How to be more professional at work: 5 phrases to use

So, E, what you're telling me is if I do what you say, I'll be more professional, I'll be

able to handle problems at work?

Great.

I'll take it.

Oh, hi.

James from engVid.

Today's lesson, I'm going to give you five things that you can do that will help you

at work solve some problems and make you seem - not seem - be more professional.

Now, let's go to the board, shall we?

But just before we do that, I want you to just look down, click "like" for the video.

Okay?

Just take a second or two to do that, and I'm going to go through what we're going to

learn.

We're going to go through the five things, we'll have a little bit of a quiz, we're going

to give you some bonus information, and of course, homework.

Thanks for coming back and watching, and let's go to the lesson.

You ready?

Alright.

So, a lot of times at work we have issues, especially what the problem is when we have

to deal with people equal to ourselves, our colleagues.

Colleagues, we work together, co-workers.

Colleagues is what you say in a more professional way, co-worker in a more casual way.

But also talking to our bosses, right?

That's a difficult thing to do, right?

It's easy to talk to someone who's not at the same level as you, but when you have to

speak to someone higher, these will hopefully help you deal with those situations, especially

when English isn't your first language.

It'll make you be professional and be taken seriously.

Let's go to the board.

The first one, I want to make sure we're on the same page.

As you know, I wrote - it has two meanings, actually.

Some people say it means just this, but really, the way in which you say it will denote or

give the idea of what you really want to get across.

The first one is, I'm not sure you understand.

So, if I say I'm talking to you, da-da-da-da-da, da-da-da-da-da, and then you're like, uh-huh,

uh-huh, uh-huh, yeah, uh-huh, uh-huh, I'm like, okay, I just want to make sure we're

on the same page.

You know you have to come to work when you are supposed to be at work, uh-huh, okay,

we're on the same page.

And sometimes, maybe you're sitting there in the meeting, the boss is talking, many

big words, a lot of stuff, and you're like, okay, I just want to make sure we're on the

same page, because I think this, and I want to make sure that's correct.

That will let the other person know that you're trying to confirm the message that you've

been given.

That's a good thing, because it says, I'm serious, and I want to make sure we understand

each other so everybody does their job properly.

Cool?

So, the first one, you want to make sure they understand so there aren't any mistakes made.

The other one is, you're making sure that you let people know that your job is important

to you, and you want to be clear to make sure you take the correct actions.

Pretty cool?

All right.

Let's see.

Let's do number two, I need your help.

This is an interesting one, because when you say, I need your help, you're thinking, well,

how does that make me more professional?

I need your help.

Hold on.

You don't need their help.

Basically, someone is doing something incorrect, or they're not doing what they've promised

to do, and what you're doing is saying something in a way that makes them think that they're

helping or contributing, so you can turn around and say, hey, you're screwing up, that means

making a mistake, we need to address it and change it.

But if it's your boss, you can't say you're screwing up, can you?

No.

So, you go, boss, I need your help, I have this problem.

What's that, James?

You haven't paid me, man, you gotta pay me.

I need your help, pay me.

No.

If you say that to someone, maybe someone is at your office, they're making fish at

the office, putting it in the microwave, you told them a couple of times, other employees

are complaining, this is a good person, but you don't want to have too much confrontation,

that means fighting, you might say, hey, Mr. E, I need your help, we have a situation in

the lunchroom.

And of course, E will think that they're helping, yeah, how can I help out?

We need you to stop cooking the fish in the microwave, because it's making the other workers

sick.

I need your help to do that, to make the other workers feel good, okay?

I need your help.

So, it's a way of taking the pressure off them, so they are able to talk to you and

not feel that they're being pointed at, like, you need to do this, you need to do that.

It's also a good one you can take home with your partner.

Anyway, number three, I believe and my perspective is, I'm going to go straight here, right,

and talk about, don't start with "I think" or "I'm not sure".

And you might go, what?

You didn't do it with the other ones, I'm like, yeah, well, here is what the deal is.

A lot of times, because you're not a native speaker, you might say "I think", you know,

"I think" or "I'm not sure", but this is not a strong way, remember I said I also want

you to be taken seriously?

