Vocabulary and tips for DELEGATION - Business English lesson

Delegating in English can be challenging for new managers, especially if speaking English is your second language. Today's podcast is full of Business English and professional vocabulary, grammar, and tips, to help you to sound more natural and native when speaking to your colleagues in English at work and delegating tasks to them. Whether you're delegating tasks to your staff and your team, or you're accepting tasks delegated to you from your managers, hopefully you'll find value in today's podcast. 

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Also, if you're studying for the IELTS, TOEFL, 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. 

Transcript

Welcome to the Breakout Business English podcast, where I help you to communicate better at work in English. Hi everyone, my name is Chris and I'm a business English coach and tutor. Thank you so much for listening and today's topic is delegation. One of the most challenging parts of moving into a leadership role is often giving tasks to other people to complete. As an individual contributor, People get used to doing everything themselves and completing those tasks to a high standard. That's often why they get promoted into leadership roles. This often means that new managers try to do everything. They think that they are always the best person to complete a task, and so they end up taking far too much responsibility. There is an old saying in English, an old proverb, that goes something like, if you want a job doing right, then you should do it yourself. If you want something done right, do it yourself. Today's podcast is the opposite of that. Today, we're talking about when to give up responsibility. When to pass tasks to other people, and how to talk about delegation and delegating tasks. We'll be hearing some really natural and native sounding vocabulary that we can use to achieve this. And we'll be hearing some great grammar structures that you can use to communicate with your colleagues and team members the next time that you need to delegate something or maybe accept a delegated task. Let's start today with some natural and native sounding ways to delegate tasks. For telling your team or your colleagues that you want them to complete a task that is now their responsibility.Do you think you could take this off my hands, please? I just think you'd do a better job than I could, and I really don't have the bandwidth right now. Do you think you could take this off my hands, please? I just think you'd do a better job than I could, and I really don't have the bandwidth right now.I'd really appreciate it if you could take care of this for me. It shouldn't take you long and it would really help me out. I'd really appreciate it if you could take care of this for me. It shouldn't take you long and it would really help me out. I think one of the team could take charge of this, don't you? I think one of the team could take charge of this, don't you?Let's start with that last example, to take charge of. To take charge of. In the example, we heard the phrase, "One of the team could take charge of this." One of the team could take charge of this. This might be a phrase that you've heard before in another context. If someone is responsible for a team or a task, then we can say that they are in charge of that thing. Maybe you're in charge of a few people at work. And those people are in charge of lots of other tasks. The word... Charge. Actually appears in English in a lot of places when we're talking about responsibility and duty.So here we've got the phrase to take charge of something. If you take charge of something, then you are now in charge of that thing. Say that again. If you take charge of something, then you are now in charge of that thing. In a more formal context, we might say that someone is Charged or has been charged with something. For instance, I've been charged with making sure that we've got enough staff available for peak season.So if anyone wants to take a vacation around that time, please send me an email. I've been charged with making sure that we've got enough staff available for peak season. I should mention that to be charged with something is what we say when the police tell you that you're being arrested for a crime. You are charged with a crime at that point.So if I'm arrested for something, then I am charged with that crime. It's kind of the same meaning, but a very different context there that you will often hear in movies and TV shows about the law and crime and things like that. Another way you might hear this, and again a formal way to speak, would be to describe something as your charge. This is my charge. This is a slightly old-fashioned way to speak these days, but sometimes you can still hear people saying something like, managing this team has been my charge for the past couple of years. Managing this team has been my charge for the past couple of years. We mentioned a moment ago that you can be in charge of something. That's probably the most common way to use this phrase. However, we can use this structure to say that something is in your chance.Something is in your charge. For instance, this team has been in my charge for the past couple of years. This team has been in my charge for the past couple of years. Those last couple of usages are less common, but definitely more formal as well.So it's interesting to hear all of the different ways that we can use the word "charge" talk about responsibilities and duties. In the first