Welcome back to the Breakout Business English podcast, where I help you to communicate better at work in English.
Hi, everyone. is Chris and I have personally worked with over 1,000 international professionals just like you. to improve the way that they communicate at work in English.
And today's topic is professional success.
So I feel like I've been talking about some really gloomy and sad stuff recently.
I think I've been getting everyone down, bringing everyone down.
Is it... Maybe three podcasts in a row now that I've discussed failure, possibly.
I think that's something we need to change.
So I think we need to go in another direction.
In fact... Let's go in the complete opposite direction today and discuss success and succeeding in At work.
The people I work with and coach come from all over the world and from many different countries. one thing that I can say about all of them is that they all want to succeed professionally.
Success means different things to different people.
And having an idea of what success means to you is a really useful and important thing when thinking about how you want your career to develop.
With that in mind, let's take a look at some vocabulary and some ideas for professional success.
Let's start today with a well established measure of success and that is promotion.
Although climbing the career ladder isn't for everyone, I think I'm right in saying that the bigger the organization you work in, the more likely you are to want to move up to a more senior role.
Simply because there are usually a lot more opportunities to move up in larger organizations.
With that said, let's listen now to some natural and native ways that people might talk about getting promoted at work.
My predecessor set the bar pretty high, but I think I'm up to the challenge.
My predecessor set the bar pretty high, but I think I'm up to the challenge.
I'm over the moon with this promotion. It's definitely been a long time coming.
I'm over the moon with this promotion. It's definitely been a long time coming.
It feels like all the hard work I've put in over the past few years has finally been Vindicated.
It feels like all the hard work I've put in over the past few years has finally been vindicated.
Let's start by discussing the first example.
What is a predecessor? What is a predecessor?
In the first example, we heard My predecessor set the bar pretty high.
My predecessor set the bar pretty high. Thank you.
Well, if we break the word down, we can see that it uses the prefix pre-p-r-e.
E. If we see pre at the beginning of a word, then what does this usually mean?
You might have watched a football team give a pre-match press conference.
Or maybe if you take a lot of flights in the USA, then you might have TSA plans pre-check status, which means that you save a lot of time when you go through security.
We usually use pre on a word to show that this thing happens before something else.
So with that context, what do you think a predecessor is?
And specifically remember, we're talking about promotions here.
Actually, I probably shouldn't say what do you think a predecessor is. but more like who do you think a predecessor is?
Your predecessor is the person who did a job before you.
Tim Cook has been CEO of Apple for many years now.
But when he took over from Steve Jobs, he... spent a lot of time talking about and celebrating the success of his predecessor.
So, if predecessor means the person who did a job before you, then how can we talk about the person who does a job after you?
Well, appropriately for the theme of this podcast, this is Successor.
Successor. In fact, the words predecessor, successor, and succeed are... all have the same Latin root.
So thanks again to ancient Rome for shaping the English language that we all use today.
In fact, the word to succeed has a couple of different meanings.
It can mean to do really well, to achieve your goals, but it can also mean to do the job after someone else.
For instance, we could say Tim Cook succeeded Steve Jobs as CEO of Apple.
Tim Cook succeeded Steve Jobs as CEO of Apple.
So slightly confusing all of these definitions of succeed, all these two different definitions.
But this is because they have that relationship in the root there, down in ancient Latin.
I should say that predecessor has two pronunciations.
Over here in the UK, in British English, you will hear it as I've been saying it, which is predecessor However, if you take a flight to the other side of the Atlantic in American English, you're more likely to hear predecessor, predecessor.
This doesn't always happen with the pronunciation of this prefix in American English, but it does in a lot of cases.
There was another one, prefix and prefix. predecessor and predecessor.
Just one of many differences in pronunciation. between American and British English.
So predecessor is American English pronunciation British English will give you predecessor.
Let's talk now about setting the bar. In the example, we heard my predecessor set the bar really high.
My predecessor set the bar really high. For this, I want to take you back to 1896, over 100 years ago.
And honestly, I'm kind of enjoying this time travel thing.
I put this in the last episode and, uh, Yeah, you're probably gonna hear a bit more of these time travel examples.
I'm quite enjoying making them. So, specifically, we're going to go back to Athens and to the first summer...
Olympiad. The world was coming together to compete in many different sporting events. and the Olympic Games as we know them were born.
Specifically, I want to talk about the high jump.
