How to STRUCTURE your speaking - Business English Lesson

0:00Chris 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 in English at work. Thank you so much for listening and for your time.

0:28Chris And our topic today is structuring information when you are speaking, why it's important, and how to do it effectively. So I coach a lot of different people from a lot of different industries. And it's always interesting to me to notice which professional fields have the best communicators and which don't.

1:00Chris And I've got to say that if you're looking for good communicators, then there are a couple of jobs that you're probably going to find them doing. No surprises, marketers are always great communicators. So any marketers listening to this, yep, you have my vote. You are some of the best communicators out there.

1:24Chris And marketing as an industry honestly fascinates me. So I love working with marketers. Lawyers are great communicators too, especially those who spend a lot of time in court communicating and explaining things to people. However, some of the best communicators I've met, well, they're consultants. These are people working for McKinsey, BCG, Bain.

1:57Chris Maybe you've heard of some of these companies. And one thing that I can definitely, confidently say about almost every management consultant I've ever worked with is that they are great at structuring their speaking. Whether they're explaining to you how to implement a new process or telling you what they did over the weekend, everything follows a logical, structured flow.

2:30Chris And as a listener, it's really enjoyable to hear this. It's almost like the hardest part of listening to someone give you information is done. It makes it really easy to understand and take in the information that you need. Today we're going to be looking at two ideas that the best communicators use when presenting information.

3:01Chris These are numbered structures and top-down communication. And if you know what those two things are, then you will also notice that I just used numbered structures and top-down communication when explaining this. So let's start with numbered structures. This is where we divide each part of what we're going to say into separate units, and we give each of them numbers.

3:37Chris Then, very importantly, we tell the listener about these labels, these numbers, as we're starting to speak. For instance, you might say something like, I think there are three ways to answer this question. And then you would go on to say the first, second, and third of these ways. This is really powerful because here the listener knows exactly how much information they're going to be given up front immediately before they start to receive it.

4:18Chris There are no surprises here. And the fewer surprises that we give people when we're speaking, the easier we are to understand. This is not storytelling, we're not necessarily trying to entertain people. In those situations, surprises can be good and can be used and engineered to benefit our storytelling.

4:44Chris But if your main goal is to communicate information and to get the knowledge, the ideas out of your head and into someone else's, well, in that case, structured, numbered information can be really useful. Now, what if you don't know what you're going to say before you say it? In that case, you can add this structure at the end of what you want to say.

5:18Chris Here it functions more as a recap or a summary. Remember, even if you were creating your answer as you were saying it, even if it was not planned and what you said was unknown even to you until you actually said it, then you still know the content of what you said better than the other person, even if you don't know it very well yourself.

5:49Chris You're still the best person to explain these ideas. Therefore, it's your responsibility to add a summary at the end with structure to help your listener digest and take on board this information. A little note on body language here. Feel free to use your fingers to indicate this number at the beginning.

6:18Chris And then each time you move to another stage of your structure, you can use them again. This can really help the listener to understand when you've moved between points. This is perhaps even more important when you're talking to someone on a video call when a lot of body language is lost, depending on where your camera is.

6:46Chris I know there are some terrible camera angles for webcams. I work with people who maybe you only see the top, the top part of their head, or maybe they're off in the distance, or they're just far too close to the camera. So when we're when we're on these video calls, we can lose a lot of this body language information.

7:10Chris One way we can work around this is to use these numbering systems. Now, a moment ago, I used the word recap. That's R-E-C-A-P, recap. And I just want to briefly discuss it. I said you can add this structure at the end of what you want to say, and here it functions more as a recap or a summary. A recap is quite simply the same as an overview or a summary.

7:50Chris The main difference is that a recap can only come after the information that it refers to. You've probably seen that prefix R-E, those two letters, at the beginning of words that mean again. For instance, to re-enter somewhere, to rewrite something, or just to redo something. So re-very often means again, and that's what it means here.

8:24Chris So like a summary or an overview, but again after you've said something. For instance, I might give you a recap at the end of my presentation in order to emphasize key points to make sure you've understood what I hoped you would understand. Or I may give a recap before I say something or before a presentation.

8:55Chris This would be a recap that reminded the audience of information that was given at a previous meeting or during a previous presentation. This is one of those words that I always think that more second language international English speakers would know. When I started doing this job all the way back in 2019, I felt this was a well-known word.

9:26Chris And if you know it, then great, you are ahead of most international English speakers. But if you don't, well, that's a very common experience. So when I'm meeting clients from around the world and I use this word recap, often I find it's new for them. So definitely a word to add to your working English vocabulary.

9:51Chris And if you want to improve your working English vocabulary and the way that you use English to communicate 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 would love to meet you.

10:21Chris 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 this website right here, breakoutbusinglish.com. That's the title of the podcast. Breakoutbusinglish.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.

