Discussing CHANGE at work | Business English lesson

Change is a constant part of working life — but are you using the right language to talk about it? In this episode, we explore six powerful words and phrases for describing change at work in natural, professional English. From the dramatic overhaul to the careful fine-tune, and from incremental improvements to a quick tweak, you'll learn exactly when and how to use each one with confidence. We also uncover the surprising history behind the idiom throw the baby out with the bathwater. Whether change is big or small, this episode gives you the vocabulary to talk about it clearly.

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. 

- Book a one-to-one coaching session with me at breakoutbusinessenglish.com
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The rule of threes:

https://youtu.be/RqsnH0k7Kb4

How Steve Jobs uses the rule of threes:

https://youtu.be/CpkSqdI1JAU?si=5Kgir5naGGYA6TXR

Do you want to see what I do? Click here:
https://youtu.be/CpkSqdI1JAU?si=YNzbpTQy899L5D9G

Also, if you're studying for the IELTS, TOEFL, DET 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. My name is Chris. I'm a business English and communication coach, and I've personally worked with over 1,000 international professionals just like you to improve the way that they communicate at work in England. English. Thank you so much for listening and for your time. I, of course, know how valuable it is. And our topic today is... Is change. Speaking of change, if you are thinking, hold on, this podcast is a little late this week, then yes, you're right. This is likely going out two days late. I think I need to change my process for how I put this podcast together through the week. I don't know about you, but I'm I often find that other things take priority. Certainly the coaching I do and my clients there take priority. And so it gets to Tuesday night and I think yeah, I haven't recorded the podcast yet. Maybe I haven't even finished writing the podcast yet.
So I think I need to change the way that I approach the writing of this, maybe put in place some processes. So, I heard someone say once that the only thing that never changes is that things always change. Which is maybe a sentence that requires reading or listening to twice to completely understand. However, I think it's true. Whether we're talking about the technical process of managing change at work, or more generally trying to communicate changes to our colleagues, clients and customers, change is always a part of our professional lives. In fact, that's one thing that I love about my job. Things are always changing and the way that I work is always evolving.
So, today we're going to take a look at two categories of change. And we're going to keep it quite simple. The first half of today's podcast will be about big changes, and the second half, you've guessed it, will be about small changes.
So, let's get started. To begin… Take a listen. To these natural and native ways to talk about big changes at work. We've decided to overhaul the whole workflow. And we're going to need everyone on board if this is going to work. We've decided to overhaul the whole workflow. And we're going to need everyone on board if this is going to work. I think there are a lot of things that we need to change, but we need to make sure that we don't throw the baby out with the bathwater. I think there are a lot of things that we need to change, but we need to make sure that we don't throw the baby out with the bathwater. We've decided to revamp our website since we've had some customer feedback that showed it was difficult to navigate. We've decided to revamp our website since we've had some customer feedback that showed that it was difficult to navigate. Okay, in our second example, we heard the fantastic idiom to throw the baby out with the bathwater. Now, I must say that I learned something myself while writing this podcast. I learned that the origin of this phrase is not actually what I thought it was. There's a well-known story that many years ago, families shared the same bathwater to save money and resources. The father would take a bath first, then the other adults, then the children, and finally the baby. By the time it was the baby's turn, the water was supposedly so dirty that you could barely see the child. The story goes that when someone emptied the tub, they might accidentally throw the baby out with the bathwater, since we couldn't see them. Now, apparently this origin story, although entertaining, is not actually true. However, it's so well known, at least among linguists and language geeks like myself, that I thought it was worth mentioning. In fact, the expression can actually be traced back to a German proverb from the early 1500s, where it was likely just meant to as an amusing metaphor, just something funny. Either way. It's an idiom that you might hear from time to time in professional English language workplaces. To throw the baby out with the bathwater. Means to discard, remove, or throw away something valuable and important while trying to remove only the bad parts. Let's say for instance you work in a business with a line of physical products. Things that you sell and then you ship to your customers. You might decide that a particular model or type of item is not selling very well. However, Instead of removing that one product or that one SKU, You instead stop selling the whole category of product. Even the SKUs and product lines that are profitable to you. Or maybe someone suggests in a meeting that a software system that you use is getting a little old and really should be replaced. You might say something like, I appreciate your perspective and I think that there are some parts of that software that are essential for some of our teams. We've got to be careful not to throw the baby out with the bathwater.
