Expressions in English to congratulate your team and increase motivation

- If you manage a team in English,

knowing how to congratulate them is key

if you want them to stay motivated and engaged.

Today, you'll learn how to congratulate your team in English

and the expressions that you need

to sound confident, natural, and authentic

when you do.

You learn expressions that native speakers

or advanced learners would use

so that you can sound sincere

when you congratulate your team,

show that you see your team's hard work,

and help your team see

how their work matters to your business.

Hi, I'm your English coach, Christina,

and welcome to Business English with Christina,

where you become better at English and better at business.

Oh, and something new.

Did you know that I've made a free worksheet

to go with this lesson

so that you can test yourself and practice everything

that you'll learn in the lesson today.

'Cause I want you to make this English

a part of your real life, and like actually use it.

So just go to christinarebuffet.com/worksheets,

and you'll be able to get the free worksheet

to go with this lesson.

All right, first, let's start with a little practice

to help you learn how to talk about praising your team.

You're gonna see some of the key expressions

on the screen,

and let's see if you can understand them.

So, first of all, praise

is really important for keeping your team motivated,

but it's important to do it right.

You may want to regularly point out

what your team did well

and to tell them exactly what they did right.

So what makes great praise?

Well, first, it's important to be sincere

to mean what you say

so that your team will trust you.

And if you want to sound sincere,

you probably need to be very specific.

Don't just say, good job, a great job, things like that.

All right, so, did you understand

some of those key expressions?

Let's recap those first.

To praise someone is to tell someone what they did right.

To keep someone motivated,

that means to help them find the desire

to continue working hard and doing a good job.

And to point out means to show or to bring attention to.

And I think you probably,

maybe already understand sincere and specific,

but still you'll need those to complete the worksheet later.

And if you're not sure of them,

of course, ask in the comments and we'll help you out.

Now, why should you put so much effort

into congratulating your team?

Well, you know, I'm originally from the U.S.

and I know that there can sometimes be very big differences

between the amount of praise

that we would give back home maybe in an American company

and in other cultures or other business settings.

So knowing how to congratulate your team

in an international setting,

what is appropriate

to what is expected and what is seen as sincere

is an important skill to have.

So, like I said earlier, if you want to be sincere,

you need to be specific.

And it can be a little tricky

without the right expressions.

So start learning by listening and understanding

while I give you some examples in English.

Try to listen and notice these expressions

that native speakers

and advanced non-native speakers would use

to sound sincere and specific.

Thanks for coming up with the idea in the meeting yesterday.

I'm very impressed

with the way that you handled the negotiations.

You knew a lot about that client!

And nice job on your presentation.

Your analysis was right on.

Now, before we learn how to point out someone's good work,

don't forget to go over to christinarebuffet.com/worksheets

and get that worksheet.

That's gonna help you review, test yourself

and really learn all of these expressions

that you're learning in this video.

One way to make sure that your praise is really effective

is to make sure that your team knows

that you see the work and the effort they put in.

You might say something like this

and notice the expressions

that you hear and see on the screen.

Mike, I want you to know how much I appreciate this.

Thanks for putting in the extra hours

it took to get this done.

This really went above and beyond all expectations.

And something that can be really motivating for your team

is seeing how their work plays a role in the big picture,

in the entire business.

See if you can understand some of these expressions

in these examples.

Karyn, your efforts helped us to meet our deadline.

We couldn't have done it without you.

I love the way that you brought everyone together

and got this done.

You're a real asset to the team.

And congratulations to you

because you've now taken that first step

towards praising your team in English

naturally, confidently, and sincerely

by listening and understanding expressions

that native speakers or advanced learners would use.

You know, being better in English and better in business

means taking small steps like this one over and over.

And if you don't use it, you lose it.

So here's how you can use what you learned today.

Tell me about a time that you were praised

or congratulated at your work.

And share a phrase from this lesson

that you'd like to use with a member of your team.

Maybe they'll see your comment,

or you can tell them.

That's probably better.

Anyway, it's the perfect opportunity

to make sure that you use these expressions correctly

and make them part of your active vocabulary.

And if this lesson was helpful for you,

I would love to know.

And there are three simple ways that you can tell me.

You can give this lesson a thumbs-up on YouTube

and subscribe to my channel

so that you never miss any other business English lessons.

You can go to christinarebuffet.com/worksheets

and get the worksheet for this episode

so you can test yourself and use these expressions

in your real life.

And you can also watch the next lesson

to learn some of my top secrets

for improving your pronunciation in English.

All right, thanks so much

for learning with Business English with Christina.

And I look forward to seeing you next time.