How to talk about DETAIL at work | Business English communication lesson

Sometimes detail is important, and sometimes you want to focus on the big picture. Today we're talking about vocabulary that we can use to do both. We discuss idioms, phrases, and vocabulary that native English speakers use in professional environments. So, if you want to sound more native and natural when talking about details then I hope you find this podcast valuable. 

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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.

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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, almost certainly just like you, to improve the way that they communicate and At work. In English. Thank you so much for listening and for your time. I know how valuable it is. And for those of you who are really paying attention, you will notice that the podcast was off last week. We took a little vacation. So well done if you notice that detail. And with that in mind, our topic today is talking about... Detail. We have a saying in English, when detail is important... And you need to make sure that everything is correct and has been carefully considered, then we can say that the devil is in the details. We actually hear this reference to the devil a lot in a lot of phrases and idioms in English. Which is not surprising when you remember that for a long time, the only organization, the only group writing books or really doing much reading was the church, was organized religion. So if you hear someone these days remind you that the devil is in the details, they mean that you need to take the time to think carefully about the smallest parts of something. I feel I should have a lightning. Sorry, a thunder sound effect in the background. When I say that, the devil is in the details. So if you are planning a holiday, Then, we might use this phrase: to talk about Thinking's through. Exactly what you're going to take out of your bag when you get on the plane. And what's going to get stored in the overhead compartments. Those little key details that really matter when you're trying to get into your seat. Or maybe it's about knowing how to get from the airport to the place where the taxi is going to pick you up when you arrive. Are you going to just hope that you can figure that out when you land, when you get to the airport? Or are you going to research it and plan it in advance? After all, the devil is in the details when it comes to planning a successful vacation. Thunder crash sound in the background. But let's zoom out to get started today. And let's look at the big picture. Let's listen now to some vocabulary that can allow us to think and talk about large parts of something. All at the same time. Or maybe summarize what's going on with a project. See if you know. All of the vocabulary in these examples. I don't have long for my presentation, so I think I'm just going to explain what I do in broad strokes. I don't have long for my presentation. So, I think I'm just going to explain what I do in broad strokes. This was a mistake, absolutely. But I don't think it will matter in the grand scheme of things. This was a mistake, absolutely, but I don't think it will matter in the grand scheme of things. I've prepared a one-page summary for everyone. It doesn't have a lot of detail, but it should give you the gist. I've prepared a one-page summary for everyone. It doesn't have a lot of detail, but it should give you the gist. Okay, here's a quiz question for you. There are seven wonders of the natural world, including the Victoria Falls waterfall in Africa, and Mount Everest, the world's tallest mountain, Mount Everest. But... Only one of these seven wonders of the world is located in the United States of America. Which one is it? In fact, it's located in the state of Arizona. It's in the middle of the desert and it's really popular with hikers. I'm lucky enough to have visited Arizona a few times and I can tell you that this incredibly striking and beautiful natural landscape is known as the Grand onion The Grand Canyon. So. In this context, what do we mean by the word Grand. What do we mean when we describe something as grand? Well, We usually use the word 'grand' to describe really big things. But it has the feeling of being very important. So you might have a big desk in your office, a really big desk, but I probably wouldn't describe it as grand. However, if we go to the office of the President of the United States of America, that big desk that you see in the Oval Office there, that could be described as a grand desk. Or maybe if you remember the movie Scarface, I would say that the desk in that office was definitely quite grand. So. Perhaps a shop would have a grand opening On the first day that it opens its doors, that it starts. Business. Doing business. Or you might describe a palace as grand. A palace inside which you might find something like a grand dining room, a really big dining room where they have important events and dinners. So when we talk about the grand scheme of things, we mean that it should be considered in the widest and most general context. For instance, if you make a mistake at work, then your manager might tell you that it's not a big