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Introduction

If you see someone doing something wrong at work, should you get involved? In this episode of Office English, Pippa and Phil talk about making suggestions to colleagues and giving advice without sounding rude.

TRANSCRIPT

Note: This is a transcript of a spoken conversation and is not a word-for-word script.

Phil
Have you ever noticed a colleague doing something wrong at work?

Becca
Sometimes it can be a little bit, um, nerve-wracking to make a suggestion at work. But it's really important that you put your ideas forward and that you're heard.

Georgie
It's good to gently, gently suggest things rather than directly telling them what to do.

Pippa
Today on Office English, we'll talk about advice and suggestions.

Phil
Hello and welcome to Office English from BBC Learning English. This is your podcast guide to the world of work. I'm Phil.

Pippa
And I'm Pippa. Use the transcript and subtitles to read along with this podcast on our website, bbclearningenglish.com.

Phil
So we've just heard from some of our Learning English colleagues about when they make suggestions at work. What might we need to consider when making suggestions at work, Pippa?

Pippa
Well, this can be a tricky area because yeah, people don't sometimes like being told how to do their job. Um, you don't want to get a reputation as somebody who's always getting involved in other people's work and not focusing on your own work. But also it can be helpful to help other people, and you want to work with your colleagues well, so you want to maybe think about a few different questions before you, um, give some advice at work. So you might think, who are you making the suggestion to? So is this a really hierarchical workplace where you wouldn't tell your boss, um, your opinion or some advice? Um, so is this a more senior person, you or a more junior person than you? You need to think about the hierarchy, really.

Phil
Yes. Also think about, when you're making the suggestion, is it the right time? Maybe there's a deadline really close and everyone's very stressed and perhaps isn't time to look through something else. Also, think about who else is there. Um, it can be particularly sensitive to criticise someone if the whole of their team is listening.

Pippa
Yes. And of course, we're very interested in how you make a suggestion, what kind of language you use, because that can really affect how someone reacts to your advice and whether they find it helpful or find it quite irritating.

Phil
Today we'll talk about making suggestions and offering advice to other people at work in a few different scenarios.

OK. First, let's talk about meetings. Imagine you're in a big meeting with lots of people. Some you know, others you don't. And maybe some people there are a little bit senior. They might be more senior than you. An item is being discussed and you have a suggestion. What should you do?

Pippa
Well, I think in a meeting where things are being discussed, it's usually OK to get involved in the discussion to make a suggestion, but it may depend on the seniority of who's there, um, whether you feel like you can speak. But if you do feel that you want to say something, you could just be really polite and kind of ask permission. Say, 'could I make a suggestion?' Um, or you can sort of apologise a little bit, say 'sorry to interrupt' or 'butt in' if other people are talking and they're maybe not expecting to hear from you.

Phil
Another nice way, a kind of indirect way of making a suggestion: You can say things like, 'would it be worth thinking about this?' Um, obviously that's quite indirect in the way that it's said, but it means I think we should think about this.

Pippa
It could also be really useful to talk about why your suggestion is helpful or relevant. So you could say 'I had a similar problem when I worked on another project. And the way we solved it was by doing this.'

Phil
Of course, sometimes it might be difficult in a very large meeting to make suggestions. There might not be an appropriate time to do it, or there might be other reasons why it doesn't, it just doesn't seem right. So what you might want to do is you might want to follow up after the meeting over email.

Pippa
OK, so let's talk about emails. Perhaps, as you said, Phil, you have suggestions about something that was discussed in a meeting and you want to follow up on it. Or maybe you're included in an email about something and you have some advice for a colleague. Should your language be different in an email, Phil, to how you would speak in a meeting?

Phil
I think um email language does tend to be a little bit more formal. Um, you've also got to be a little bit careful about how what you say is interpreted, because there aren't as many clues to like, give away what you're actually thinking. So, things can be misunderstood sometimes.

Pippa
Um, yeah. You could just start by being really formal and really clear about what you're saying. So you could say, 'I have a suggestion regarding what we were discussing in the meeting.' Um, that would be a good way to introduce your suggestion.

Phil
To give more detail, you might say something like 'I would suggest' there and we've got would in there. It's a modal verb. It's making it a little bit less direct.

Pippa
Yeah. And it might be worth adding a couple of phrases that show that you're trying to be helpful rather than telling someone what to do. So you could say something like, 'you've probably already thought of this, but...' and then continue your suggestion. And also it's often good to end by saying 'happy to...' chat more about this if it would be helpful. 'Happy to...' uh, grab a coffee and talk about it. So you're showing that you're trying to be friendly and open and you're not just kind of, uh, trying to get involved in someone else's work.

Phil
OK, we've talked about meetings and emails, but what if you're in the office and you notice someone doing something and you think there's probably a way they could do it better and you want to give them advice? Now, this can be quite a sensitive situation because no one likes being told they're doing their job wrong or what to do.

Pippa
Yeah. So, I think the best approach here is to return to the questions we asked at the start of the programme. So, who are you making the suggestion to? When are you doing it? And how are you doing it? So, particularly who is it? So is this somebody more senior than you or somebody with lots of experience that's worked at the company for a really long time, that maybe does actually know a lot about what they're doing? Or is it someone new, someone more junior, who would really benefit from your help?

Phil
Yeah, and there's some helpful little phrases that we can use when you're, when you're about to make your suggestion. Um, there's one 'I, I couldn't help noticing that...' um, and it basically means I saw that you're doing it this way and you're then going to suggest maybe there's a better way to do something. 

Pippa
Hmm. Yeah. Another phrase that's similar to this is to say 'I just wanted to jump in....' So, you've got to remember that you're probably interrupting somebody in the middle of what they're doing. And so saying, 'I just wanted to jump in', that's just saying, oh, I'm just going to quickly say something about the way you're doing it. So, if you're interrupting someone, be mindful that you are interrupting their, their workflow.

Phil
Another thing you can do is you can start by asking a question to have more of a general chat about what someone's working on. 'Oh, is that that project that we're talking about, how's it going?' And then as they're telling you how it's going, you can, um, you can make suggestions easily then because you can hear what people are saying.

Pippa
Um, yeah. You might get a really good window because they might be saying, 'oh yeah, it's OK, but it's taking a really long time to do this task'. And then you could say, 'well, actually, I've got a suggestion of how you could do that slightly differently'.

Phil
That's it for this episode of Office English. And I've got a suggestion for you, um, have you tried looking for more programmes to improve your business English on our website? That's bbclearningenglish.com.

Pippa
And why not try one of our other podcasts? Search BBC Learning English on your podcast app for grammar, news, dramas and other ways to learn. Bye for now.

Phil
Bye.

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