This is the Business English Podcast, Episode 48, Why Verb Choice Matters in Business English Writing with Erin LeBax.
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Hello, Erin. Welcome to the show. I'm excited to have you on today.
Well, hi, Lindsay. I'm excited to be here.
Thanks for having me. I'm so excited to introduce you to our listeners.
Guys, today on the show, I have Erin Labax back on the show again.
She was a guest on All Ears English podcast last spring.
She is an international educator, author, and speaker, is on the adjunct faculty at the University of Chicago Graham School. and has been a lecturer at the University of New Mexico, as well as a visiting professor at Wuhan University in China.
She's also the owner of the YouTube channel High Value Writing.
So it sounds like you stay busy, Erin. Yeah, I like to keep things mixed up and talk to folks around the world.
Yeah, well, I'm so excited to have you on today to talk about writing EQ, especially when it comes to writing in business.
First of all, what is writing EQ? What is EQ?
Let's start there. Yeah, great question.
So we hear people talk about something called emotional intelligence, and then sometimes people shorten that to EI, its initials, or to EQ. as kind of a comparison to IQ.
As in life, we need our IQ. We also need our EQ, our emotional intelligence.
Okay. So today we're talking about how to have high emotional intelligence in our business writing.
Now, are we talking today about emails or mostly emails?
Are we talking also about sort of report writing or what exactly is the domain that we're talking about?
I think we're mostly talking about emails as well as potentially posts on maybe on Teams or Wrike or a project sharing.
We're talking about the type of writing that you do back and forth with other people.
Back and forth, right? Because Slack is a huge thing nowadays, isn't it?
Yes. Interesting. Okay. I hadn't thought about Slack, but that is really important to tie in here.
So why does this matter? Why does it even matter that we have high EQ in our business writing emails, Slack channels, Teams messaging, things like that?
Yeah, I know. It almost seems like kind of a strange idea, but the truth is when we write to someone, we are contributing to our relationship with that person.
So when we email someone at work, for example, they're getting an idea about who we are and we're trying to build trust and we're trying to build camaraderie and be able to collaborate and respect one another.
And so we have to make sure that our writing shows that respect.
And sometimes if we don't pay attention to that specifically, we might accidentally say something that doesn't work as well for building that strong relationship.
Oh my gosh, it's true. So in different cultures, people seem to value building relationships more upfront versus later on.
But we know that we're constantly building a relationship.
Every word we say, everything we write, as you said, Erin, we are building or breaking that relationship.
Isn't that true? That's exactly right. We can help or hurt with whatever we write, basically.
All right. So now that we know that it definitely matters and that our listeners are going to want to listen up today, we're going to ask you to share with us three tips on how to bring writing EQ into your business writing.
So shall we dive right into that first tip?
Yeah, let's get into it, Lindsay. Well, folks, you know, when we're working in business English, I'll tell you one quick, easy tip you can start using today. which is to be careful with how you use the word you.
Ooh, okay, tell us more. Yeah, it's really kind of powerful how we can just focus on one word and make a huge difference in our writing EQ.
Now, when we use the word you, if something is being said that's positive and it includes you, that was probably going to feel good to the reader or the listener.
For example, Lindsay, you asked me such great questions.
Right. OK. What if we're talking about something negative or critical or something related to a conflict?
We have to be a little more sort of cautious and I guess more intentional about how we use the word you, because it might feel a little different if somebody said, Erin, I didn't like the way you answered the questions.
Right. It could sound right. How would that feel?
Would that feel kind of accusatory in a way or too direct kind of attacking sort of?
Often my workshop participants, they all say that it sounds like pointing a finger at someone.
Pointing the finger. Okay. It makes someone feel like you pointed your finger at them by using that word in negative circumstances sometimes.
Yeah. And we may have touched on this last time, but the danger of directly translating our emails or our Slack messages from our native language, you know, in, in our listener, in your, in your cultures, guys, you might be okay with using you or the translation of you directly.
Isn't that right, Erin? That's where we could run into some challenges.
Yes, exactly. So yeah, it's just something to kind of keep in the back of your mind or in your toolkit that when you're writing about something that you know will be hard for your reader, just stop and check how you used the words you or your.
And if you feel like maybe it sounded negative, you can just switch it from talking about you to talking about the product that we were discussing.
Right, right, right. And I know I do this a fair amount with my team.
I try to reword things. I try to move it into the passive voice.