It's not a strong way to say "I think" or "I'm not sure", because "I think" is like

"ah", changing it to "I believe" is a stronger statement.

I believe in the power of Jesus.

Okay, you know, they don't say "I think Jesus is power", they go "I believe in the power

of Jesus" is strong, so you say "I believe if we do this, next quarter we will be making

a 25% profit", it's different than "I think if we", if we, if we, I'm going to take the

glasses out, "I think, I've been thinking that if we do this", no, no one's going to

take you seriously, you've got to do it like this, "I believe that if we do this, next

quarter we'll all be driving Mercedes".

People will take you seriously.

No, they take the car seriously, not you, but the point is made.

I believe, where am I here, sorry, I believe in my perspective, that's also saying from

my perspective, I'm not saying I'm 100% correct, I'm just saying from the knowledge that I

have, what I'm dealing with, where I'm sitting, this is the idea I'm getting, and I believe

this is the correct course.

I could be wrong, but I'm strongly thinking I'm correct, okay?

So my perspective is this, my view, I'm not taking anyone else's view, so it's a position

of strength, and I believe it's also a position of strength.

I think, and I'm not sure, if you're in a business environment, it leads people to not

really trust you 100%, because they're like, "If you're not sure, why should I be sure?"

And that could cost you money, right?

Clients, if they're not sure, they don't want to do business with you.

Next, number four, I want to touch base.

If you've ever watched baseball, "Hey, it's out of the park", and the guy runs by, just

touches the base and keeps going, touches the base.

You never see a guy on the baseball, hit it out of the park, get on the base and look

around going, "Okay, what's going to happen next?

I don't know, let's just see how it's going to go."

No, he moves, he moves, he moves.

So when you're in the office and you go, "Yo, Mr. E, I just want to touch base about the

project we were working on last week.

I want to have a quick conversation, I am not going to waste your time, I don't want

my time wasted, I want to be updated to know what is happening, but let's make it quick,

we both have busy days", right?

So give me a little bit of information and I'll move on from here.

So this is a great one to use, especially if you have to talk to a busy boss who's like,

"What do you want, James, I'm busy and important, I'm moving my books around as you can see.

Why?"

"Boss, I just want to touch base, I was working on that project you asked me to do, I've got

a report on my desk, whenever you want, I can bring it up.

I've touched base, I've updated you, told you there was a report, I've told you where

it is, I'm done."

Okay?

So you want to touch base with someone, you just want to get some quick information, move

on so everybody is at the same place, touching base.

Number five, okay.

If you've been paying attention, everything's black and blue, black and blue, very open,

but then I have this one in red, I will explain it to you.

"I have been told many a time", especially by my one special person, that "I told you

so" is not good to say.

Now, I don't know what cultures it is okay to say, so I'm just saying, if you've ever

done it in your culture, people might be upset, but in the English culture, nobody wants to

hear "I told you so".

Even when you did tell them so several times, you wrote it down and made a video about it,

you're still not allowed to tell them they told you so.

"I told them so."

Anyway, you're not allowed to say it.

So, this is a way you can tell your boss or other employees without saying "I told you

so".

"I told you so".

Let's go to the board, huh?

Okay.

So, what you say is, "I did previously mention that this was a possibility or could happen.

How will you rectify this or how will you resolve this issue?"

What you're really saying is, "Yo, I told you so.

It's wrong.

How are you going to fix this?"

But you didn't say that because you're a professional, right, and as all professionals, right?

As all professionals, we want to make sure that we do a good job - no, not a good job,

an excellent job.

So, I'm going to go and give you a quiz to test your knowledge and to see if you remember

how to do this, alright?

Here's our five, and I'll see you in a second.

A quick review before we go to the quiz, do you remember the five sentences?

I want to make sure we're on the same page.

I want to make sure we both understand what's going on.

"I need your help."

Translation, we have a problem and we need to deal with it, but it's actually your problem

and I need your help to solve it.

"I believe" or "my perspective is".

Saying something from a position of strength so that people will believe more of what you're

saying and will probably follow along because you're correct.

"I want to touch base."

I just want to have a quick conversation to be updated, not a long conversation.