11:02Chris And right now you can use the code podcast30 at checkout to get a 30% discount off your first booking. 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.

11:25Chris I've worked with well over 1,000 non-native English speaking professionals, from new graduates up to CEOs and government leaders to help them achieve their English and communication goals. And I look forward to meeting you. Okay, let's move on. So the second idea that we're going to look at today is top-down communication.

11:54Chris One thing that I really love to do is run. I ran a half marathon this year, which I'm very proud of. So, yes, of course, I am telling everyone about it, including now you. And I also ran a very hilly 10-kilometer race. A race with a lot of hills in it. And running is a big part of my life. Now, running is interesting as a sport.

12:22Chris It's an interesting concept as a sport. Because it's something that you can stand up, walk out of the door, and do immediately with no preparation or structure at all. You can contrast this with another sport that I've done in the past, and that is scuba diving. Scuba diving, going under the water with your mask on and your tanks of air on your back.

12:54Chris This requires structure. In fact, most of your time on a dive will be spent thinking about equipment, about procedures, about hand signals, following your plan and things like this. So these are very different sports. However, the thing about running is that the more you do it, the more you realize that you can add this kind of structure.

13:26Chris Understanding what your heart rate is telling you, what tempo sessions and interval sessions are. There's some jargon, some specialized language for you, and how to plan your schedule through the week. All of this can be added to the way that you think about running as you learn more. Okay, that was quite a long analogy, quite a long metaphor, but hopefully I'm going to bring this into land now.

13:55Chris So I think that the same can be said about structuring your speaking. And here's what I mean: it's completely possible to go into a speaking situation and just start speaking, to go into a job interview or a presentation with some general ideas, open your mouth and begin communicating. And this is similar to the way that you just start running.

14:24Chris You might even find that you're naturally good at speaking, and maybe you accidentally fall into patterns and structures that are really effective. However, when you start to learn more about communication and how people understand and process information, then you can start to apply and implement these ideas into your speaking.

14:52Chris And one thing that I find is a foundational, basic idea in communication, one thing that can be implemented before anything else, is top-down communication. Now, I'm going to explain what top-down communication is, but you're probably going to feel that it's so simple that I don't need to. Okay, here it is.

15:17Chris Top-down communication means that you start with the conclusion. And then after this, you give your logic, reasons, and justification next. Let me give you an example. Let's say that you start running. Yes, that's right, we're back on the running metaphor. Bear with me here. So let's say that you start running and you ask me for advice.

15:46Chris Well, I could start by telling you that when you take up running as a hobby or sport, you need to build a base of fitness. Now, one of the best ways to build up that foundational fitness is to focus on running slowly, and running slowly means that you should be running at a speed that allows you to hold a conversation or talk to people.

16:12Chris Now that's not a bad way to communicate, but all the time that I'm speaking, you're discovering something new. You're processing information and trying to understand where I'm going with that logic and that line of thought. Alternatively, I can flip this around and start with the conclusion, which would sound something like this.

16:48Chris The most important thing to keep in mind when you start running is to run at a speed that allows you to talk. You shouldn't run so fast that talking is impossible or difficult. You should be able to make a phone call if you need to and have that conversation. And next I'll explain the reasons for this.

17:11Chris This is top-down communication. And it's a game changer when you implement it. Because when you're listening to me explain about running now, you know that whatever I'm going to explain, it's going to lead to this conclusion that you should be running slowly, running at a pace where you can have a conversation.

17:32Chris Everything that comes after will explain this key idea that you already know, so you can build your understanding on top of this. So, how do you implement this? Before you start speaking, think about your destination. Think about where your logic or argument is going to take your listener and tell them this first.

17:59Chris This means that they will find your reasoning and justification far easier to understand because they know where it's supposed to take them. They know the destination when they're getting in the car, and they know the place that you're aiming to get to. Let's listen now to a couple of examples of how to use top-down communication that have some particularly native and natural sounding vocabulary in them.

18:35Chris This issue boils down to the fact that our budget is too small. Now, let me explain how I came to this conclusion. This issue boils down to the fact that our budget is too small. Now let me explain how I came to that conclusion. I want to say, out of the gate, that we need to postpone the launch of the product by at least a week.

19:48Chris And there are three reasons for this. I want to say, out of the gate, that we need to postpone the launch of the product by at least a week, and there are three reasons for this. Okay, let's carry on with the sports theme that I seem to have applied to today's episode, and let's discuss the phrase out of the gate.

20:19Chris In the second example, we heard, I want to say, out of the gate, that we need to postpone the launch of the product by at least a week. I want to say this out of the gate. Okay, let's talk about horses. Now, there are a couple of sports that have given a lot of vocabulary to the English language. If you've listened to this podcast for a while, then you'll likely know that a lot of words and phrases that we use today come from boxing.

