How to PERSUADE YOUR COLLEAGUES at work | Business English communication lesson.

Let's talk about the PEEL framework. This is a structured way to present arguments at work that convince and persuade your colleagues, clients, and customers. Trying to make convincing points can be challenging if it's not your first language. The speaking framework that we're discussing today however can be applied to any language. This podcast gives you a clear way to structure your ideas so that you communicate clearly why someone should come around to your way of thinking. We look at the PEEL framework, and some great, professional Business English vocabulary that you can use when applying the framework.

If you want to make suggestions and give opinions clearly at work, when speaking English, then today's podcast will help. For non-native English speakers, communicating clearly can be worrying and you might not have the confidence to offer your ideas in case you're misunderstood. Today we're talking about the PREP framework and how you can use it to make sure that your managers, colleagues, clients, and customers, always understand your ideas and suggestions when you're speaking English at work. I hope you find it useful!

If you speak English at work and want to sound more native and natural when talking to colleagues, customers, or clients, then I hope that the vocabulary, grammar, and communication tips in today's episode will be useful for you. 

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Also, if you're studying for the IELTS, TOEFL, ICAO or Cambridge English tests and exams then you might find some of the vocabulary in this episode really useful.

This podcast is all about helping you to communicate better, in English, at work. I work with international English speakers from around the world who use English, at work, as a second or third language and I hope that I can bring some of the ideas, vocabulary, and grammar, from those sessions, to you in this podcast.

Don’t forget that 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 maybe we can work together to help you to achieve your language goals. 

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Transcript

Welcome back to the Breakout Business English podcast. I'm Chris, a business English and communication coach, and I've worked with over 1,000 international professionals who use English as their working language. As always, thank you so much for being here and giving me a little bit of your day , it genuinely means a lot.

Now, if you've been following along recently, you'll know we've been building up a little library of communication frameworks together , structured, communication tools that give you a reliable shape and format to put your ideas into when you're speaking at work. Last week, we looked at the PREP framework , Point reason, example, and then back to point , which is a brilliant framework for making suggestions in a concise and disciplined way. If you haven't heard that episode yet, I'd really recommend going back to it after you've listened to this.

Today, we're staying in the world of frameworks, but we're solving a slightly different problem. Because while PREP is fantastic for making quick suggestions and presenting ideas , what about when you need to do something more substantial? What about when you need to actually persuade someone? When you need to make a case, defend a position, or argue for something in a meeting?

That's a different challenge. And it needs a different tool.

Let me paint a picture. You're in a meeting. Someone asks for your thoughts on a proposal. And you have thoughts , genuinely good ones. You know what you believe, and you're pretty sure you're right. But when you start speaking, something goes wrong. Maybe you state your opinion, and then... you're not quite sure what to say next. So you say your opinion again, slightly differently. And then you add a bit of context. And then you think of something else. And the whole thing starts to feel a bit circular , like you're going around the same point without ever really delivering it.

Or maybe the opposite happens. You state your opinion very confidently, but you don't back it up with anything. And the senior person in the room says, "Interesting , but what's that based on?" And suddenly you're struggling and you're not quite sure what to say next.

Both of these are really common experiences, especially when speaking in a second language. You might have the idea, but you don't always have the scaffolding , the supporting structure that holds up the idea and makes it convincing to someone else.

This is exactly what today's framework is designed to fix. It's called PEEL. P-E-E-L. And once you understand it, you're going to start noticing how often you could have used it , and how much stronger your contributions could have been.

PEEL is a four-step structure for making a persuasive spoken point. Let's go through each letter.

P is for Point.

This is where you start. You state, clearly and directly, what you believe. What is your position? What are you arguing for? Don't start slowly, with a long introduction. Just say it.

Now, you might notice that this is the same first step as in last week's framework PREP. , and that's not a coincidence. Almost every great communication framework starts with getting your point out early, because leading with your conclusion is one of the most important habits you can build as a professional speaker. It tells the listener immediately how to think about everything that follows and removes any need to guess what you're trying to communicate from context. So: start with your point.

The first E is for Evidence or Example.

Once you've stated what you believe, you immediately back it up. This is the step that separates a credible speaker from someone who is just sharing an opinion. You might use a piece of data, a statistic, a study, or something you've read or heard to substantiate your point. Or you might use a concrete example , a real situation, something that happened, something you've personally observed. Both work great. What matters is that it's specific. A vague or non-specific example is almost as weak as no backing at all. For instance, "studies show..." is less convincing than "A study published last year found..."