I try to focus on the thing. But then sometimes I actually worry that maybe I'm not communicating clearly enough that maybe there was a mistake made and it does need to be corrected next time.
So that's one interesting question of how would we handle that to make sure there is a message there that something needs to be improved upon, but I don't want someone to feel accused.
I know it's another thing we have to balance in our writing, right?
I think what we can do there is we can first, when we say the negative issue, we can talk about the thing.
For example, this email was confusing. You know, I was confused by this email instead of you wrote a confusing email.
Right, right. To your point, we have to make sure this person knows what to do better next time.
And I think then we can give them an action item using a command verb.
Okay. Say in the future, please revise or please submit or please edit.
And we can still, that includes the word you in an invisible way, right?
I love it. Subject. So you can give directives without having that trigger word.
Oh, I love that. Perfect. So there's kind of two steps here, right?
On how to get rid of you. We're focusing on the problem, the issue, the thing that was confusing, and then giving kind of a command word, but disguising that you.
So that accusatory nature is taken out, but people know exactly what to do to make sure it doesn't happen again.
Exactly. I love it. Okay. That's fantastic.
What about your second tip? I like the first one so far.
Let's see if we can get another one here.
What would be the second thing that we could do to bring more EQ into our business writing?
Well, it kind of relates, you know, with the first one we already thought about how is this word or sentence going to sound to my reader?
And my second tip in general is to do your best to imagine your reader's reality when they receive your message.
Are they at their desk at work? Are they on their phone at home also feeding their kids?
What do you think they're dealing with when they get your message?
Also, things like actually I'd say especially things like how much detail do you want to give this person?
If you're writing to someone who's only doing one aspect of a project and has 10 other deadlines that day, I would only tell them what they need to know for that one aspect.
I wouldn't burden them with all my other details about the project because I know they have a hard day.
And so what I find in class is that many people think that it's so helpful to give all the details we can.
And that's a good instinct because you want to inform your reader, but it can also overwhelm your reader and leave them wondering which was the most important thing.
Right, right. Yes. Okay. So if we have a natural tendency to kind of think this way, to think globally, but also deeply going into all the details, what you're saying is we need to be a little more selective on what we share with who, when they need it, right?
Exactly. And your key word there, I think, was when, you know, I asked myself, does my reader need this?
And secondly, does my reader need this now?
Maybe my reader does need to know all 10 steps of a process when we get to the 10th step in March, but maybe today they only need to know the third step and hearing all 10 would just be confusing and almost give them stress.
I like that. Do you think that this goes for people who are at our level, like our colleagues, our teammates, our direct partners on projects?
Or do you think this goes also for emailing to someone above us in the company or below us?
Or what levels are we talking about here in a corporate context?
Right. You know, I find I constantly hear from people in classes that the higher up the hierarchy, the less you want to say.
Yeah. And when we get up to a C-suite executive, perhaps they have many action items to decide on that day.
And so the best EQ choice you can make is to only tell them the bottom line and what they need to do, and then keep the rest of the paragraphs for another time.
Right, because imagine the number of emails that are flying into that person's inbox, the CEO, the CFO, the CTO.
I mean, yeah, exactly. They're gonna have a lot of, a much harder time getting through their day.
You're gonna make their day a lot harder if you give them more than they need, right?
I totally agree. So good. Yes, okay. I love number two.
How about number three? Is there a third thing that we can do?
I feel like already, if we just implement these two, we're on a really solid track.
Yeah, we're moving forward a lot here by thinking about our reader and caring about them.
And then what we can also do with our language use in general is think about what I call productive phrasing.
Phrasing an issue or a problem in a way that's productive, constructive, and points to a solution rather than focusing only on the problem and the blame.
So for example, I could say, Actually, this happened to me when I went to help my daughter get her driver's license.
We had made a mistake on our forms, of course.
And we were told, you cannot get your provisional license because you did not do the forms right.
And that was two negatives, right? Cannot get your license, did not do your forms.
Right. Well, those can both be said in a can version.
For example, when you do your forms, we can process your provisional license. yes and you're essentially saying the same thing but look how differently you're saying it and how it might especially in a government context dealing with the government how much better the outcome could be the the interaction the exchange between you and this government employee could be so much more positive exactly which means people are more open-minded to learning from each other and hearing each other's ideas you know, once we feel kind of shot down by a negative can't do phrase, sometimes people feel a little bit like they care less about the topic, like they feel a little bit put down about it.