problem in the grand scheme of things. Or maybe you're trying to reduce the amount of money that a project costs you at work. If you find a way to save the company $10, that's great, but it won't make much difference in the grand scheme of things. What you might notice from those examples is that we usually use this phrase in negative sentences. So one more example, in the grand scheme of things, hiring one more member of staff isn't, is not going to affect our budget too much. It's not going to do something that makes that a negative sentence. Okay, let's go from the Grand Canyon now to an art gallery. Any art gallery will do. I did spend about 10 minutes googling art galleries in the area of the Grand Canyon, but I didn't end up choosing a name, so you can pick your own art gallery, whichever one you like. So. I want you to travel there in your mind and take a look at one of the paintings. What you'll likely notice is how carefully the artist uses the brush. How great artists can paint with incredible detail often using the finest and smallest brushes. However, what would happen? If instead of giving these artists a fine point delicate brush, You gave them a big, fat, wide brush, the kind that you might paint a wall with. Well, they likely couldn't create those little details anymore. Maybe this is the kind of brush they would use to change the color of large spaces quickly and easily. Like painting the whole sky in a couple of strokes. There's that word. Strokes. A brushstroke is what we call it when the paintbrush touches the canvas or the paper that you're painting on. And the word 'broad' is just another way to say Wide. That's very large from left to right. So, when we use the phrase in broad strokes... We're literally talking about the way an artist would use a really big paintbrush. They would be able to give you big general ideas. But wouldn't be able to deliver those little details. In the first example, we heard, I don't have long for my presentation. So I think I'm just going to explain what I do in broad strokes. We're going to explain it in broad strokes. So, this is an idiom. That means that you're going to give a general explanation. A wide-ranging overview that lacks detail or nuance. There's one of my favorite words, definitely from an older podcast, nuance. For instance, if you ask me to write a 2,000-word article about the history of the tech company Google and the work that they do, I would likely explain it in pretty broad strokes. However, If you asked me to write a whole book on the topic, then I would definitely be able to go into more detail. We can use this in sentences like: Can you just explain your idea to me in broad strokes? Can you just explain your idea to me in broad strokes? Or maybe I'm going to start with a broad strokes summary of our work and then we'll dive into the details. I'm going to start with a broad strokes summary of our work. That sentence uses broad strokes as an adjective to describe the noun 'summary'. And if you want to be able to give both broad strokes explanations and really detailed deep dives to your colleagues and generally improve your communication at work, then 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 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 www.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, that's PODCAST30, at checkout to get a 30% discount off your first booking. Of 30, 45 or 60 minutes, whichever is best for you. 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. עברתי עם כבר 1000 פרופסים שאומרים אנטיבי לא-נטיבי. אני חייב להפקד את זה, אני חושב. New graduates all the way up to CEOs, CFOs, CTOs, COOs, CMOs, and all the C's and O's, and indeed government leaders from some governments that you've likely heard of. To help them achieve their goals, and I look forward to meeting you. So let's start the second half of the podcast today with another phrase. And this one, similar to the first, means that you need to focus on the details. More specifically, this means that you should ensure that every detail is correct and complete. זו הפרסה "לדאות עצמם ולחצי ה"ט" That's referring to the letter I and the letter T. This idiom, to dot the i's and cross the t's, refers to the fact that the letters i and t are incomplete. Until you lift your pen from the page and add another component, that being the dot at the top of the letter I and the crossbar at the top of the letter T. I suppose this likely comes from cursive writing, what we used to call joined-up writing when I was in school. This is the form of writing in which you write entire words without the pen leaving the page. It can be very pretty if done well. The whole word? Is usually therefore one continuous line. This happens in calligraphy, I think. When you're writing like this, You need to go back through each word once you've written it and add those details. There's no way to add the dot on the I or the crossbar on the T without finishing the word and going back and adding them. Therefore, this action became a phrase that means to be very careful in the way that you work and ensure that no mistakes are made and nothing is missed out. We often use it to show that a document or some other piece of work is almost complete. So. The next time your boss asks you