BE 346: How to Stay Relevant at Work and Talk About It
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This is the Business English Podcast, Episode 346, How to Stay Relevant at Work and Talk About It.

Welcome to the Business English podcast from All Ears English. Get the English skills you need to achieve your dreams in global business. For a presentation, a meeting, or your office party, this is Real Business English with your favorite American hosts, Lindsay and Michelle, coming to you from New York City and Colorado, USA. Welcome to the Business English podcast from All Ears English.

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When you visit buyatoyota.com, that's B-U-Y-A-T-O-Y-O-T-A.com. Toyota, let's go places. Hello there, Michelle. How's it going today? I'm good, Lindsay. How are you? Good, good. Michelle, I have a question for you. Yes. So do you do any kind of professional development on an annual basis?

Oh, good question. For teaching, I sometimes have done courses to learn more about the field, to learn about a specific topic. I am not... I'll be honest. I don't think that I've done anything specifically in the last couple of years. But yes, I used to go to conferences and do different courses. So what about you? Yeah, I think when I think of that...

what it would be is conferences for me is going to conferences. That is where you get up, um, get up to date on what's going on in your industry, the new changes, things you want to keep up with and get educated and network. So that's my version of professional development is conferences count. Yeah. Conferences count. Um,

It's always good to think about ways to learn and improve in your role in the professional world. So guys, this can be good for getting promotions, future jobs, adding to your resume, or just showing your boss that you're motivated and learning. What do you think? Yeah. And to bring new skills into your company, to move your company forward, and then your boss will know that that was something you brought into the company, right? That's huge.

That's huge. Actually, I don't know if it counts. I don't know if internal professional development counts, but Aubrey and I did do, you know, where she did a whole training on Canva for me. Oh, yeah. I mean, so that did help me do certain skills. But yeah, all of those things. I think anything you can do to continue moving forward is really good. Mm-hmm.

Yeah, I think we talked on another episode about lunch and learns, right? And sometimes people will do this between their colleagues, especially in larger companies. But even in our company, it could be like a lunch and learn. We all meet online. Someone has a skill and they're in charge of presenting that skill to the rest of the group so we can skill share. Right.

Right? Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. So today we're going to talk about how to talk about professional development. How to talk about. Okay. How to talk. Yes. We love it. So, but before we get into it, guys, we want to remind you to hit the follow button wherever you're listening to the Business English podcast. So our episodes come straight to you. Make it easy on yourself. Make sure you get all the bonuses and yeah.

Fantastic. Again, there's a lot of reasons why we want to do this, right? Again, like you said, Michelle, it's important not only to be learning, but to also be showing your team and your manager that you want to be learning, that you want to help the company because there are certain skills that are maybe missing and you want to bring those into the company.

right yeah yes that's so i mean what we already touched on this a little bit but professional development yeah it could be a conference which we said could be a course you go to it could be a book you read yeah um what else i mean study groups podcasts presentations as we said conferences some

industries are much more set up in a systematic way for this. I think social workers or maybe nurses have a number of hours they need to get every year of study and that's required to maintain your certification.

But most industries probably don't have something like that. So we need to take a little bit of a more proactive role. Yeah. Yes. Yes, exactly. So let's talk about how to share this. So one thing you could say is, I've been reading books on or I've been attending, right? So to talk about what you've been reading, what you've been going to. So for example, I've been reading books on how to code for AI. Mm-hmm.

Yeah, exactly. And Oh, actually it makes me think of, you know, things like LinkedIn learning are also really great taking, we did say courses, but logistically speaking, going over to LinkedIn learning, actually all there's English has been on LinkedIn learning recently. Very cool. Um,

But also just go, I was thinking, I was actually talking to a friend of mine who works at the CEO level in marketing companies, media companies over the weekend. And she was saying she's interested in taking a, she has been out of, has not been working for the last like six months or so. So right now she's just starting on getting to get back into applying for jobs. And she said what she wants to do is go over to something like Coursera or LinkedIn Learning or an equivalent and take a course on how to use

AI and chat GPT as a manager or a CEO to expedite your company's processes, right? Because at this point, people are learning this. We need to know this. Any job she interviews for, they're going to ask her, how do you use AI? Right.

