BE 632: How Should You Respond When Coworkers Ask For a Favor?

This is the Business English Podcast, Episode 632. How should you respond when co-workers ask for a favor? 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 Aubrey, coming to you from Arizona and Colorado, USA.

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Go to allearsenglish.com slash fluency score. That's allearsenglish.com slash f-l-u-e-n-c-y-s-c-o-r-e. Hello, Lindsay. How are you? Hey, Aubrey. I'm doing good.

How are you? How's it going? Excellent. Question for you. Yes. When was the last time you did someone a favor? Oh, good question. Oh, I went over and helped water my neighbor's plants the other day.

So over the weekend, went over, fed her cats for her because she hadn't planned to have someone come in. So yeah. Or she like out of town for vacation. I love that you have that kind of relationship where you could help out for something like that.

Yeah. Yeah, for sure. I mean, that's what we that makes us feel happy and where we live, right? We feel connected to our community. It's a big deal. I agree.

Absolutely. And you want to be able to have someone to ask a favor of. And today we're talking about the different ways we can respond when someone asks us to do a favor. But let's first briefly talk about why this matters.

Because if you do a favor for a coworker, this can build a lot of goodwill. It could build the connection. But if you do a favor begrudgingly, you could lose all of that. You might still do the favor, but not build any goodwill.

Right. So you're doing the work, but then it doesn't build the relationship. So it does matter how we respond when someone asks us for that favor. Right.

So note the difference in these two. We're first going to kind of share what not to do, right? If I ask you, Lindsay, could you do me a favor? I guess.

Or better, could you do me a favor? Yeah, I'd be happy to. Exactly. Which person do you want to talk to anyway? Yeah. Which person do you want to be friends with or have a relationship or work relationship with, right?

Definitely. Yeah. Especially this is always fascinating to me because if you're going to do the favor anyway, but then you're doing it begrudgingly, making the other person feel guilty, you're losing all of the good feelings that might have been built between you two. Exactly.

So did someone ask about this at Q&A? We have our weekly Q&A. Yes, I was sharing this with Lindsay. Someone asked, when at work would I say I would be happy to do that?

So they were kind of asking in general, but we immediately started thinking about this at work because this is where you're often asked, you're assigned projects, you're assigned tasks, and you're also asked favors. And it's tricky sometimes to know how enthusiastic to be about accepting to do it. It is really tricky. That's exactly what we're going to get into today.

But Aubrey, by the way, we mentioned Q&A. Who gets to go to Q&A? What is Q&A? Yeah, this is students in the personal coach level of any of our courses.

So if you're a personal coach student, you receive teacher feedback for all of your assignments in your course. And you also are invited to this weekly Q&A, which they are super fun. I look forward to them every week. Students come, they ask questions about their course or about English, about what they're hearing.

And it's always really interesting discussions with details about how native speakers use certain phrases or the implications of things you might say. Exactly. So guys, if you're in one of our courses and you're in the personal coach level, you will be invited to this. So check it out.

All right, Aubrey, let's go deeper into this topic. Where shall we pick it back up? This is interesting. So let's first talk about this phrase. I'd be happy to.

I would be happy to do that. This is perfect when you're doing a favor or accepting an assigned task and want to show enthusiasm. It is quite enthusiastic, right? It often implies you're sort of going above and beyond, but you don't mind.

You're willing. You're happy to do it. Yeah. And that right there, by the way, just a side point, is a chunk going above and beyond, to go above and beyond.

So learn that chunk, guys, in isolation. It's a good one. It's a little bit formal, I think, though, right? Exactly. So it's really often used at work.

It's often perfect for these more formal situations we're in at work. In daily conversations, if someone asks you a favor, you'll probably be like, sure, no problem. There are other ways to say this that are much more casual. This I'd be happy to is quite formal.

Yeah, sure is probably the most common one. Let's do a little role play here, Aubrey, shall we? All right, I'll start us. Could you help me prepare the presentation slides for tomorrow's meeting?

Of course, I'd be happy to. I'll start working on them this afternoon. Thanks, I really appreciate your help. Oh, no problem. I'll let you know if I have any questions.

Yeah. So this is interesting, right? From this role play, what do we know about this task? It's interesting, right? Is it Lindsay's duty or responsibility or are you doing me a favor?