when you'll be finished a particular piece of work, you can tell them, I just need to dot the I's and cross the T's. Speaking of carefully checking every detail, let's listen now. To some words and phrases that focus on detail. And talk about paying attention. To the smaller and more intricate parts of your work. Let's not split hairs about who said what exactly. The point is, we need to fix the process. Let's not split hairs about who said what exactly. The point is, we need to fix the process. He's a very hands-on leader, but sometimes he ends up micromanaging. He's a very hands-on leader, but sometimes he ends up micromanaging. I've attached the full report if you want to dig into the minutiae. But here's the executive summary. I've attached the full report if you want to dig into the minutiae But here's the executive summary. Okay, so we've been to the Grand Canyon today and to an art gallery that I couldn't decide on so hopefully you chose your own art gallery there. Now let me take you to a barber shop or maybe a hair salon or a hairdresser if you're in the UK. And we're going to talk about the idiom to split hairs. To split hairs. In the first example, We heard, let's not split hairs about who said what exactly. The point is, we need to fix the process. So imagine a hair salon. You're trying to cut a single hair down the middle. Lengthways. So you're not pulling it tight and then cutting it in half. No, you're looking at the very end of it and trying to split it right down the middle. Kind of the way that you might split a, I don't know, split a carrot in half before cutting it into smaller pieces. But... We're talking about a hair here. So that's almost impossible. And honestly pretty pointless too. And that's the image behind this phrase. When someone is splitting hairs, they're arguing about tiny, unimportant details. Instead of focusing on the bigger, more important point. It usually comes up. When a discussion is going around in circles, people are repeating themselves all the time, and someone wants to pull the group back to what actually matters. So you might hear a colleague say something like, we could debate this all day, but really there's not much difference between these two things and we're just splitting things. Ass. Now notice that it's almost always used to gently push back on someone. Or to stop an argument before it gets lost in detail. One quick grammar note, we usually use it in the negative form. As in, don't split hairs. Or let's not split hairs. Because nobody likes to admit that they're the one doing it. It's a handy phrase for keeping meetings useful and moving forward. Now, let's take a look at a word that I think will be new for most people listening to this podcast. It's a word that sounds very fancy, but describes something very ordinary. And that is minutiae. Minutiae. And this quite simply means the small and detailed parts of something. The tiny facts and details that most people don't notice or don't think are important. Maybe you know the word minute. Minute. Meaning something really small. That's spelled the same as minute. But has a different pronunciation. So in the third example, we had, I've attached the full report if you want to dig into the minutiae. I've attached the full report if you want to dig into the minutiae, but here's the executive summary. Think about planning a big conference. The venue, the speakers, the budget, those are big decisions. But things like what color name tags to use are maybe Exactly what time the coffee break happens? Is it 10.30 or 10.35? Those are the minutiae. So. If your manager says, I'll leave the minutiae to you, I leave the minut ia e to you They mean, I trust you. With the small details. I don't need to be involved in those. One useful note on pronunciation and grammar, we say it minutiae. And it's already plural. There's really no singular form that we normally use in conversation. So you wouldn't say minutiae. At work. You wouldn't try to find a single form of it. You'll often hear it with 'the' as in the minutiae of a contract. The minutiae of a contract, meaning the small print, the fine details that take real patience to get through. It's a slightly formal word, so it fits well in emails or reports, and it can sound a little stiff in casual chat with colleagues. Definitely a more formal, professional word here. So 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 communication skills in general, 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 clicking the link in the show notes and use the code PODCAST30, that's 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. Tube. Just search for Breakout Business English. 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. 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. So if you found this podcast useful and you think that there are some valuable things in here, then feel free to write a couple of kind words. And I thank you for that in advance. That is another great place to request a topic for a future podcast. That is it for today. Thank you so much for listening and of course for your time. I really do know how valuable it is and I respect and appreciate your choice to spend just some of your time 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.