And that's a question she wouldn't have gotten two years ago. And you have to have an answer. You kind of have to be using AI in one capacity or another. I'm really not using it yet. So that makes me think, oh my gosh, I'm not planning on doing an interview anytime soon, but I think maybe I'm behind, right? I need to be, yeah, yeah. I mean, this does go a lot along with technology and how fast things move. So guys, this idea of professional development can be for a lot of things, but I think one of the big ways is with

staying relevant in your positions and knowing, you know, where, where the company is going, having that intelligence to know where the company is going, thinking about technology. Cause I think that's a huge, huge one. For sure. Super interesting.

So again, coming back to how to share it, Michelle, that's what we're getting into. Yeah, exactly. So another thing you could say is I want to expand my knowledge or I want to expand my skill set. So you could say I want to expand my knowledge on customer experience. Yes, I love it. Okay.

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And with available features like heated seats and a multimedia touchscreen, you can stay connected in comfort and style. Or check out an affordable and reliable Corolla.

With a trim for every lifestyle, from the hip and agile sedan to the sporty hatchback, there's a dependable Corolla built just for you. Plus, both Camrys and Corollas are available in hybrid models. So no matter your style, you can drive efficiently and affordably.

So visit your local Toyota dealer and check out amazing national sales event deals on Camrys, Corollas, and more when you visit buyatoyota.com. Toyota, let's go places. Okay, so we're back with a few other vocabulary examples. Here's one.

I'm taking a CE course on XYZ. So CE is continued education, right? Yeah, continued or continuing education, yeah. And this might be in certain medical fields, right, like Lindsay was saying, or social work or dentistry or people, they might actually have to get a certain amount of credits in order to maintain their license.

Yeah. I know my dad is an optometrist and maybe Dan too, as a dentist. I know my dad used to have to go to different cities around the country and get continuing education every year. Uh,

To maintain certification as an optometrist. Yeah, Dan has to get a certain amount of CE credits. So he'll be happy if something gives him the credits. And yeah, it's important. So I mean, certainly somebody in the medical industry, we want them to stay up to date. All right.

right yeah for sure for sure what else michelle what well an example could be i'm taking a ce course on where the future of our field is heading in the next 10 years and what this means for the way we interact with our current customers yeah and you know who are we envisioning saying this to is my question here so are we talking to our is this in a job interview is this to your boss in a company you already work for or to a colleague who are we talking to here

I think these are pretty universal. I mean, I think these could be used, you know, depending on the situation. It could be used in a job interview. It could be used certainly with coworkers. And then it could even be used to share with your boss, in my opinion. What do you think, Lindsay? Do you think these are useful? Yeah, I think they're pretty...

Yeah, I think we could add on things. For example, if you're talking to your boss in a company you already work for, saying something like, I'm taking a CE course on chat GTP and learning English because I want to make...

our XYZ process more effective. - Right. - I think you're doing this. - Specific. - Yeah, I mean, you're also doing it for your own skills, but the important thing to highlight is how is that gonna help the company? Especially of course, if the company's paying for it. - Right, exactly. - We wanna keep that in mind. - Exactly, exactly. That's important. - Yeah, yeah, yeah. - So always kind of knowing our audience, right, Michelle? It's like know your audience and add things

and subtract things depending on who you're talking to. Put your little spin on it, right? Yes. Yes. So, or one more thing you could say is I'm getting more into professional development. I want to learn or I'm really interested in, but yeah, getting into professional development. So, whereas I think you might say this more to a coworker, maybe,

maybe someone you're networking with, maybe to your boss, you would say something like, I'd really like to spend some time focusing on professional development, right? So almost maybe you're asking if you can take a course or something like that.

Yeah, for sure. I really love immersive courses in terms of if I do, I mean, it's been a while, but when I first started my career in ESL, I took a TESOL course up at SIT, the School for International Training. Such a cool institution. It's this amazing isolated campus in Brattleboro, Vermont, but you step onto that campus and you have people from all over the world. It's incredible.

And they had a great reputation globally for their programs. But this program was held on campus. It was fully immersive, 40 hours a week for a month. And we just went all in. It was a deep, deep experience of learning where a lot of partner work. It almost felt like a master's program, but it was just a month. It was really cool. It was really cool. That's cool. Wow, that sounds special. I mean, yeah, we can...

