- Don't you just love problems?
Like, no really, like yes, I meant to say that.
Because in business, in life, in English,
I mean solving complex problems,
that's just kind of what we do.
So today, you'll learn the expressions in English
that you need to solve your business problems.
But together, we are going to solve your English problems.
Hi, I'm your English Coach, Christina.
And welcome to Business English with Christina,
where you become better at English and better at business.
You know, the world is full of problems.
But problems that are really
absolutely interesting to solve.
And I'm sure that you're probably
already working on solving
a lot of problems yourself.
And I know that because when I work
with a lot of my clients,
we talk about the really interesting problems
that they're trying to solve.
It might be trying to solve problems
of like ending poverty in the world
with some organizations they work for.
It might be trying to solve problems of growing economy.
Maybe even something is, I don't wanna say basic
but more down to earth
like solving logistics problems
or supply chain problems
so that people can get the products that they need.
I really feel like I get to hear
a lot of inspiring stories
and a lot of inspiring searches for solutions let's say
to some of the world's problems.
So, today is part one of a two part video,
all about solving problems
in English and solving your English problems.
So, we'll tackle your problem together,
that means we'll solve your problem together.
And in the process,
you'll get a lot of great business English expressions.
So in part one we'll focus on,
understanding the problem better,
so that in part two
we can look at how to best solve your problems.
So, what's a problem that you have in common
with all of the other very smart people
watching this video?
Improving your English, probably
because otherwise you wouldn't be watching this video.
So the first thing is understanding the problem.
If you're like the people on my team
you get really excited about getting stuff done
like making things happen, solving the problems
but before you can sit down
to work on that problem
you have to really take a good look at the problem
because it's important to have
a good understanding of the problem,
if you're going to solve it,
you wanna look at it and analyze it
before you just jump into getting stuff done.
Hey did you know that what we're doing in this video,
it's what we neuro language coaches call natural learning?
Basically learning expressions and learning English
through exposure in a natural context,
the same way that you would learn things
in your native language.
But you're also are gonna need a little bit of work,
a little bit of deliberate learning
to really assimilate everything in this lesson.
So, that's why you can go over to,
christinarebuffet.com/worksheets
and get a free worksheet
that goes with this video
to help you learn naturally
by watching the video and learn deliberately
by doing some exercises with the vocabulary
from this video.
All right, go and get your worksheet
and let's continue the video lesson.
And to go even further,
you might ask yourself some very specific questions.
Now, the website, indeed.com,
which has a lot of great career advice.
And you can use it to learn a bit of English
while you're reading their articles.
You know, they suggest that we start
by asking ourselves some specific questions
to allow ourselves to find smarter solutions.
So, let's put all of that in action
by asking ourselves some questions
to solve your English problem.
Here's the first question that you can ask
about any complex problem.
How does it affect your daily life?
So let's take an example of like,
pushing your English beyond intermediate level.
Now, when I meet with a new client for the first time
and we talk about their difficulties in English,
I always ask them,
what are your biggest difficulties in English?
What are your biggest problems?
And people will often tell me,
I translate in my head, I hesitate too much,
I lack vocabulary, etc.
But that's really like just the surface of the problem.
So we often dig deeper to see how that problem
affects them in their daily life.
Because when you know how the problem affects you
in your daily life, you know, or you don't know
but you start to know and to discover
like how you can fix that problem
so that it makes your life easier every day.
So, another question you can ask
to help you really to define your problem is,
does your problem hurt the wellbeing
of yourself or the wellbeing of others?
Okay now I know that like,
fixing your English problems is not the same
as curing a rare disease.
I think we can all agree on that.
But a lot of my clients say that
their problems with English, it hurts them,
it hurts their confidence,
it hurts their credibility,
it hurts their opportunities
for better jobs and better salaries.
So, looking at that and understanding
how the problem is hurting your wellbeing,
it can be a first step to finding a solution.
Does your problem hurt your productivity?
Like, does it make it more difficult
or more complicated for you to do your work
at the level you would like to do it?