example, we heard the phrase, Take something off someone's hands. As in... Do you think you could take this off my hands? Do you think you could take this off my hands? If you take something off someone's hands, then you take responsibility for something that is a burden or stress for them. A common idiom that you might have heard is to have a lot on your plate. If you say that I've got a lot on my plate, then you mean that I'm really busy. I really couldn't possibly take on any more tasks right now. Another way to say this is that you've got a lot on your hands. For instance, I've just taken charge of two new projects, so I've got a lot on my hands right now. I've just taken charge of two new projects.So I've got a lot on my hands right now. Therefore, if we take something off someone's hands, then we relieve them of this stress and burden. Just like the word "charge", there are many phrases that we can use to talk about being busy that involve our hands. Another common example would be to tell someone that you've got your hands full. If you have your hands full, then it means that you're already carrying a lot of things and you could not possibly carry anything more. Think about carrying drinks from a kitchen for a group of colleagues, for instance. You might say, "Could someone open the door please? I've got my hands full." Had someone open the door, please? I've got my hands full. We can take that idea. And apply it to the duties and responsibilities that we have at work For instance, you might say it's the end of the tax year.So I've really got my hands full right now. It's the end of the tax year, so I've really got my hands full right now. Maybe that's one you would say if you work in accounting. What are we on? July. We've just passed the end of the tax year. End of the tax year in the UK is April 4th and my accountant is already telling me that I need to submit my taxes for this year. I wonder if he's got his hands full right now.So if you want to take charge of your English communication skills, 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 would 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 Breakout Live. Business English.com. That's the title of the podcast, breakoutbusinessenglish.com and find out more. I'll put that in a link in the podcast show notes if you'd just like to scroll down there and click it. Starting from our very first call together, 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 or 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. I've worked with over 1,000 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 in fact, if you're interested in seeing the kind of work that we could do together, then head over to the YouTube channel. Again, you could search for Breakout Business English on YouTube or check the link down in the show notes. I just posted a video of myself analyzing and reviewing the English communication skills of Giorgia Maloney, the Italian Prime Minister. She was on a visit recently to 10 Downing Street in London in the UK to visit our Prime Minister and she spoke to the press, to the news a little bit.So if you'd like to see how she did and how good her English is then... Head over to YouTube and you can take a look at my review and analysis of Her English, which is the same thing that I do with lots of people every day. Okay, let's move on.So when deciding which tasks to delegate, We can take tips from Jenny Blake. Author of the book, Pivot. Among other roles, Jenny spent time as a career development program manager at Google.So, hopefully she knows a little about how to manage time and tasks when leading a team. In the book, Pivot, she gives us a list of reasons to consider delegating tasks. Conveniently, they're a little easier to remember because they all begin with the letter T. Blake says that we should consider delegating a task if it falls into one or more of these categories.So these are, it is tiny. It's... Edius. It's time consuming. It's teachable. It's time sensitive. R U R. Terrible audit. I quite like that last idea that being terrible at something is a pretty good reason to delegate it. There are lots of things that I'm terrible at that I wish I could delegate. Unfortunately, I am self-employed. I work for myself these days, so I don't have anyone I can delegate things to. Having said that, I have hired freelancers to complete tasks for me in the past, so I guess that Anyone who works alone and for themselves can find ways to delegate tasks. Here's that list for you one more time in case you missed it. Blake says that we should consider delegating a task if it falls into one of these categories. It's a tiny task. It's... Hideous. It's time consuming. It's teachable. It's time sensitive. Or you are terrible at it. The one word in there that I think might be particular particularly challenging is tedious. T-D-S-T-E-D. I owe you. S.So what does this mean? You can describe a task as tedious if it takes a long time and it's really boring. I often find driving on motorways between cities is tedious. It's interesting when you're driving down a small, winding, interesting road, but Those long straight roads where you just need to hold the same speed for a long time, those are definitely tedious. Or maybe at work. You might need to change a light bulb from time to time. However, if you work as a maintenance engineer for a large building and you need to go around and change every single light bulb in the building, then... You could definitely describe this work as tedious.So, what do you think? Based