BE 596: To Each Their Own! How to Disagree at Work

This is the Business English Podcast, episode 596. To each their own, how to disagree at work. Welcome to the Business English Podcast from All Ears English. Get the English skills you need to achieve your dreams in global business.

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allearsenglish.com slash V-O-C-A-B-U-L-A-R-Y. Hello, Michelle. How are you? Hey, Aubrey. I'm doing well today. How are you? I'm great. I have a question for you.

Do you ever disagree with someone during a conversation at work? Ooh, at work. It's interesting because, you know, some of the topics may not even come up.

You know, it depends if you talk about those things. But I'm sure that I have. I can't think of one specific story. But yeah, it's interesting because you're right.

Politics, we kind of avoid at work. maybe parenting differences, these kinds of things we don't often talk about with coworkers, but something might come up where you have a different opinion about how a project should be run, a timeline for something, a budget. We're disagreeing about things, but not necessarily these controversial topics, but there's a lot of things we might disagree on when we're working together with someone on a project, right? Yeah.

Yeah. Oh my gosh. Absolutely. And we have to know how to do it in a way that, you know, is still professional. So we can still work together and we don't break that connection because at the end of the day, you got to get the work done, right?

Exactly. The goal is to be productive, not to agree on every little thing. So exactly. There's a lot that goes into this, deciding what to disagree about.

Is it important enough to How do you share your opinion? How do you share? And sometimes let someone know that you do have a different opinion, but you're willing to go with what they want, right?

A lot going on here. But this was inspired by, I heard someone say, to each his own in an older podcast episode. And this is really interesting. It rang off to me because I hear more these days, to each their own.

And I say to each their own. What about you, Michelle? Do you still hear both? I think I still hear both, but I can definitely I can understand why it could have evolved to their own.

Definitely. Right. Because, you know, we're trying to be more inclusive and gender neutral with a lot of phrases to say to each his own or to each her own is gendered. And so we often will say to each their own instead so that that includes everyone.

And we're not going to say to each his or her own. No, never. Exactly. Right, exactly. So you are going to learn some fantastic phrases here. We have five phrases for disagreeing at work.

And a lot of these are about acknowledging that we're not going to change each other's minds, but we're going to go with what one of us thinks in order to be collaborative, in order to be productive. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. This is really, really important.

So yeah, we're going to be going through these phrases. So yeah, we already mentioned the first one, to each their own. So tell us more about this one, Aubrey. Yeah, so this shows respect for others' opinions without necessarily agreeing, right?

We are... sharing here that everyone has a right to have their own opinion. I don't have to like it or agree, but I should respect their right to disagree with me. So we do use this about more controversial things, politics, religion, but at work also just to share that we might do something differently.

We might say, I probably wouldn't do it that way, but to each their own. Right. Right. You're saying I personally don't agree with it. That's not my choice, but it's fine because everyone's different, right?

Exactly. And often we do want to acknowledge that there's no right or wrong answer. Either of these could potentially work. I don't know the future. I don't know for sure what will be the perfect thing to do.

Right. And I'm acknowledging like to each their own. You can have your own opinion and maybe we should go with what you think. Yeah, exactly. And another similar one, and I love this one, is agree to disagree.

Yes, this is acknowledging that we're not going to change each other's minds. Again, this is great for very controversial things and also small differences of opinion at work. You might say, ultimately, we see this differently. We'll just have to agree to disagree.

Right, exactly. So, I mean, we... We could keep on going back and forth on this, but nobody's mind is probably going to change. So we're just kind of accepting this and saying we are actually agreeing on disagreeing, which is kind of funny if you think about it.

And we do use this with different verb tenses. We might use the present perfect and say, we have agreed to disagree when we're describing a past exchange with someone to a third party. And we say, you know, we didn't exactly come to an agreement. We have agreed to disagree.

Yes, exactly. The third one is... This one is a little more direct, I think. You have your opinion, I have mine. So this is when two people disagree, but neither is going to change their mind.

And it just kind of emphasizes that both viewpoints are valid or at least accepted, right? And it ends the conversation. So it's kind of a... Okay, that's it.

Yeah. It's interesting how some of these and the topic will pivot away to something else or we're going to go, you know, we're working on something else. Agree to disagree is that. Also, you have your opinion.

I have mine to each their own. A lot of these we're ending the conversation with this, right? You might say, I can't believe you didn't like that movie. I thought it was amazing.

Oh, well, you have your opinion. I have mine. And then we're realizing like, maybe we should talk about something else. We don't have this in common, which is fine.

Right, exactly. And you can use this when discussing a third party. So you could say something if you're talking about another person involved. He has his opinion.

I have mine. She has her opinion. I have mine. So that's fine. This one, I would say... To me, it sounds slightly more direct, but there's nothing wrong with that.

It is. It's true. It's a lot about how direct you want to be. If you are trying to soften this either to someone's face, you have your opinion, I have mine, you might use one of these other to each their own.

Agree to disagree. Those are softer. They are less direct. This one is more direct. It depends on your personality and how direct you want to be. Yes, exactly.

And then this one is also pretty common is whatever you think, right? So first here, you would explain the difference and acknowledge it, then use the phrase to close the topic. So for example, I'm not sure we can make that deadline, but whatever you think.

Exactly. So someone has suggested a deadline. You're sharing that. You're not sure. You don't agree, right? You're going to share what you have, what the difference in opinion is.

And then, but whatever you think, you're saying, and often you do this too when you aren't necessarily the decision maker, when someone else might be the one who has the final say. You could share your opinion, but then say, but whatever you think, acknowledging that it's really up to the other person.

Yeah, yeah, exactly. Or did we do the second example? No, it's I worry we won't hit that number. But whatever you think, it might be good to set a lofty goal to push ourselves.

