're sticking with it.
Sometimes you're saying, never mind. Lots of different things can happen, but it's all in real time.
This is super spontaneous. fluid, very important for business.
It's really, really good. I think you guys should go back and listen to this again.
Write down these words, bring these into your daily business life in English.
Let's go through what we did here, Michelle, and then we'll hop off the mic for today.
All right. Yep. Here we go. Hop like a bunny here.
Okay. You said I can write out the agenda items.
No, ignore that. I can ask Jeannie. Right.
And then you said, oh, that's a good idea.
Oh, and tell her to disregard what I wrote in the third column.
And then I said, we'll do. So she's maybe you wrote that yesterday, but information has changed.
We need to be able to respond to new information.
And then I said, now let's talk about our visuals.
Scratch that. We need to first review all the data.
So just changing the order of something.
First, we need to look at the data. Yes.
And then I said, right. And forget what I said about the follow up emails.
We don't have time for that. Yeah. And then I said, we can delegate that to Thomas.
Oh, never mind. He's on vacation. Yeah.
And then you said, okay, let's forget that.
You know, this conversation strikes me as something that would be more likely to happen in a smaller company that's constantly pivoting.
I think if you work in a bigger company, it might be more kind of SOPs, standard operating procedures.
But even within a big company, you might be working within a, sometimes there are startups within big companies that are launching a product.
So it's good to stay nimble, be able to pivot.
We talk about this a lot in our business English course, being able to pivot, Michelle.
Very important. You've got to always pay attention.
You've got to be changing and you've got to be prepared for that.
Yeah. Any final takeaway? I mean, this is it.
This is real time. This is spontaneity in English that you guys are looking for.
It will make you more human and build connections.
Yeah. I think we should leave it at that.
That sounds good to me, Lindsay. All right.
Good one. All right, Michelle, you have a good day.
I'll talk to you soon. You too. Bye. Bye.
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