And "I did previously mention that this might happen.

How will you resolve it?"

"I did tell you this is going to happen.

How are you going to fix it now?"

Now, on to the show, let's go to the quiz.

Time to do the quiz.

You ready?

Let's go to the board.

So, we did the quick review of the five phrases that should help you at work, and now let's

take a look and see how well you learned your lessons.

Number one, Mr. E keeps warming up fish in the microwave at work after promising not

to do it again.

What do we say?

Do we say "I want to touch base" or "I need your help"?

What phrase do you think will best help solve the problem without confrontation?

If you said "I need your help", you're correct.

Remember, you're inviting them to help you with the solution.

Less confrontation, better work environment.

Next.

Let's do the next one.

Mr. E looks confused after you explained how you intend on starting the project.

He's like, "Huh?"

Should you say "I want to be on the same page", "I want to make sure we're on the same page",

or "I want to touch base"?

If you picked A, you are correct.

You want to make sure you're on the same page.

A look of confusion is that that person understands up to a point, but maybe not further.

They need some help.

You want to be the one who makes sure that you're on the same page by explaining if necessary.

Okay?

You don't want to touch base.

It's not a quick meeting because they're already confused.

Number three.

You told Mr. E not to do something, and now he has a problem.

What is the best way to engage with this person?

That means make contact, communicate.

If you said B, you are correct.

I did previously mention, which previously means before now, that this might happen,

right?

And now, how will we resolve it or how will you fix it?

You're basically saying, "Hey, you screwed up.

You got to fix it."

But it's a nice way of saying it without saying what is the magic word you're not supposed

to say?

"I told you so."

Do not say that.

Number four.

You want Mr. E to take you seriously.

What is a way in which you can do that?

Would it be number A, I did previously mention that this might happen, or B, I believe or

my perspective is.

Which one?

I believe or my perspective is.

As mentioned before, when you say I believe, it's strong, stronger than I think, which

is I have an idea.

I believe is a firm holding of an idea in your mind.

My perspective, the way that I see it, that I'm looking at it with all the information

that I have and expertise, my perspective is this.

This is how I look at it, and it might be beneficial for you.

Beneficial meaning good for you.

Now, finally, you want Mr. E to know your interruption will not be long.

What do you need to say that you can get to talk to this person who is probably busy and

maybe they are a superior, that you can get in to talk to them and they will allow it?

What would you say?

"I need your help" or "I want to touch base"?

This one's a bit tricky.

Yes, if you say "I want to touch base", just like we're talking about baseball - one second

- I'm going to touch the base and move on.

You're busy, you don't have time for me to take up your time.

When I say "I need your help", in this particular situation, they might think, "Will Johnson,

I'm a very, very busy man and I don't have the time to give to you that you may need

towards this problem, so perhaps we'll..."

No.

"I need you to touch base" is enough to say, "This is it, this is it, I'm out."

I want to touch base because the interruption, unlike my tongue, will not be long.

Anyway, you got perfect on your quiz.

We did do a mild review just before we got to it, so let's go to the board because as

you know, I always give a quiz, then I like to give you a little bit extra because you've

done this video this long, clearly I want to give you something that'll help you a little

bit further.

And this thing I'm going to give you is called "nonverbal communication".

I gave you two statements, and what I'm going to give you now will make those two statements

much more powerful, alright?

And how do I do this?

First, do you remember when I said "I need your help"?

You can say it like this, "Johnson, I need your help."

That's aggressive, that's powerful, that's very manly, that's good, yeah?

Now remember, when I said you want to say this statement, it was more about someone's

causing a problem and you want to invite them in.

Being assertive or aggressive in this case might make them step back, so I have to preface

this.

That means say something before I continue.

Some of you may be offended because you go, "Oh my gosh, you're saying this and it's not

true."

In body language terminology, a tilted head is more of a female gesture of "I am listening

to you", while a straight head gesture is more authoritative or assertive.

Check out your body language books, you'll see for yourself.

So "I need your help" and tilting your head makes it much more of a softer gesture so

that the person doesn't feel like you're going to be aggressive or they're in trouble.

So it's a way of bringing them in.