So someone has thrown out a sales number, maybe. And you're like, that seems really ambitious. You might say this, but then you're still saying whatever you think you have final say on setting that number. And I'm willing to push maybe that'll push us to try harder.

Yeah, yeah. And then this one is super fun. So this is the same meeting, but it's more casual. So it's whatever floats your boat. So it's basically whatever makes you happy, whatever you want to do.

So you could even pair this with something like no judgment. So no judgment, whatever floats your boat. Yeah, this is more casual. We don't use it quite as often at work, but sometimes.

Maybe you're having a conversation in the break room about breakfast and someone shares that they put ketchup on their ex. You say, I can't believe you like ketchup on your ex. I would never. But you know what?

No judgment. Whatever floats your boat. And this is just a fun way to share that. Like, that's not for me. I wouldn't do that. But you do you. I have no judgment.

You do you. Yeah. Aubrey, well, now I have to know. Would you put ketchup on your eggs? Never. Ew, it grosses me out, Michelle. But I try to say it's no judgment.

I find it disgusting and horrifying. But no judgment. What about you? Um, not just like regular eggs. Like I'm not going to make eggs and then have ketchup on the side, but if it's a sandwich, um, then I probably, then yeah, I like some ketchup on my eggs.

No judgment, Michelle. No judgment. Whatever floats your boat. I do love salsa on eggs, like a pico de gallo or a spicy salsa with tomatoes, which a lot of people might not see that as very different.

I love salsa with jalapenos on eggs. Just not, ketchup, like save ketchup for hamburgers and French fries in my book. I think this will have to be our poll question for today.

I love that. Yes, absolutely. All right. What's the next one? All right. This is our last one today, which is fair enough. This accepts someone's opinion without agreeing.

So a little role play here, Michelle. What if I said you should try a cold plunge? Oh, no, thank you. I'm a hard pass on cold plunges. Fair enough. So I'm just saying, like, I love them.

You don't. That's fine. Fair enough is a very polite way. Just to say, like, agree to disagree, right? Yeah. Yeah, definitely. I'm Shannon Maldonado, the founder of YOWI, a gift shop with a focus on artists and handmade objects.

From all platforms I tested, Shopify was absolutely the most useful. Okay, Michelle, let's do a role play. We are co-workers here discussing our opinions about working remotely. Want to start us?

Sure, here we go. I'm so much more productive when I work from home. No distractions, no commute. Not me. I get way more done in the office. It's easier to focus and collaborate.

Fair enough. But I feel like meetings are just a waste of time in person. And I leave thinking this meeting could have been an email. That's true sometimes.

But those quick in-person conversations actually solve problems so much faster. Yeah, I see your point. But I still would much rather be fully remote and never have to go into an office.

To each their own. Yeah, I love this. I love these examples. We can go through this here. But we're being very respectful of each other's opinions, even though we really disagree.

We see this very differently. Right. And I mean, part of it is also like how tense the topic is. You know, this is not a very tense topic. If it's political or something with parenting or something where you really disagree with how something should be done at work, you're making some sort of project together.

Of course, it's going to sound a little bit different than this. But this one is pretty neutral. Nobody's going to get too upset over this topic. That's such a good point, right?

These types of things, of course, controversial topics do come up more often in our daily conversations with friends and family. We avoid those topics usually at work, as we were saying, but it could come up and we would use different phrases usually. But at work, this is where you're more likely to disagree. Something pretty minor, the way a project is run, a timeline, a deadline, whether you want to work remotely or not, those kinds of differences of opinion come up all the

time at work right right um so great so let's go through this so um i said you said it's easier you said i feel i get way more done in the office it's easier to focus and collaborate and i said fair enough but i feel like meetings are a waste of time so fair enough is i'm just acknowledging that there's nothing offensive about what you said i understand it i just don't agree Yes. I actually really love fair enough as a very, not, you know, a more indirect way of saying, I don't agree, but I acknowledge your point. I say this a lot.

Fair enough. It's friendly. It's like you said, it's, there's nothing confrontational about it. Yeah. And then I ended with to each their own, which also very friendly.

Like this is a kind way of saying we totally disagree here, but I'm not judging you. I have no problem with it. There's nothing negative here. Yeah, exactly.

Awesome. So we also want to make sure that you guys check out episode 2655 of the All Ears English podcast, which was Are You Slammed at Work? How to Talk About It. This is also great phrases for the Business English podcast.

Anyone, if you are listening to this podcast and aren't following over on All Ears English, you are missing some great vocab and phrases that are also great for work. So be sure to hit follow both here on the Business English podcast and over on All Ears English so you don't miss any of our episodes.

Absolutely. And yeah, just to leave it off, I would say it's okay to disagree, right? And it's going to happen. And you certainly don't want to just always agree just for the sake of avoiding some sort of conflict, right?

Now you have some phrases that you can use that say, okay, I acknowledge your point. I'm not trying to say that your point is bad. I'm just saying that I have a different opinion. So these are really, really useful.

And I love that you have a lot of options here, depending on how direct you want to be. Some of these are so much more friendly and indirect, and some of them are quite direct, right? So to say, you have your opinion, I have mine, you're being quite a bit more direct in that, like, I disagree. And some things you want to, you want to make sure it's clear to the other person that you don't agree at all.

So you need to know all of the nuances about these different phrases in order to know which one to choose. Definitely. All right, Aubrey. Well, this was so much fun and really helpful.

I think our listeners are really going to find this to be useful in their daily life at work. Yes. Awesome. Thanks, guys. We will see you next time. Bye, Michelle.

All right. Bye, guys. Thank you for listening to Business English, a podcast just for you, the high achieving global professional. Want more from All Ears English?

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