Office English / Suggestions and advice

Have you ever noticed a colleague doing something wrong at work?

Sometimes it can be a little bit, um, nerve-wracking to make a suggestion at work. But it's really important that you put your ideas forward and that you're heard.

It's good to gently, gently suggest things rather than directly telling them what to do.

Today on Office English, we'll talk about advice and suggestions.

Hello and welcome to Office English from BBC Learning English. This is your podcast guide to the world of work. I'm Phil.

And I'm Pippa. Use the transcript and subtitles to read along with this podcast on our website, bbclearningenglish.com.

So we've just heard from some of our Learning English colleagues about when they make suggestions at work. What might we need to consider when making suggestions at work, Pippa?

Well, this can be a tricky area because yeah, people don't sometimes like being told how to do their job. Um, you don't want to get a reputation as somebody who's always getting involved in other people's work and not focusing on your own work. But also it can be helpful to help other people, and you want to work with your colleagues well, so you want to maybe think about a few different questions before you, um, give some advice at work. So you might think, who are you making the suggestion to? So is this a really hierarchical workplace where you wouldn't tell your boss, um, your opinion or some advice? Um, so is this a more senior person, you or a more junior person than you? You need to think about the hierarchy, really.

Yes. Also think about, when you're making the suggestion, is it the right time? Maybe there's a deadline really close and everyone's very stressed and perhaps isn't time to look through something else. Also, think about who else is there. Um, it can be particularly sensitive to criticise someone if the whole of their team is listening.

Yes. And of course, we're very interested in how you make a suggestion, what kind of language you use, because that can really affect how someone reacts to your advice and whether they find it helpful or find it quite irritating.