Using more formal vocabulary at work

[Bellex]

I graduated over 5 years ago and spent majority of that time working in start ups/young companies that were less formal, direct and for straight to the point. I’ve now moved into a store at blue chip corporate company. I’m in a relative high grade for my age and they seem to be happy with my work. One thing they’ve asked me to work on is being more formal in meeting and using better words.

I’ve already made some improvement by not using certain phases that don’t seem to be seen as formal enough but how else can I improve? Is there somewhere where I can work on learning new words to use as alternatives?

Can you give some examples. Is it how you speak or how you write emails?

Don't you remember from your schooling?
There's a certain way you would talk with your teachers or adults and a certain way you would speak with your friends.
A certain way of writing.

Read the sales documents and any meeting notes you can get your hands on.
Legal and strategy documents and anything they produce for senior decision makers would be useful.
Most businesses have terms the staff use to upsell themselves using the product and do this by having key words etc.
Listen to your management team, what is the power structure like who is the ones people listen to more than others.
Be careful not to be too forthright. sometimes blunt is showing someone's "pet project" in a bad light

As per another poster, can you give examples of what you would consider a non-formal word and the formal word which is more appropriate.

This will enable us to gauge how informal you are.

Each organisation or sector will have its own culture in how people behave at meetings. Could you observe your manager or senior management to decode the unwritten rules. If they use a great word or phrase, take notes! I am guessing a big organisation has more layers and is probably more hierarchical. You have to know when it is your place to speak and when it is more for your boss to speak and when you should not speak at all.

Be careful not to be too forthright. sometimes blunt is showing someone's "pet project" in a bad light

This.

You probably know this. As a newbie, do not say anything negative, certainly not in a meeting, even if your comment is justified and will prevent a disaster. You do not know whose toes you will be stepping on. If you have to criticise, make a big deal out of how that person is on the right path and (not 'but') if they wanted to consider an alternative which still gets everyone to the same point, there is this other thing ... Check with your manager first if you have doubts about anything and how best to approach it before throwing it out there. Until you know the formal and informal power structures in a large organisation, it is a minefield.

Avoid adding ‘like’ to sentences.

The professionals who could help you are ESL teachers who specialise in teaching formal English. They're in demand because a reputable Asian company can't send over someone to close a deal who has learned English in a class designed to help students fit in socially on their gap year. There are textbooks for this type of course also.

This might be appropriate for you because in a sense you're learning a new branch of your language. A big part of formal English is recognising colloquialisms or overly casual contractions and removing them. You might also get some help with your delivery as that could well be adding to it but they don't know how to reference that.

So I'd book myself an online session with an ESL teacher specialising in formal English/business English and just talk naturally. They will be able to advise.

I’m trying to think of examples as I don’t think I’m that bad. For reference I’m a programme manager, don’t have any sales or communication documents really. I present to the director every week with a pack I re designed myself, less words and more visuals so they have to engage in what I’m saying.

The pack has actions, Rag status, schedules, financials/ RAID, every slide flags changes week on week, some further detail on any major risks/ issues that I’m mitigating that reflect the progress and actions.

The function that I work in don’t like to point out our wrong doings or issues to the wider business respite the fact it causes constant issues to the time and budget of the programme so I usually have to fluff it with ‘ we have some on going actions to work through this will cause a slip to the schedule however and then find some positives to show its a resolution not a problem.

I also have major problems with the consultants as they’ve so far on one phase produced nothing and are 7 months behind schedule so I’ve really had to work on how to communicate this as apparently the directors don’t like directly calling them out.

For example they need product owners, every week come to the meeting with no names. I said this has now moved from a risk to an issue for my department I think we need to create a clear action with timescales on how we resolve this. Please can we commit to coming back to this meeting with clear product owners in two weeks time. Happy to support this action on the requirements for a product owner.

I respond okay dokay sometimes which is apparently a massive issue so I’ve stopped that. I don’t really know what is exactly so informal as only one person has flagged it as an action. I’m more of chilled person and people have never met me I only speak on Skype so they’ve had to base opinions on my voice.

As a programme manager, it does sound like you have to deliver hard messages to keep the project on budget and on schedule. What you wrote sounds like the right balance of dealing with it. It does not sound informal and is in fact seems quite couched in corporate- or 'mandarin'-speak.