No, it's a side thing, right? It's not my responsibility because you need to prepare the presentation slides for the meeting. Right. I'm asking you for a favor to help me.

It would be within your rights to say, I'm sorry, I can't. I'm slammed. I've got too much going on. Sure. It really makes sense to be like, yes, I'd be happy to.

Right. It is a perfect. And notice, I actually wrote out in the role play, I would be happy to. But so even at work, even in the most formal situations, we're going to make the contraction there and say, I'd be happy to.

Yeah. Because we don't have time to say all those words and it just is easier for our mouth to run it together. Yeah. If there's ever a contraction option, we're going to choose that option.

We're going to take it. We're not going to say the full phrase. All right. Let's do another one. Would you be able to review the report before I send it to the client?

Sure. I'd be happy to. I'll take a look and send you my feedback by the end of the day. Oh, that would be great. Thanks so much. Anytime. I'm glad I can help.

Nice. See, and that builds the relationship in a positive way. I love it. Yes. And I want to take note also of the way the favor is asked in both of these, right?

The first one, could you help me prepare the presentation slides? And the second one, would you be able to do this? This is interesting to think about as well. When it's not someone's responsibility and you're asking a favor at work,

There are other ways to say it that are more bossy or pushy or demanding, right? If it's just like, can you do this? Will you do this? These are the more polite ways to say it.

Could you or would you? Could you, would you? Always more polite, always taking a step back. And we talk about this a lot here on this business podcast for how you can dress up a request or just starting a phrase with could or would.

Really good. Yeah, make it more polite. And we want to share a couple of other options. You're definitely not going to want to say, I'd be happy to every time, right?

Yeah, you'll sound like a machine if you do. And it is quite a bit more formal, right? So there are, of course, like we said, you can say, sure. We prefaced this sometimes with, sure, I'd be happy to.

You could also just say, yes, absolutely. But this is also quite enthusiastic, right? You do want that enthusiasm sometimes to build that goodwill, but there are other ways to say it. Yeah, I think you want to be careful with this one to not sound sarcastic, right?

There's a danger of sounding. If it's a really mundane task and you want to do it and you will do it and you're happy to do it, but maybe you don't want to sound too excited about it. So be careful with your tone. The enthusiasm has to make sense, right?

The enthusiasm. So if it's something that's like very, you know, drudgery, someone's like, can you file all these forms? Yes. And you're like, yeah, absolutely.

That's going to be taken as sarcasm, right? So it really does need to match. It needs to be something that you really would be happy to do either because they really need the favor, you know, it, it, and it's true. And the tone too, if you say it just positively, like, yes, absolutely.

Then that won't be taken as sarcastic. Yeah, exactly. So let's do an example here, Aubrey. All right, I'll start us. Could you send the updated sales numbers to the team before the meeting?

Yes, absolutely. I'll send them over right away. So you kind of maintain a bit of an even tone. You're not going too animated here. An even tone, even warm, friendly tone.

Yeah, that's a really good point too, because you can say this much more enthusiastically, right? If you're like, yes, absolutely. And you took some of that down, right? You're just like, yes, absolutely.

This is just a more even keel way of agreeing to do something, but with that positive energy. Completely. And another option you have is yes, no problem. Right?

So could you print me a few copies of the report for the meeting this afternoon? Yes, no problem. I'll print them and leave them in the conference room. And again, note the tone because I could say yes, no problem.

I could add such a different tone. But at work when I'm just accepting a task, I'm not going to have quite that much enthusiasm in my voice. Yeah, there really is like a special register, especially when you're in a more formal workplace, or let's say you're new at work, right?

And you're really wanting to come off in that professional way. Keeping things pretty even toned, but warm is a good way to go. Okay. Exactly right. Yes, definitely.

Absolutely no problem. But keeping our voice a little bit lower, pulling out a little of that enthusiasm that like you said, Lindsay, might be read as sarcasm. You got it.

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Go to allearsenglish.com slash fluency score. That's allearsenglish.com slash F-L-U-E-N-C-Y-S-C-O-R-E. All right, Aubrey, let's do a little what not to do role play, shall we? Yes, right.

As we said, we want to avoid being overly enthusiastic. You want to avoid it coming off as sarcasm. So there are words that can be too much. Thrilled, overjoyed, something like there's nothing I'd rather do.