The second E is for Explain.

This is the step that most people skip , and when they skip it, everything falls apart. You've made your point. You've given your evidence. But now you need to actually connect everything together. You need to say: here is why this evidence supports what I just said. Here is what it means. Here is what we should take from it.

Without this step, you're essentially asking the listener to do the intellectual work for you , to figure out the connection themselves. And sometimes they will. But often they won't. And even if they do, it weakens your argument, because you're not being the one who controls the interpretation. So always explain. I often find people need this tip in job interviews. Even when you think the point that you're trying to make is obvious, you should still say it. That way, you take away any possibility of miscommunication.

L is for Link.

This is your closing move, and it might be the most elegant part of the whole framework. After you've made your point, given your evidence, and explained the connection , you zoom back out. You link what you've just said back to the bigger picture. Back to the meeting's purpose. Back to the team's goals. Back to the question on the table.

Why does this matter? Because it shows that your contribution isn't just a floating opinion , it's connected to something that everyone in the room cares about. It shows strategic thinking. It says: I'm not just talking about my idea in isolation. I understand how it fits into what we're all trying to achieve here.

So: Point, Evidence, Explain, Link. PEEL.

There's a word that I want to take a moment to look at, because it came up naturally in our discussion of that second E , the Explain step , and I think it's a really valuable one for your professional vocabulary. The word is substantiate. As we heard a moment ago in the sentence, "You might use a piece of data, a statistic, a study, or something you've read or heard to substantiate your point." "You might use a piece of data, a statistic, a study, or something you've read or heard to substantiate your point."

To substantiate something means to provide evidence or information that proves or supports a claim. It's what you're doing in the middle of PEEL , you're giving evidence, and then you're explaining it, and together those two steps substantiate your point.

This is a word you'll sometimes see in formal professional settings , in reports, in legal or compliance contexts, in any situation where people are being held to a high standard of evidence. But it's also perfectly natural in meetings: For instance, 

"I want to substantiate that claim with a quick example."

"Can you substantiate that with any data, or is it more of a gut feeling at this stage?"

"The proposal is interesting, but we'll need to substantiate the projected savings before we can take it to the board."

It's one of those words that, when used well, immediately makes you sound precise and credible. Definitely one to add to your toolkit.

However, if you'd like to feel more confident making persuasive arguments in English at work, 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, I'd love 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 that cause the biggest problems in your communication. And right now you can use the code PODCAST30 at checkout to get a 30% discount off 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. I've worked with over 1000 non-native English speaking professionals, from new graduates up to CEOs and government leaders, to help them achieve their goals and I look forward to meeting you.

Alright, let's bring PEEL to life. I want to use a situation that I think many of you will recognise, whichever industry you work in.

Imagine you're in a team meeting, and the topic comes up of how your company handles performance reviews. Currently, the company does one big annual review , once a year, you sit down with your manager, look back at twelve months of work, and discuss how you've done. And you want to make the case that this should change , that the company should move to shorter, more frequent check-ins throughout the year instead.

Without a framework, you might say something like:

"I just feel like annual reviews don't really work very well. I mean, by the time you get to the end of the year, nobody really remembers what happened in January. And I think it would be better to have more regular conversations. I know some other companies do quarterly reviews and I think that's probably better. But anyway, that's just my opinion, I don't know."

There's something in there. But it's vague, it's uncertain, and it trails off without landing anywhere. Now let's run exactly the same argument through PEEL.

Point: "I'd like to make the case that we should move away from annual performance reviews and towards quarterly check-ins instead."

Clear. Stated up front. The listener knows exactly what they're about to hear an argument for.

Evidence: "I recently read about a study of over 600 companies that found that organisations using regular, frequent feedback cycles reported significantly higher employee engagement and lower staff turnover than those relying on annual reviews alone."

Now there's something concrete behind the opinion. It's not just what you think , it's substantiated.

Next, Explain: "The reason I think this is important is that annual reviews ask managers and employees to evaluate an entire year of work from memory , and human memory simply doesn't work that way. Important contributions from earlier in the year get forgotten, and recent events get disproportionate weight. More frequent check-ins mean the feedback is timely, accurate, and actually useful to the person receiving it."

Now we've connected the evidence back to the point. We've said: this is why that data is relevant. This is the mechanism. The listener doesn't have to figure it out , you've done it for them.