on this list, how much of your work could or should you be making? Delegating. Of course, from time to time we might need to take a task that we've delegated to someone, and reassign it. Let's listen now. To some natural and native sounding ways that you could take a task from one person and re-delegate it. Delegate it to someone else on your team. Could you hand that off to someone please? They can just pick up where you left off. "Could you just hand that off to someone please?" They can just pick up where you left off.I think that might actually be better suited to one of the interns. Could you have one of your team do it, please? I think that might actually be better suited to one of the interns. Could you have one of your team do it, please?Could you take over from Dave, please? He's made some good headway, but I'd like you to finish it off. Could you take over from Dave, please? He's made some good headway. But I'd like you to finish it off. Okay, there were a lot of phrasal verbs in there.So let's start with the first example. We heard. They can just pick up where you left off. They can just pick up Where you left off. These are two phrasal verbs that are very often heard used together as a pair. To pick up can have a couple of different meanings depending on the context. I can pick up my coffee cup for instance, and very often do when I'm busy with work. However, In this example, we simply mean that you're going to continue or resume something from a particular point, from a particular stage or point in time. For instance: If you're in a meeting, And then suddenly the fire alarm goes off and everyone needs to leave the building. When you eventually come back and return to the meeting. And want to continue the meeting.Someone might say, let's just pick up from the third agenda item. Let's just pick up from the third agenda item. Along with this, we heard the phrasal verb 'to leave off'. To leave off. If you leave off, then you stop doing something. Part of the way through. Usually with the intention of continuing or picking it up again later. For instance, at the end of the day, you might be part of the way through a long task. You could say to your colleagues, I think that's a good place to leave off for today. We can pick up here in the morning. I think that's a good place to leave off for today. We can pick up here in the morning. As you heard, we often hear "pick up" followed by the place or stage in your activity that you intend to continue the activity from. For instance: Pick up from the third agenda item. Or maybe you can pick up reading a document from the fifth page. We heard the phrasal verb to hand off, to hand something off. This was again in the first example. Could you hand that off to someone else, please? Could you hand that off to someone else, please? To hand something off can be used to simply say that you're going to give something to someone else. However, it's more commonly used to talk about giving someone a responsibility that has been yours. We often hear people use this at the end of a shift, for instance. You might say, my shift ends at 9 p.m. And at that point, I hand off to the night shift. My shift ends at 9pm, and at that point I hand off to the night shift. I should say that there is a difference here in British and American English.So, to hand off is slightly more American. In the UK and British English speaking countries, you're more likely to hear hand over, to hand over. And if you want a free sample of the kind of work that we can do together, then you can send me maybe a three-minute video of yourself speaking for an analysis and review on YouTube.So that's the catch. I'll do you a three-minute review video. We'll look at your biggest opportunities to improve and some common mistakes that you make, but this is for YouTube, so it will be there for everyone to see. A couple of days ago, as I mentioned earlier, I posted an analysis video of the English skills of Giorgia Maloney, the Italian Prime Minister.So. Feel free to go to the Breakout Business English YouTube channel and take a look at that. However, I'm looking for podcast listeners out there who want to get involved. If you're interested in taking part in showing me your English skills and allowing other people to learn from them, including yourself, then you can go to breakoutbusinessenglish.com/contact. That's breakoutbusinessenglish.com/contact and let me know that you are interested. There's a couple of different ways for you to Contact me there through Telegram or WhatsApp or just through the email form. Either way, let me know that you're interested and... We can see what we've got there with your English. But if you know that you want to work with me, then you can book a session with me to work 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. I've worked with over 1,000 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. 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. It only takes you a couple of seconds and it really helps the show to grow.So if you found this podcast useful and you think that there are some valuable ideas in here, then feel free to write a couple of kind words and let me know in the comments below. Or just leave a star review if you want. You don't have to write anything. And I thank you in advance. That is a great place to request a topic for a future podcast. That's it for today. Thanks a lot for listening as always, and thank you very much for your time. And I'll talk to you again next time on the Breakout Business English Podcast.