Again, taking the example of your English,
maybe your level of English today
it means that you can't contribute
as much as you you would like in meetings.
Maybe it means that you hesitate
to respond to a job offer or a client's request
because they say that they need
a really good level of English.
Maybe it also means something other clients have said
is that they limit themselves.
If there's something that requires
a really good level of English,
they automatically say,
I don't even dare to ask
to be a part of the project
or to go visit a specific client
because I know that English is gonna be very important
and I don't feel confident about my English level.
Does your problem hinder your communication?
Basically, does it make it more difficult
to communicate with others?
And especially if you're working with others
to solve problems, in order to work together
to solve a problem
you have to communicate together
to try to find solutions.
So, if your English is making it harder
for you to collaborate with others, to ask for help
maybe that means that you need
some help with your English and that's okay.
Does your problem decrease your efficiency?
I mean, very concrete example
that lots of clients have shared with me.
For example, you spend, I don't know
maybe an hour or 45 minutes writing an email
that normally should just take you,
10 or 15 minutes in your native language,
or maybe all of those times that you see someone
you see a phone call coming in
and you see that it's from a different country
you know that you're gonna have to speak English
and you let the person leave you a message on voicemail
that you can listen to several times later
or you just ignore the call totally.
And then either you maybe prefer
to write them an email in response
so that you can read it.
But I mean, think of how much time that takes
and just how it's decreasing your efficiency.
I mean, we can solve that problem.
Okay, you might start feeling a little uncomfortable
now that we're really
looking at all your problems so closely,
it doesn't feel comfortable at all.
But it's important to remind yourself that, it's okay,
clearly understanding the problem
and how it affects your daily life
is actually one of the first steps
to really taking action to solve that problem.
And so there's something else
that you have to really understand if you want to
let's say start that process of solving the problem,
of eliminating the problem,
of eliminating that pain.
And the first thing that you have to understand
and really convince yourself is that,
you can fix the problem, you have that power.
Maybe it's not easy, but you can do it.
I wanna share with you a little piece of advice
and some great business English expressions
from Gemma Leigh Roberts
who is an Organizational Psychologist.
Roberts writes about resiliency
and a thing called mental agility
which basically means your ability
to respond in new ways
to problems that are always changing.
Anyway, here's that quote
from Roberts that I find so inspiring,
"It's not about having all the answers
but about being confident that you can figure out
a new way of doing things
to get where you want to go."
Which basically means, it's okay to have complex problems.
I mean, we all have complex problems
but what's really important is
to believe, to truly believe
that you can find a way to solve them.
So, are you one of the many
problem solvers in our community?
Today you're probably working on solving
a lot of problems, more than one that's for sure,
because we all are.
But that's why I'm really excited
about next week's episode
where we're gonna look at together
how to take the steps to solve those problems
now that we've identified, what they are,
how they're affecting your wellbeing,
your daily life and all of that stuff
that just makes problems problematic.
And just like with this video,
you'll be able to use those tips
for your business life, your business problems,
and also we're gonna look specifically
at how to solve your English problems.
And as I always say, if you don't use it, you lose it.
So here's how you can use
some of the things that you learned in today's lesson.
Down in the comments below,
tell me a little bit about how your English
is affecting your daily life.
And if this lesson was useful for you,
I would love to know.
And there are three ways that you can tell me.
First of all, give this video a thumbs up
and subscribe to my channel on YouTube
so that I can continue making
more business English lessons for you,
'cause I love it,
and I hope that you're learning with them.
The second thing is go over to my website,
christinarebuffet.com and get the worksheet
that goes with this video.
It's absolutely free and it's gonna help you
to better learn the things
that you're learning in this video,
but I mean better like assimilate
and really, really learn them.
And the third thing is,
go ahead and watch this other video.
It's about concretely how to solve a problem in English
dealing with unhappy customers.
So if you've got that problem,
we're gonna solve it together in that video.
All right, thanks a lot for improving your English
with Business English with Christina,
it's a privilege and I'll see you next time.