So I appreciate your perspective and I think that there are some parts of that software that are essential for some of our teams. We've got to be careful. Not to throw the baby out with the bathwater. "Overhaul" is a great verb that I often find myself teaching people who I coach. In the example, We heard... We've decided to overhaul the whole workflow. And we're going to need everyone on board if this is going to work. We've decided to overhaul the whole workflow. If you overhaul something, then you examine every part of it carefully. And you make changes that improve it. This often means changing lots of things.
So maybe think about a car. That someone has been driving for maybe 20 years. Yes, it does need. New tires? Maybe new paint? But it's more than that. The engine is struggling. The brakes are worn. The electrics are unreliable. The whole thing needs to be taken apart, examined and rebuilt. This is an overhaul. In a professional context, overhaul means a complete and thorough transformation of something. Usually because it's no longer working. No longer efficient, or simply no longer fit for purpose. If a company overhauls the output for instance, then you might find that not only has the appearance completely changed, But so has the way it works. Both on the front end and on the back end. It might be completely unrecognizable. Or your manager might call a meeting one day to tell you that your old office space that's not very nice to spend time in is getting an overhaul. That's the word used as a noun, by the way. The old office is getting an overhaul.
You'll hear it used to talk about systems, processes, policies and structures. For instance, the HR system needs a complete overhaul. Or maybe the government announced an overhaul of the tax system. One more. To the audit, the whole process was overhauled. And if you want to overhaul the way that you communicate in English, then maybe we can work together. My full-time job is helping international professionals who use English at work to improve their communication skills. Yes, it sometimes feels like my full-time job is writing, recording, editing, and publishing this podcast, but I promise you, I do actually coach people to improve their English.
So. If you need English to do your job, but you don't speak it natively, then 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 very 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 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, then 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 well over 1,000 international English speakers, mostly non-native, but occasionally I work with native speakers as well, 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. Let's move on now. To some slightly easier to implement Maybe less scary, small changes. Take a listen to these examples and see if there's any new vocabulary in here for you. I think we just need to make a couple of tweaks to the customer onboarding flow and we should be good to go. I think we just need to make a couple of tweaks to the customer onboarding flow, and we should be good to go. This is an important system, so we can really only make incremental changes. This is an important system, so we can really only make incremental changes. After the pilot, we had a few weeks to fine-tune the process before rolling it out company-wide. After the pilot. We had a few weeks to fine-tune the process. Before rolling it out. Company wide.
So let's go back in time now, and we're going to talk about radios. Specifically the kind where you have to turn a dial, you turn a little knob to find the station. When I was A younger man, we have to do this for television too. But you remember when you kind of find a station. You get close and you can hear the music. But it's not very clear yet. It's got a lot of fuzz around it, some white noise, you turn it again, you make a tiny careful adjustment to the dial and suddenly... Perfect. You've got the station. That's fine tuning. In the third example, We heard, after the pilot... A pilot is a test version of something, a trial run. After the pilot, We had a few weeks to fine-tune the process before rolling it out company-wide. We had a few weeks to fine-tune the process before rolling it out company-wide.
So in a professional context, fine-tune... That's F-I-N-E and then a second word, T-U-N-E. Fine-tune means to make small, precise improvements to something that is already working usually. The key here is that it's not something you need to fix. You're not starting again from nothing. You're just taking something that's good and making it a little better. I've certainly been fine-tuning the way that I write this podcast over the past 70 something. Episodes.
So you might fine-tune a presentation before an important meeting, or a manager might fine-tune a process after running it for the first time. A team might even fine-tune their strategy based on early results. It's quite a positive feeling word, I'd say. When someone says we're fine tuning it suggests they're being careful, attentive and professional. They... Think that it's pretty much there. They've got 98% of what they're trying to achieve. They just want to make sure it's perfect. Make those fine adjustments and fine tune it. There are a few words in those examples that I'd like to take a closer look at, and I'd encourage you to research some of them yourself if any of it was new. However, for now. Let's take a look at incremental. Incremental. In the second example, we heard this is an important system So we can really only make incremental changes. This is an important system.
So we can really only make incremental changes. Incremental is a useful word. And slightly different from the others that we've looked at. Because it describes the size of a change, but the way that it happens.