20:56Chris However, we get almost as much vocabulary from horse racing. So, what does out of the gate mean? Well, the gate in this phrase, the gate that we're talking about, is the door that keeps a horse in place before a race starts. It's the swinging door that stops a horse running forward and keeps them behind the start line so that everyone starts at the same time.

21:29Chris Now, before a race, the horses wait behind a starting gate, and when it opens, they run. So out of the gate means at the very beginning of something, as that gate opens. One horse might be in the lead out of the gate and be winning the race. Or maybe if things go wrong, a rider might fall off out of the gate, perhaps.

21:59Chris Or a horse might be last out of the gate, meaning that they are the slowest to start the race. Therefore, when we say that something is true out of the gate, or we've done something out of the gate, we mean that it has been done immediately, right at the beginning of a project, a story, or a conversation.

22:25Chris For instance, I might say that we started this new project, and right out of the gate, we hired two new members of the team. We just knew we needed more people, for instance. I should also mention that you might have heard me say there right out of the gate, and this emphasizes the immediacy of the statement, how immediate it feels.

22:53Chris For instance, I joined the team and I realized right out of the gate that I was going to enjoy this job. I joined the team and I realized right out of the gate that I was going to enjoy this job. Now let's move on to our quiz. Last week I asked you about this sentence. We went with my boss to the meeting.

23:24Chris One more time. We went with my boss to the meeting. And my question was, how many people are in this sentence? Now, some of you may have answered two, and some of you may have answered three or more. Three at least three. And the correct answer is that in this sentence there are at least three people.

23:54Chris The minimum amount of people that this sentence could be describing is three. So who are they? Well, my boss, that's one person. And then we. Well, we is at least two people. We can't mean one person, can it? That makes this sentence about, again, at least three people. I think this problem happens and this confusion happens.

24:27Chris Because in order to build a sentence like this, in many different languages, a sentence that talks about only two people, well, uh you could use the equivalent of these words, this we word. However, not in English. So how do we fix this? How do we make this sentence talk about only two people? Well, quite simply, we need to change the word we, and we need to change this into the word I, which means that we have I, that's me, and then my boss, that's two people.

25:08Chris So remember, we means at least two people, I means one person. So a version of this sentence that talks about only two people would be I went with my boss to the meeting. One more time, I went with my boss to the meeting. Okay, let's move on to your question for this week. And I should say that if you are listening to this podcast on Spotify or Apple Podcasts or anywhere else, there is a video version of this podcast.

25:43Chris If you're on Spotify, if you're on Apple Podcasts, you should be able to click a little video button and that will let you see me. And hello, if this is the first time we're seeing each other, it's nice to meet you. And if you're on YouTube, well, I imagine you're watching this video anyway. So let's move on to our question for this week.

26:05Chris I'm going to give you a sentence that can sound really confusing to a native speaker, but it's a sentence structure that I hear international English speakers using all the time. I want you to tell me why this sentence is confusing. Here it is. If we encounter a problem, we should notice the client. One more time.

26:32Chris If we encounter a problem, we should notice the client. And this week's question, as I mentioned, is quite broad. I simply want you to tell me why this sentence is really confusing. Or at the very least, just identify the word that is causing a problem here. The answer, along with the explanation, will be in next week's podcast.

27:02Chris So don't forget that if you would like to discuss any of the ideas, vocabulary or grammar, etc., in today's episode, or work on your communication skills for your work life and your career, then you can book a session with me to work on your communication skills by going to this website, which again, if you're watching the video, I'm pointing to.

27:28Chris This is www.breakoutbusinglish.com. That's the title of the podcast, breakoutbusinglish.com, or you can click the link in the show notes. And 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, whatever is best for you. And I look forward to meeting you.

28:00Chris Between episodes of the podcast, you can get videos every couple of days on Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube and search for breakout business English. Do I say TikTok in a weird way? I say that every week. And every week I think that I say it in a weird way. I think that's because I've been speaking for half an hour.

28:22Chris And it feels weird for me to say. So I think most people would say that just TikTok. TikTok. But I quite like emphasizing that. TikTok. So there we go. Okay, so one more time. You can get videos on TikTok. Oh, it's completely lost all meaning now. So you can get videos on TikTok, however you want to pronounce and say the name of that uh that platform and YouTube, just search for breakout business English.

28:53Chris Also, 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 a message or a comment on one of my YouTube videos, and I look forward to hearing from you. If you're 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.

29:20Chris I got a one-star review a few weeks ago. I've obviously upset someone, so I need a couple of better reviews to offset that one. 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.

29:42Chris Also, that's another great place to request a topic for a future podcast. And that is it for today. Thank you so much for listening and for your time. I really do know how valuable it is, and I appreciate you choosing to spend 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.

30:08Chris Thanks a lot, everyone. Talk to you soon.