And now Link: "Given that we've been talking a lot this quarter about how to retain our best people and keep the team motivated, I think this is a change that's directly aligned with those goals , and I'd love for us to explore it further."

And there it is. You've brought it back to the room. To what everyone already cares about. To the shared agenda.

Can you feel how much more confident and credible that second version sounds? Same person. Same idea. Completely different impact all because of the structure.

A word that I think deserves some attention from our example is “disproportionate” , specifically the phrase disproportionate weight.

Something is disproportionate when it is larger, smaller, or more significant than it should be relative to something else. The dis- prefix signals an imbalance, and proportion refers to the relationship between parts. So disproportionate weight means that something is being given more importance than it deserves in relation to everything else.

This is a really versatile word in professional English, and once you start noticing it, you'll see it in a lot of places:

"The new policy places a disproportionate burden on junior members of the team."

"We're spending a disproportionate amount of time on admin tasks that could easily be automated."

"The media coverage was disproportionate to the actual scale of the problem."

It's one of those words that allows you to make a subtle but powerful point , you're not just saying something is "too much." You're saying it's out of proportion, which suggests a more analytical, measured kind of thinking. It's a great word to have available when you're making an argument, because it sounds precise without sounding harsh.

There's one more phrase from the example I want to highlight, because it's one of those small but important expressions that really elevates the way you come across when you're making a case for something. The phrase is make the case for.

To make the case for something means to present arguments in favour of it , to actively try to persuade people to do something. It comes from the field of law, where lawyers literally make a case before a judge. But in everyday professional English, it's used much more broadly, and it carries a slightly formal, confident energy that works really well in meetings and presentations.

What I love about this phrase is that it signals intent right at the beginning. When you open with "I'd like to make the case for..." you're telling the listener: I'm not just sharing a random thought. I have a considered position, and I'm going to argue for it thoughtfully. That framing immediately sets you up as someone who has done their thinking.

Here are a few ways you might use it:

"I'd like to take a few minutes to make the case for a different approach."

"She made a compelling case for expanding into the Asian market at last week's strategy meeting."

"If anyone wants to make the case for keeping the current system, now is the time to do it."

It's the kind of phrase that makes you sound intentional and prepared , which, if you're using PEEL, you absolutely are.

One quick note. Yes, PEEL is a powerful framework for making arguments, but it's not the right tool for every moment.

If someone asks you a simple factual question , "What time does the client arrive?" , you don't need PEEL. If you're brainstorming ideas in a creative session and you want to throw out a quick thought, PEEL might feel overly heavy for the moment. It works best when you're making a case , when you genuinely need to persuade or argue.

There's also a risk, if you're not careful, that the Link step at the end can start to feel like you’re following a formula , almost like a legal requirement that you need to say. If it doesn't feel authentic, the listener will notice. So make sure that when you link back to the bigger picture, you're choosing something that genuinely connects. Don't just say "and this links to our goals" as a closing sentence. Actually think about which goal, and why. The more specific your Link, the more persuasive it is.

And finally , PEEL is a tool to help you, not a cage to trap you. As you get more comfortable with it, you'll start to use it more easily, and you won't feel like you have to think about the four steps. It'll just become the natural shape of a well-made argument. That's the goal.

Don't forget that if you would like to discuss any of the ideas, vocabulary, or grammar in today's episode, or work on your professional communication skills more broadly, then you can book a session with me by going to www.breakoutbusinessenglish.com, that's breakout business english dot com, or clicking the link in the show notes. And use the code PODCAST30 at checkout to get a 30% discount off your first booking. I've worked with over 1000 non-native English speaking professionals, from new graduates up to CEOs and government leaders, to help them achieve their goals, and I look forward to meeting you.

And that's today’s episode! If you want to connect between episodes, you can find me on Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube , just search for Breakout Business English and you'll find me there. And if you have a topic you'd love me to cover , a framework, a grammar question, a situation you find challenging at work , drop it in the comments on YouTube. I read every single one, and your suggestions genuinely shape what this podcast becomes.

If you're an Apple Podcasts listener, I'd be so grateful if you could leave a review. It takes less than a minute and it helps other international professionals find the show , so you'd really be doing someone a favour.

Thank you so much for your time today. I hope PEEL gives you a bit more confidence the next time you need to stand behind an idea and argue for it in English. I'll talk to you again next time on the Breakout Business English podcast.