So, think about learning a language. Set yourself back in time before you could understand this podcast and what I'm saying back to the early days of learning a language. You don't just wake up. One morning. - fluent. It happens slowly over time. One word, one new grammar point, one... Conversation at a time. Each step is small, but those small steps add up. And eventually you look back and realize how far you've come. That's incremental progress. In a professional context, incremental describes change. Change that happens gradually, in small stages, rather than all at once. It's planned, controlled and steady. We're making incremental improvements to the system, for instance. Or maybe the changes have been incremental. Nothing major, but the results are clear. It's a word that I think often people really respect. Incremental change is seen as safer and more sustainable than dramatic transformation. Compare it to overhaul, which can be sudden. Total and disruptive. An overhaul shakes everything up at once. Incremental change barely affects things. But keep going long enough and the results can be just as significant. One thing that I often find myself coming back to in coaching sessions is Amazon's leadership principles. Now, lots of different companies have different principles that they organize themselves around, that they run their companies on and that they use as guiding north stars so that every manager and every member of every team is heading in the same direction. But At Amazon, we've got this really great set that a lot of other companies base theirs on. And they're definitely worth taking a look at. One of them is called 'Bias 4'. Bias for action is a short principle, and it says that speed matters in business. Many decisions and actions are reversible and do not need extensive study. Amazon say that they value their managers taking calculated risks. And I always think that this is an interesting principle. This means that if you're thinking about making a change, you should do it. You should find out what the effect would be by implementing the change. This is because. As we mentioned in the principle, many decisions and actions are reversible. And I think that's the same with the work that I do. I think if something is unsuccessful, I can just stop doing it rather than thinking too hard before implementing a new idea.
So I'm definitely interested to know For you. For the work that you do. Do you need to study things really carefully before you implement change? Or... Is it easier to just roll out that change, apply that change and see what happens? And if there's a problem, you can reverse that change. Definitely an interesting conversation and one I've had with many managers and leaders around the world. Okay, back to our examples and our vocabulary list for today Tweak.
But it has a big and interesting history. The word goes all the way back to old English. Which is where it meant to pinch or pull something sharply. And for centuries the most common use was very physical. You might tweak someone's arm in a meeting to get their attention, but ow, that They quite hurt. Why did you tweak me? Why did you pinch me? You grabbed that arm, just a small bit of it, and you gave it a sharp little punch. A little tweak, a little twist, a little squeeze, small, precise and slightly uncomfortable. That image is actually really useful because it tells you exactly what the word means today. When we use tweak in a professional context, We're talking about something small. Precise. And direct. Not a big redesign or a major restructure, just a quick, careful adjustment to something that is essentially already working. You might say, can you tweak the wording on the second slide? Which means the wording's almost there. I just want you to make a change or two. Or maybe we tweaked the pricing model slightly. Which might mean you increased one of the prices by 2 or maybe 3%, not that you doubled the price. Or maybe It just needs a few tweaks before we send it out. Interestingly, the modern professional meaning of making fine adjustments only really appeared in the 1960s.
So it's actually a fairly recent shift. But it's a natural one. The physical action of pinching something small and precise translated perfectly into the idea of making a minor targeted change. The word even sounds like what it means. Small, quick, Stop. Quick.
So don't forget that if you'd like to discuss any of the ideas, vocabulary or grammar, etc. In today's episode or work on your ability to talk about change in general or maybe discuss Amazon's leadership principles with me, then you can book a session to work with me on your English communication skills by going to www.breakoutbusinessenglish.com that's breakoutbusinessenglish.com or click on the link in the show notes. And use the code PODCAST30 at checkout to get a 30% discount off your first booking. Between episodes of the podcast, you can get videos every couple of days on Instagram, TikTok and YouTube. If there's a topic that you'd like to hear me talk about on the podcast, then I'd be excited to hear your ideas. Leave me a message or a comment on one of my YouTube videos and I look forward to hearing from you. I put a full-length video out a couple of days ago on the YouTube channel about the three different levels of English mistakes. I generally think about mistakes in these three different levels when I'm doing coaching to prioritize how we're working together, make sure we're spending our time in the best, most efficient and effective way possible.
So if you're interested, in seeing how I think about mistakes and how I prioritize mistakes when I'm coaching, take a look at that video over on the YouTube channel. And leave a comment if you like. If you're listening on Apple Podcasts, then I invite you to leave a review. Every review really helps me out and helps to push the podcast to new listeners and to grow the show and, yeah, maybe give me some more motivation to get this done on time. This is supposed to go out at 9 a.m. On Wednesday mornings. That's 9 a.m. British time over here in the U.K., I've definitely missed that this week. I'm finishing this recording at 9pm on Thursday. That is not good.
So hopefully, once I've done the edit, this will probably go out at about 10pm on Thursday. Not good at all.
So if you found this podcast useful and you're not too upset that it's a couple of days late, then feel free to leave a review and I thank you in advance. That's a great place to request a topic for a future podcast. That's it for today. Thank you so much for listening and for your precious and valuable time. I really do appreciate and respect your choice to spend some of it with this podcast. I hope you have a great week and I'll talk to you again next time on the Breakout Business English Podcast. Thanks a lot, everyone. Talk to you soon.