easy Germans welcome back to another
lesson with me Tom today we're looking
at ten English phrases that are super
useful for the workplace so if you work
in an office environment that uses
English this is the lesson for you
let's get going okay the first phrase
that you might hear keep me in the loop
keep me in the loop now what does this
mean
well they are asking you to share the
information that you have with them
maybe as something progresses so for
example you're in a meeting and your
manager gives you a task and they say ok
and can you keep me in the loop alright
that means they wait to share any
information that you have or you find
with them as you go through the process
you can also say to loop someone in so
you might say to your boss I'll loop you
in as I go so I will update you I will
share the information that I have with
you as I progress through the task that
I'm doing so this is a really useful
phrase if you work in a team environment
number two have you got a sec sec short
for second now this is something that
you would say to someone if you want to
speak to them for a short time so maybe
you have a problem or an issue or some
kind of question use the house have you
got a second note you got a sec now
another way to say this can I borrow you
for a sec can I borrow you for a sec
again you're just asking for that time
you're saying can I speak to you for a
short amount of time so these are
phrases you will commonly hear in an
office environment number three can I
pick your brains about something so the
idea here is that you believe that
someone has experience or the expertise
or the knowledge about something and you
maybe want to ask them questions too to
get that information so you want them to
share the information with you so maybe
for example I'm working with a colleague
and they have a great knowledge of the
Chinese economy so maybe if I've got a
project related to the Chinese economy I
might say can I pick your brains about a
few things so I would ask them specific
questions about that because I believe
they have a better knowledge
that well then than I do so to pick
someone's brains is to ask them
questions to get their expertise and
knowledge about something it could also
be asking for their ideas as well so can
I pick your brains about the new ad
campaign maybe you want to get their
ideas their creative ideas so yeah it
could be used in lots of different ways
and again another fantastic phrase that
you hear in the office a lot okay number
four we're having a few teething
problems teething problems okay teething
is when a child grows teeth right so
when that happens there's pain there's
discomfort there's change now what we're
talking about here is that a project or
whatever the situation is are having
some problems some initial problems but
that they're not going to completely
stop the project just that there are a
few small problems that we can overcome
so maybe your company has implemented a
new payment system okay and not
everything is working perfectly so maybe
half the team have been paid half a team
haven't been paid and they're just
trying to work out what's wrong with
this system it's not completely broken
but there are a few small problems so
yes if something has teething problems
there are small problems that can be
overcome number five a win-win situation
for everyone so what is a win-win
situation well it's a situation where
everyone benefits so what could be a
win-win situation well I'm working from
home the concept of working from home
could be a win-win situation for
everyone the employee gets to stay at
home don't they don't have to commute so
the employee could stay at home they
don't have to commute where and
so what could be a win-win situation and
working from home the concepts of
working from home so for the employee
they get to stay at home they don't have
to go and commute to work and for the
employer maybe they have more space in
the office okay so it's less crowded and
they have more maybe they have lots of
staff and fewer desks so they don't have
to rent a huge office space something
like that so it's a win-win situation
for everyone both sides benefit I guess
you can have a lose-lose situation as
well and
that's possible number six you'll hear
this a lot let's think outside the box
the idea of thinking outside the box is
to think creatively to think in a way
that we haven't done before so it's not
the norm it's not what we normally do if
we think outside the box we think of
alternative solutions or we think more
creatively about a problem so for
example maybe a company has only ever
advertised on television and I think
well okay guys let's let's try and do
something different let's think outside
the box how can we promote our company
not on television but in another way so
to think outside the box is to think
creatively and to think differently to
how you normally do I know this phrase I
hear quite enough can I have a quick
word could I have a quick word similar
to with the ones who remember earlier
and this is again asking for someone's
time you want to talk to them now this
one I feel slightly different from the
other ones I feel that it's slightly
more serious that the matter that they
want to talk about the issue is more
serious so if someone's so maybe you say
to someone right can I have a quick word
because you have a problem you have a
worry
maybe you they've done something wrong
and you want to confront them about that
issue but you want to do it in private
so can I have a quick word yeah often
comes before something a more serious
conversation not just let's talk about
you know what we're going to do for
happy hour or where we can go for lunch
something more serious than that ha this
is a great one let's have all hands on
deck all hands on deck this means that
everyone must help think about the
situation this would have been from a
boat and everyone on the boat is helping
to sail the ship to safety this is
obviously idiomatic language and
therefore the boat is your company or
your project whatever it is and if we
have all hands on deck everyone is
helping because maybe there's a problem
there's an emergency some kind of
difficult situation so guys we need all
hands on deck like everyone has to help
great phrase if you're working in a team
okay guys look we've got this deadline
tonight what we need all hands on deck
we need everyone to help I think we've
got to go back to the drawing board so
to go back to the drawing
this means to rethink your idea to
rethink your plan you kind of have to
get rid of the old plan and start afresh
with a new one because you're going back
to the drawing board the drawing board
is where you came up with the ideas now
you're gonna go back there okay so maybe
the idea you came up with it's not going
to work maybe it's too expensive or it's
too ambitious you've got to forget that
one and start again so sorry guys we've
got to go back to the drawing board with
a start again
and finally you might hear this in an
office how long is a piece of string hmm
what does that mean so it means that the
answer could be anything okay so you're
in a meeting and you're planning the
Christmas party and someone says well
how much is this going to cost and they
would say how long is a piece of string
like a piece of string could be any size
right so the answer could be anything
there is no answer so in this situation
how much this is the question I don't
know it could be a hundred pounds it
could be a hundred thousand pounds who
knows
okay guys those are ten workplace
phrases that you are bound to hear if
you're working in an office environment
using English then you're certainly
going to hear some of those phrases now
they are cliches some people really
dislike these phrases because they are
sort of cliches they're like really
obvious things to say but they're very
effective and you're probably going to
hear them and that's the most important
thing maybe you don't want to use them
but you might hear them so it's
important for you to understand what
they mean if you'd like more workplace
English lessons then please let me know
in the comments below but until next
time guys this is Tom the chief dreamer
saying goodbye