Some events come and go from the Olympics, but this is a track and field event that has been a guaranteed staple of the games since the beginning.
So the high jump, if you don't know the name to connect with the event, this is where we have a bar. and the athlete will run up to the bar and jump over it Usually backwards, they will jump over the bar backwards, not to be confused with other types of jump.
If you're doing the high jump, then you run up to the bar and usually jump over it backwards.
So one thing that needs doing at the beginning of this competition is that someone needs to take the bar and set it at a specific height.
This is where we get the idiom to set the bar.
However, of course, the more successful the jumpers are before you, the higher you'll need to set the bar. in order to win.
This is where we get the phrase to set the bar high or to set a high bar.
Or maybe you've heard, that's a high bar to clear.
That's a high bar to clear. So we can set a high bar, we can set the bar high, Or we might make that a little longer and say, wow, that's a really high bar to clear. meaning that the expected performance, the expected quality is very high.
So the next time one of your colleagues exceeds a KPI, or does really well on something that is also one of your targets. you can tell them that they've set the bar really high.
Everyone else on the team is going to have to work really hard now to clear that high bar.
Okay, more time traveling now, and this one goes so far back that we really don't even know the exact date.
If you work with me in one-to-one sessions to improve your English communication skills, then you might know that I'm a father and I'm quite new at it.
My daughter is almost six months old now, just six months.
And that means that I'm rediscovering all the songs and stories and nursery rhymes. that we sing and read to children.
So, With that said, I'm going to read you a children's nursery rhyme called Hey Diddle Diddle.
When I started a podcast about professional communication, I didn't think I'd be reading children's nursery rhymes children's poems but here we go Hey diddle diddle, the cat and the fiddle, the cow jumped over the moon.
The little dog laughed to see such sport, and the dish ran away with the spoon.
So, a slightly ridiculous children's poem, or a nursery rhyme we might call it there, But this is where we get the phrase over the moon.
In the third example... No, wait, let me check.
In the second example... we heard, I'm over the moon with this promotion.
I'm over the moon with this promotion. So, what do we mean if you're over the moon?
Well, if you say you're over the moon, you mean that you're happy.
In fact, you're very happy. You're overjoyed or you're thrilled.
And, although it comes from this almost 500 year old children's poem, what we call a nursery rhyme, it is still a very common idiom that we can use to talk about being very happy about things that happen to us at work.
Maybe your boss could tell you that the management team are over the moon with your performance this quarter.
Or maybe the customer was over the moon with the support and service that you gave them.
And if you would be over the moon to speak better English at work, then maybe we can work together.
My full time job is helping international professionals who use English at work to improve their communication skills.
So, if you need English to do your job but don't speak it natively, then…
I'd really like to meet you. If you'd like to book some time to meet with me through one-to-one video calls just you and me, then you can go to breakoutbusinessenglish.com That's the title of the podcast, breakoutbusinessenglish.com and find out more.
Starting on our first call, we can focus on the specific opportunities that you personally have to improve your English and communication skills, and the mistakes that you make most often, or cause the biggest problems with your communication.
And right now, you can use the code podcast30
That's PODCAST30 at checkout to get a 30% discount of your first booking of 30, 45 or 60 minutes.
Sometimes my calendar gets a little busy, so if you have trouble finding a time that works for you, you can always send me a message through the contact page on the website and ask if I have any time to fit you in.
As I mentioned, I've worked with over 1000 non-native English speaking professionals from new graduates, all the way up to CEOs and government leaders. to help them to achieve their communication goals and I look forward to meeting you.
Let's talk now about increasing your responsibility.
One thing that often goes hand in hand with a promotion or a salary increase is more responsibility.
This might be more tasks, more challenging deliverables and KPIs, or having more people report to you.
Let's listen now to some examples of how we might talk about increasing the amount of responsibility that we have at work.
I've taken on a laundry list of new duties and a roster of staff as long as my arm. it's definitely going to be a challenge.
I've taken on a laundry list of new duties and a roster of staff as long as my arm. it's definitely going to be a challenge.
Now that I've stepped into this new role, I really need to step up and demonstrate that I can handle all of these new deliverables.
Now that I've stepped into this new role, I really need to step up and demonstrate that I can handle all of these new deliverables.
I now oversee this whole department, and it's up to me to make sure that nothing gets overlooked.
I now oversee this whole department, and it's up to me to make sure that nothing gets overlooked.