And Lindsay, I think that we should do a follow up on how to ask your boss or your colleagues for opportunities to expand your skill set. So really showing your eagerness to learn and trying to find those opportunities. Or let's say you find something and you want to ask your boss if something's in the budget for you to do. Right. So that's definitely a useful skill to show not only that you're motivated, but also the skill of asking.

Oh, for sure. And this can even be up to the point of getting an MBA paid for by your company. I know someone that just had, she got a Harvard MBA. I think it's, or maybe it was a, maybe it wasn't an MBA. It was a Harvard like career track, like an executive MBA is what it was. Oh, okay. So it's like a working MBA where you're not going to school full time. You're also working, but our company paid for it. There's,

There's not a free lunch. Of course, you have to work for them for two or three years. But you negotiate a deal with your company, right? So, I mean, that would be an interesting topic to look into for sure. Yeah. All right. Well, let's do a role play. All right. Here we go. So we work together. We are colleagues. Here we go. All right. I'm so excited. I've been reading books on SEO and I'm finally going to try to implement some of what I've learned in the workplace.

Oh, that's great. I'm getting into more professional development. I'm really interested in SEO too. I can share the books with you. Thank you. I want to expand my knowledge on SEO and other marketing strategies. Well, that's great. Also, I'm taking a CE course on website development. Do you want to come with me? I'd love to. Thanks.

Nice. I think it's education, self-driven education. Well, that's what our listeners are doing now, right? In a lot of ways, listening to this podcast is a form of that for our listeners to be more prepared for English at the workplace, of course. But I think once we start to do this, we've become a little bit

addicted to it, which is great. We can, we take one course and we say, oh, I could take this course too. I could try this. I could try that. And then we realize our possibilities are pretty limitless. Yeah. That's exciting. Can be very exciting and motivating for sure. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So what did we say here, Michelle?

what did we say so you said i've been reading books on seo and i'm finally gonna try and implement some of what i've learned in the workplace all right and then you said that's great i'm getting more into professional development right so broad broad statement right um and then you followed up with a detail i'm really interested in seo

Yeah. So I think if you just said that statement alone, it'd be too broad. What do you mean? Right. Someone might say, well, what are you doing? Oh, okay. Yeah. It's too broad. Yeah. Yeah. Get a little bit more specific. Give them a little bit of an idea of what you're talking about here. And then I said, I want to expand my knowledge on SEO and other marketing strategies. Yep. And then I said, that's great. Also, I'm taking a CE course, meaning continuing education course on website development. Okay.

And then I invited you to come along. Thank you. So, yeah, this is really great for connection. We're kind of not one-upping each other, but we're just going back and forth, sharing what we're doing, what we're interested in. And I think it's good for connection in the workplace. But there's also, of course, that feeling of showing that you're always willing to learn and to help the company. Yeah.

And actually, that's a good point when you said the one-upping thing. I didn't really feel that it was one-upping, but I do think it's important to keep tabs on what your colleagues are doing, right? Because if everyone is surging forward, building all these AI skills and you're not, you'll want to know that, right? Because you're losing competitiveness within your own company for sure.

So that's another important point. You want to have your ears open to these conversations and ask questions when people say, "Oh, where were you over the weekend? I was in Chicago at my professional education." Yeah. Yeah. "What were you studying?" You know, get to know what people are doing. Not out of fear, but just out of keeping up. Keeping up with the Joneses as they say. That's right. That's right.

Yeah. That's good. Well, I mean, Lindsay, I think that our listeners should also go and listen to episode 338 of the Business English podcast. That was what does slap on the wrist mean in English? So that was an interesting one. Very nice. Good. What's the takeaway? The takeaway is education matters, right? Um,

Something we learned two years ago could be stale and stagnant in two years from now or even now, right? Even just speaking of SEO, I mean, SEO has changed enormously. And from what I understand, it's more about clean code, clean website coding, rather than any keywords anymore.

those days are over. So things change so fast. So staying on top of things is so key, right? Yep. Stay relevant. Stay relevant. Show that you're always willing to move forward. Yes. Love it. Well, good tips today, Michelle, and we will see you very soon. All right. All right. Bye. Bye, guys. Take care. Bye.

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