Oh, for sure. Yeah, we want to keep kind of a can do solution oriented attitude in our writing versus making someone feel bad about the problem, because there's always a step forward.
And that's what's productive. Excludes clearance.
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So, you know, the DMV is one of our favorite places.
Everyone knows the DMV. We love it. Are there any examples of this in the business world and the corporate world of another scenario where you might use this three-step process?
Yeah, definitely. I work often with folks in finance and sometimes they have to do something very difficult. which is deny loans to members of their institutions.
And so they use the, you know, maybe the real truth is, you know, your credit was not high enough.
You are not going to get a loan. But what they think about is, well, I want to be productive here.
They might be able to apply for a loan in the future.
Let's focus on that. Then they'll say something like at this time, we cannot approve your loan to improve your credit.
Consider taking these steps. Yes, I love that.
That also just puts better energy out there into the world, doesn't it, Erin?
No kidding. And we need that right now. We need that right now.
Oh my gosh. We need to inspire people. People have had a hard couple of years, right?
You know, with the pandemic and everything, and we need people to be coming out of their homes and getting out into the world and feel inspired that they can do what they want to do.
So I think the actions we take through our spoken word and also our written words have a ripple effect.
They absolutely do. So good. This is great, Erin.
So at the beginning of the interview, we mentioned something or when you and I were talking about how to balance concise and nice.
And it sounds like this is kind of what we've been kind of skating around here a little bit.
But how could we do that in general in a broad sense in business, being concise, but also being nice?
It's a very tough balance. And most of us want to do both.
And some of it comes down to we can write a sentence as concisely as we can. which I usually advise putting who's doing something and what, who and what, or subject and verb in the beginning.
That's always the most concise way to write a sentence.
But what we can do, number one, is we can write that sentence and then go back and check, you know, did I use you in the right way?
Was I productive sounding? Did I consider my readers realities?
And also maybe simpler, what I like to do is you all EQ happens in a verb often verbs are where tone lies so often we can write a really concise direct sentence and then we might think oh that's kind of harsh all we might have to do is change the verb to make it nice and yet it'll still be concise for example I could say you know would you like to attend my session next week or I could say would you like to join my session next week Same amount of words, both concise, but I think join sounds a lot more fun than attend.
I agree. Yes. So that's the way you can write at your tight, clear, concise sentence, but go in and check your verbs because you can leverage those for tone and you can be friendly there without adding words.
Ooh, this is good. So again, going back to kind of a two-step process, starting out concise by focusing on, you said who and what, is that right?
And then moving on to examining your verbs.
I love what you said. It's such a good little tidbit that, uh, Tone lies in verbs.
That's where we find the tone. The EQ is in verbs, our verb choice.
And you're right. I do think attend versus join.
Attend has a more static experience feeling, right?
I'm going to sit here and I'm going to listen to your talk and maybe I'm below you in some sense.
Whereas with join, I might be able to participate or I'm an important member of the audience.
Yeah, exactly. Well put, because I think what we do with our verbs shows people how much we respect them, whether we are putting them below us, as you said, or respecting them as an equal who can join in and participate together.
Okay. That is so good. So the recommendation here, guys, is to go back after you've written that email, you've kept it concise.
You're going to go back and examine your verbs.
Look for the EQ or lack thereof in those verbs.
This is so good for our listeners. Oh my gosh.
Erin, I think our listeners must want to know more from you because we've had you on the show a few times.
I want to recommend that our listeners go over to the All Ears English podcast and find your episode.
I believe it was May. I don't unfortunately have the number, but it was sometime in April or May of last year Erin, where can our listeners find you online?
Well, you all can find me on my channel.
If you're on YouTube, it's just called High Value Writing.
And I love it when people leave comments about what country they're listening from or watching from.
And you can ask me all your questions. And I'm also on LinkedIn.
And you can check out my book, High Value Writing on Amazon or other large sellers if you want to get some quick tips. awesome well thank you for coming on the show today to talk about this super important topic i think a lot of people don't think about eq as the first thing they go right to grammar they go right to construction and you know punctuation and things like that but really what actually matters to build that relationship is how you treat people and how they feel when they read your writing right aaron yep well put let's focus on our eq when we write because there's a human on the other side I love it.
Let's end it on that. Fantastic. Thanks, Erin.
I hope to have you on the show again soon.
Thanks so much, Lindsay. Have a good one, everybody.
Take care. Bye. Thank you for listening to Business English, a podcast just for you, the high achieving global professional.
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