Okay, so maybe you noticed that I used oversee and overlook in the same sentence there.
Uh, And maybe that was a little confusing.
That was intentional. I really wanted to put them together here... to see if I could show you the contrast between these two meanings.
So in the third example, we heard, I now oversee this whole department.
But also, we heard, to make sure that nothing gets overlooked.
So I now oversee this whole department and to make sure that nothing gets overlooked.
Now, it would be natural to assume that these two words have the same meaning, they mean the same thing, right?
Surely I can say that I oversee something or I overlook something, and these have the same meaning.
In fact, no. They have very different meanings.
One is an increase in responsibility that you can definitely call professional success.
And the other is, well, it's back to that theme from the past couple of weeks.
The other is a failure. of responsibility that, hey, might even get you fired.
So can you guess which of these is which? which is the bad thing and which is the good thing, which is the negative thing and which is the positive thing.
So, if I oversee something, then this means that I supervise all of it.
It is entirely my responsibility. However, if I overlook something, then this means that I missed something.
I didn't do something or didn't notice something that I should have. usually something that caused a problem.
So... oversee is a good thing and overlook is a bad thing, usually.
There are some contexts that might change that, but that's a general rule to follow.
So what do you think? With me so far? Good.
In that case, let's make this really confusing.
How about the noun oversight? Oversight.
Does that one sound good or bad to you? Well, oversight can actually be both, depending on the context.
If I tell you that I'm giving you oversight of a new project, then this means that it's your responsibility.
Congratulations. However, if then three months later, the project fails because you didn't notice that...
Maybe the project was spending more money than it was budgeted to.
Then I might say that this was a terrible oversight.
In fact, this oversight is something that really should not have happened.
So. To oversee something means to have oversight of it. which means to supervise it.
However, to overlook something or if something is an oversight.
This means that you didn't notice something or didn't do something that you should have. feel free to book some time with me if you want to dive deeper on how these words work because they definitely can be confusing.
But oversee, overlook, Those are a little clearer.
And then we have the confusing word oversight that can be positive or negative. depending on the structure of the sentence around it. to have oversight is a good thing.
It's a great responsibility to have oversight always. over something and if something is an oversight.
That was an oversight. This is a terrible oversight.
Then just that noun on its own there. is usually the bad thing.
But that might be a great one for you to look up some examples and see if you can understand which is which.
Okay, let's talk now about stepping up. In the second example, we heard, I really need to step up. and demonstrate that I can handle all of these new deliverables.
I really need to step So, do you remember? there was a series of dance movies from around 15 or 20 years ago called Step Up.
I think it was step up to the streets. I have no idea how I remember that.
So they were definitely pretty big here in the UK.
And I think they were pretty big in the US too.
So, movies about dancing and about dancers, and at the end of those movies... or at least at the end of the first two, there was always a big dance competition.
The whole movie led up to this, and everyone put on the best show that they could in an effort to win this competition.
So the title of these movies was actually really smart.
Remember, the movies were called Step...
Step up. And this is because this works in two ways.
When we talk about dance, we talk about dance steps. learning the steps that go with a specific song or a particular dance.
However, to step up can also mean that you take responsibility for something or or maybe accept a challenge, especially when doing so, seems difficult or maybe stressful.
If your manager can't come in for one day, can't come to work, and you volunteer to oversee the team and make sure that everything happens as it should. then we could say that you stepped up.
Or a senior member of staff might ask, is anyone willing to step up and accept this oversight role for the day.
So, if you step up then you agree to take more responsibility.
We sometimes hear things in performance reviews Like, we were excited when you agreed to accept this promotion.
We knew, however, that it would be a challenge for you but you really stepped up.
Well done. We knew, however, that it would be a challenge for you but you really stepped up.
Well done. So don't forget that if you would like to discuss any of the ideas, vocabulary, or 20 year old dance movies in today's episode, then you can book a session to work with me on your English communication skills, by going to www.BreakoutBusinessEnglish.com BreakoutBusinessEnglish.com or you can click on the link in the show notes. and you can use the code PODCAST30 to get a 30% discount off your first booking.
I've worked with well over 1,000 non-native English speaking professionals from new graduates up to CEOs and government leaders to help them to achieve their goals and I look forward to meeting you.
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That is it for today. Thank you so much for listening and for your time as always.
And I'll talk to you again next time on the Breakout Business English podcast.
Thanks a lot everyone. Talk to you soon.