That is useful context to what you do but what is it in all that do you think the 'informality' feedback is directed at?

Since you stopped using the okey dokey, why are you still getting feedback about your informality? Maybe that person did not see you at recent meetings to know you stopped using it.

Ultimately, if it is only one person that flagged it as an action, you have to ask that person to give an example so you know which areas to work on and ask whether there is a colleague who has got the right level of 'formality' and get yourself on some of his/her meetings to observe.

I'd research technical speak or management phrases, online, then when I'm the offices or meetings, pick up on the words others use and incorporate then when possible to your own vocab, if your bouncing the words they use back to them, then at least the same words are being used.

Hmm
I wonder if they don't like the message so they are looking for ways to have a dig at you. I also wonder if the same comment would be made to a man?

Is there someone else at work you could ask about this? It may just be one person's opinion.

However, the examples you have given here don't really cut it for business communication. If this is really how you write for work, then it's less a vocabulary problem, and more a punctuation and sentence structure problem. It's very 'stream of consciousness'. Start thinking about clarity and conciseness, and where sentences should end.

If these were not real examples, my apologies.

So was it the ‘okay dokey’ was the problem?

Is it the ‘fillers’ you use rather than the main speech you deliver?

Apart from ‘okey dokey’ are there other phrases like that you use?

Avoid using meaningless “fillers” when talking, such as like / sort of / kind of / you know…etc. Be really precise when you talk otherwise people start to switch off or get irritated or not take you seriously.

Listen to Radio 4.

Read for pleasure. But a thesaurus. Extend your vocabulary

*buy a thesaurus. Don’t think butting works when trying to learn new words 🤣

If you were saying things like okey dokey, were you also using emojis and exclamation marks in emails?

Things that irrationally annoy me in other people's emails (somewhat light hearted):

• using 'less' instead of fewer. Fewer should be used for anything tangible and measurable for example we have less time and fewer sales.

• people who start sentences with "just" - "Just wondered..." "just to say..."

• people who reply OK or thanks to every email. I get enough emails without these clogging my inbox up. If you want a conversation with me, pick up the phone.

In terms of vocabulary- as PP says if you read for pleasure and use a thesaurus/dictionary your vocabulary will expand.

(I silently seethe for a lot of my working day )

It was the okay rhyme.

Use shorter sentences. Be precise. Make your opening and ending clear and formal. That’s what people will remember.

Do you have an accent? Can impact on word choices and peoples’ perception of you.

I reckon it’s the message they don’t like, not the language. That said, I do agree with a PP that your writing on here is a bit stream of consciousness; however your writing on a forum may not reflect how you write a business email.

Read widely (including things like the Economist and FT), and don’t overcrowd your sentences.

Also, are your emails chatty or like formal letters? Do you use contractions like "you're" in emails?

Things like that might be influencing the sense they're getting from you too.

How would the people around you have expressed this idea?

this will cause a slip to the schedule

That to me is casual phrasing that I would probably notice and be surprised by where I work (different field but very formal). Might not be that but jarred me.

Can you ask for specific feedback or examples? Goals at work should be specific and if you don't have a clue what they want you to change this goal clearly isn't.

people who reply OK or thanks to every email. I get enough emails without these clogging my inbox up. If you want a conversation with me, pick up the phone.

Whereas at my work people get upset if you don't acknowledge. But our email volume is smaller and more transactional by the sounds of it.

Do you read? If you read novels (particularly anything that might be considered a classic) your vocabulary will improve and naturally sound more 'formal'.

You also need to not swear at work, avoid slang , bad grammar and youth - based colloquialisms.

@over2021

Things that irrationally annoy me in other people's emails (somewhat light hearted):

• using 'less' instead of fewer. Fewer should be used for anything tangible and measurable for example we have less time and fewer sales.

• people who start sentences with "just" - "Just wondered..." "just to say..."

• people who reply OK or thanks to every email. I get enough emails without these clogging my inbox up. If you want a conversation with me, pick up the phone.

In terms of vocabulary- as PP says if you read for pleasure and use a thesaurus/dictionary your vocabulary will expand.

(I silently seethe for a lot of my working day )

To be even more precise :

Less + uncountable nouns (less time/money)

Fewer + countable nouns (fewer people/items)

Read the classics, too.