Now if you want to know why, the word I was trying to avoid is the word "submissive".

It happens in the animal kingdom, anyone who's ever owned a dog, the dog will put its neck

up to be bitten by another dog to say, "I am no threat to you, I cannot hurt you."

By putting your neck forward, you're saying, "Look, I am very vulnerable right now, I cannot

hurt you."

And by saying, "I cannot hurt you", the other person feels, "Oh, then I am safe."

And then we bring them into the trap.

Sorry.

What I mean by that is because you seem a little bit more as a non-threatening person,

that they are more able to open up to you and work with you.

So tilt your head when you say, "Johnson, I need your help with this problem I'm having."

You know it's their problem, but you want to invite them in.

Second one, I want you to keep your eyes on the person and do not speak when you use this

one.

I did previously mention that this might happen.

Now, how will you resolve this issue?

Notice I didn't speak for about three seconds.

Don't speak, don't fill the space.

I did a video previously about holding - when there's a gap in a conversation for more than

three seconds, people feel uncomfortable, and then you know it's time to end a conversation.

This time I'm not ending the conversation, I'm allowing you to fill that space by saying,

"Listen, there was a problem, I told you it was going to happen, how are you going to

fix it?"

You need to speak.

I'm not going to tilt my head, I'm not being - I'm here to help you.

I'm not.

You screwed up, son.

Own up to it, fix it.

Cool?

So these are non-verbals, and these are when you should use them, best time to use them,

okay?

Keep that in mind.

Don't supercharge your professionalism at work.

People will take you seriously, definitely, and when you do come up with the other one

with your head tilted, they'll actually trust you, meaning you're there to help them.

Cool?

Now, here's what I want you to do for homework, because as we always have, like, it's a classroom,

right?

And I want you to take this experience that you've been having with me out into the real

world and make it work for you.

Best way to do that is our homework, and in this case, the first one thing I want you

to do is write down where you would use one of these phrases, like, write - get into your

head, sit down and go, "Okay, is this guy at work?

Never listens to what I say, and he's always got problems.

I got to use this.

I did previously mention.

That's a good place."

This will help you prepare you for when you meet this person or the situation comes up,

you'll be prepared to speak, and you will sound very professional, okay?

Watching a video is nice.

Making a plan where to use it is even better.

Second, how did you handle a problem at work before that you had?

Like, what did you do?

You might look at the difference between what you did, you took out your knife and go, "I

kill you!"

Maybe you did that, and that didn't get you very far at work, maybe you got fired, or

maybe you can use one of these.

By comparing the two, you can come up with your own strategy, because I'm not here just

to teach you English or teach you work tricks.

I want you all to become a better person, and if you can see a way that this can work

for you, you'll actually use it, cool?

Now, before I go, I want to give you a quick quote, and then I'm going to tell you where

to go to get more of this delicious information.

Now, this is by a woman from the 1800s, an old British hag.

Oops, sorry.

I mean, 1980, Prime Minister of Great Britain in the 1980s, her name was Margaret Thatcher,

and what she said was, "Plan your work today and every day, and then work your plan."

This is something you can actually use by doing what I just said now, write down where

you could use it, and then use it when you're at work.

Anyway, hope you had a great time taking this lesson, but before you go, I need you to do

a couple things for me.

And I said I need, I need your help, right?

And why do I need your help?

Tilting the head, see?

I need you to go to www, and I need this guy to stop playing music, I don't know if he's

a Rastafarian, a reggae, or whatever he's doing out there, and it's just lots of noise.

And I do like reggae, by the way.

So go to www, "ing" as in English, "vid" as in video, dot com, where you can do a quiz

on this.

Also, write a comment, leave a comment.

You can get one million points for each of these things you get correct, right, when

you do the quiz.

Anyway, listen, I hope you're having a good day.

Don't forget to like and subscribe, okay, that's very, very important because you want

more of this coming to you, the best way to do it is ring that bell, the notification

bell, press that, subscribe, and press like.

When you press like, other people know you like it, and they'll get the same information

and it'll help them too, alright?

Anyway, I've had a brilliant day, I hope you have as well, and I will always, and I will

of course, thank you.

Have a good one.