It would be hard to like, just with the tone, pull those down enough because the words are so enthusiastic. Yeah, they really are. And there's really not much at work that you're overjoyed to do, except for podcasting. I mean, I'll say that for myself.

I love podcasting. If someone's assigning you a task or asking you for help, just to say, I would be overjoyed. I would be thrilled is automatically kind of like, are you being sarcastic? You don't have to help me if you don't want to.

I feel like this could be the setup for a scene from the office or something, you know? Totally. Yeah. So for example, here's what not to do. Could you please get me that report by 5pm?

I'd be absolutely thrilled. I'm submitting a report by 5 p.m. I shouldn't really be absolutely thrilled. No, no, no. Very, very sarcastic there for sure.

All right. Let's do a role play, Aubrey. A full role play. Put it all together. So here in this situation, I'm a marketing manager and you're a marketing assistant.

Okay. Perfect. All right. So could you update the client information in our database before the end of the day? I'd be happy to. I'll make sure everything is updated.

Thanks. Also, could you prepare a few notes for tomorrow's meeting? No problem. I'll put together some key points and send them to you this afternoon.

Great. I really appreciate your help. So you can see a very different tone that you just showed us, Aubrey, versus that sarcasm. Or maybe when you're talking to a friend, hey, I'd be happy to have you over this weekend, right?

Or yeah, I'd be happy to take care of your kids, right? It's like a very different tone in the office. It's really interesting. It's about the vocabulary, the phrases, and the tone.

This would be crazy if you asked me, can you update the client? And I'm like, I'd be overjoyed to do that. What? That'd be crazy. No. Right. So we need the right phrases.

And we also need that more just buttoned up, polished, professional tone. But still these enthusiastic, positive phrases. You wouldn't want to be like, I guess, if I have to. Yeah, for sure.

Oh, my gosh. And especially with email. We communicate via email a lot. And you have to be especially careful via email. Because you don't have the tone at all.

It's just the phrases and the words is the only thing they can read from. That's so true. All right, let's go back through this real quick. So I said, could you update the client information in our database before the end of the day?

And I said, I'd be happy to. I'll make sure everything is updated. So I could punch this hard and be like, I'd be happy to. That's too much. You don't want to add that overly enthusiastic intonation.

You've already got this positive phrase. It's perfect. You don't want to keep your tone a little flatter. Exactly. A little flatter. And you could definitely feel that difference there.

And then I said, also, could you prepare a few notes for tomorrow's team meeting? And yes. And I just said, no problem. I'll put together and I wouldn't want to be like, no problem.

It's too much. It's strange. Yeah. Uh, just think about like, uh, the intonation that your chat GPT makes. Although recently they've done an update and it's, I think it's a little creepy.

Have you noticed the update they did on chat GPT? I have not. I haven't heard much audio. It's adding like, um, it sounds like just sort of utterances.

It sounds more like a real person. They're trying to make it sound more human now. It just feels creepy. Um, It feels creepy to me. I don't like it. I was like, I don't want a human.

Like, I just want a computer to give me the answers about where I should go for dinner or like, you know, where people can park in this neighborhood, right? Very simple stuff. If I wanted a human, I would talk to a human. Exactly.

Exactly. So for your business intonation... It might be somewhat similar, not necessarily for everyone, but the vibe that I'm getting is kind of more like Chachubiti earlier, like last year.

A little more flat in some ways, but not exactly either. I don't know. Interesting. So, yes. This is great vocab. I'm excited for you to have options now and to think about this because when you do a favor for someone, what a great connection moment.

And then these things are reciprocated. You'll be able to ask a favor of someone else. Just like you, Lindsay, you now could ask your neighbor to come and feed kefir or water your plants. Yes.

right? We need these relationships where we can rely on each other. But if depending on what we say, when we accept the favor, we could kind of ruin that if we're not positive and enthusiastic. You got it.

Don't break the connection at that moment because you're going to do the work anyways. It's like, you know, might as well maintain the relationship. Yeah, totally. I love it.

Guys, go over to Business English 631, how and when to discuss salary in English. Really important topic. Okay. Super interesting. Very cultural. So don't miss that episode.

All right. Great. Aubrey, we'll see you back here very soon. Take care. Awesome. See you next time. All right. Bye. Thank you for listening to Business English, a podcast just for you, the high achieving global professional.

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