You probably know by now that making
small talk is an essential communication skill. These brief, casual conversations are a great
way to get to know new people, but they can be even more
important in the workplace. If you're working in a traditional office
where you get to see your coworkers every day, there are so many
opportunities for you to interact: walking through the hallway,
passing by their offices, stopping by their desks in
the kitchen, or the cafeteria. Even if you work remotely and check in
with your manager and your coworkers over video conference or even on the phone, you'll probably spend a few minutes
making small talk at the beginning. In the American workplace, showing your ability to get along with
your coworkers is an essential job skill. Americans are known for
being friendly and social, so being able to make small talk will
help you show interest in your coworkers and build stronger work relationships. It can even help you get access to more
job opportunities because your coworkers will have a chance to get to know you. If you've ever avoided a
conversation with a colleague, or felt like you were strangely silent
when your coworker tried to engage you in a conversation, this video
will help. In this video, you'll learn how to start
small talk in the office. We'll talk about neutral job-appropriate
topics so that you'll feel more confident asking polite
work-appropriate questions. Let's get started. First, let's talk about how to
open the conversation and
get your coworker talking. Naturally, the first thing you should do is greet
your coworker with an enthusiastic "Hey Jim!" or "Hi Carrie!" Try to use friendly, happy intonation so they feel like
you're actually glad to see them. Starting the conversation with a positive
attitude expressed through your tone of voice helps them feel more ready
to engage with you. While you can ask, "How are you?" or "How are you doing?", I suggest trying to get
a little more specific. You see this person every day, so you
probably already know how they're doing, without even asking the
question. Try these questions: How's your morning going so
far? How's your day been? How's your day been going?
How's your morning been going? How's your afternoon been going?
Has your day been busy so far? My afternoon's been kind
of slow. How's yours going? By asking more specific questions
about their day, their morning, or their afternoon, the person can give you a more interesting
response than "Pretty good." They can tell you about a meeting they
had, or a client they worked with, or a project they've been focusing
on all morning. As you can imagine, the most common topic of small
talk at work is work. Next, let's talk about responding
to questions about work. If someone asks you about your day, try to focus on being
positive and productive. This morning has been pretty, but I
like it that way. It keeps me busy. Things are slower than usual, so I've
been able to work through my to-do list. I've been focused on the presentation
for my biggest client later this week. I'm really looking forward to it.
Things are off to a good start! These types of responses give you and
your coworkers something in common to talk about, especially if you
work on similar projects. If your coworker's interested
in a longer conversation, they may ask you for some more details
or volunteer some information about their own projects. I want to remind you to be
careful when discussing work. As I just mentioned, you should always
try to be positive when discussing work. You never know if a more senior colleague
is listening to what you're saying. You absolutely want to
avoid company gossip, or complaining about
someone you work with, or a project you're working on. It's
natural to feel frustrated at work, but try to keep these
conversations out of the office. After checking in with your coworker, the conversation may end as you
both head back to your work. If that's the case, don't forget to say, "Nice talking to you!" or "See you
later." But if you're both taking a longer break, preparing coffee or tea,
or waiting for photocopies, you may have a little bit more
time to talk. In this case, you have two options for
continuing the conversation. You can ask a more in-depth
work-related question, or you can bring up a neutral, yet
interesting topic of small talk. Let's talk about some more engaging
work-related questions first. After you've started a
conversation with your colleague, you may be interested in
staying on the topic of work. Try using one of the following
work-related questions
to show interest in your coworker's responsibilities.
When you ask these questions, pay attention to your intonation.
With lighter intonation, the person will feel like you're
truly interested in their answer. With flatter intonation, they may
think you're checking up on them. Pay attention to your tone of voice. What projects are keeping
you busy these days? This question gives your coworker a
chance to tell you about their different projects, and also their
specific role in them. This may help you learn
more about what they do. This also opens up the conversation so
that you can swap stories and share your own experience. If someone asks you the question you
can respond with "I'm working on..." and mention how things are going. Once again,
I encourage you to keep it positive, but you may be able to ask the other
person for some help or some advice. Here's another work-related question.
Any exciting new projects on the horizon? Any exciting new clients on the horizon? This question enables you to show
interest in what your coworker's doing, but also what may be coming. It helps you learn a little more
about what's going on in your office. The expression "on the horizon"
means something that's approaching, or something that's coming
your way. In the work context, it means projects that will begin
shortly. By asking a question like this, you give your coworker a chance to share
any recent successes that have led to these new projects or these new
clients. If the answer is no, you can ask a different question or change
topics to something more neutral and casual. If someone asks you the
question, you can start with, "Yes, I'm excited to share that I'll
soon be working on..." "Yes, I'm excited to share that
I'll soon be working with..." If you'd like to take this opportunity
to learn a little more about your coworker's experience, try this question. "Tell me about your experience
working with this client." Or, "Tell me about your experience working
on this project." If you're new to a team or department, you may want to find out more about your
colleague's experience working with a certain project or a
certain client. Otherwise, you may have heard about your coworker's
excellent work with a client or project, so this is your opportunity
to find out more. Once again, this shows your colleague that you're
interested in what they're doing, and that you value their work. It also
shows that you value their opinion. With a more senior colleague, you
may want to use more polite language. You can slightly tweak the question. Would you mind telling me about your
experience working on this project? Would you mind sharing your
experience working with this client? When you're asked a version
of this question, simply say, "I'm happy to share!" and
then give some details. If you have a challenging client,
situation, or problem in the office, this may be your opportunity to get
some insight from your coworker. How have you managed (this
challenging situation or problem)? Even though you're talking about a
challenge, you're being proactive, you're trying to find a solution. Using the word "manage" shows
that you're not complaining, you're trying to adapt. If you feel
comfortable with your coworker, this question can help you get a valuable
opinion from them. At the same time, it enables them to show their wisdom from
their past experiences, so once again, you show that you value their work.
If someone asks you this question, you can say, "I had a similar situation
with that client. Here's what I did." Here's a slightly more positive
sounding version of the same question. What worked well when
dealing with this client? What worked well when
dealing with this challenge? Similar to the previous question, this is a good one to ask when you want
potential solutions to your problem. If you happen to mention a challenging
situation in response to their small talk questions, this gives you a
chance to go a little bit deeper. You can follow up by asking
for advice. Once again, it shows you're forward thinking.
You're trying to find solutions. Besides that, it gives you the opportunity
to ask your colleague for advice, and helps ensure that the conversation
is balanced between the two of you. When someone asks you this question,
start with, "When I was in that situation, I decided to..." and then share a
few more details about what you did. Here's another question that's good for
seeking your coworker's perspective. "How do you usually handle...?" Whether
you're asking about a challenge or you simply want to hear your coworker's
perspective on staying organized, managing their to-do list,
scheduling meetings, or bookkeeping, this question shows that you're interested
in your coworker's style of work. It also shows that you value
their opinion in the workplace. If someone asks you this question,
you can start with, "Generally, I like to..." and then share a
few more details that can help. Here's another great
question to ask at work. What's been inspiring you recently?
Anything you'd like to share? As you probably noticed, many of the previous questions were
really focused on specific challenges or problems, but this question
is a little more open-ended. This question enables you to talk
about something more creative, and not focus so much on work projects.
However, it's still related to work. Asking your coworker what's been inspiring
them is great if you work in a more creative or artistic field, or in a field where new technologies
and ideas are constantly being developed and discussed. This gives you the chance to learn about
new resources and gives your coworker the opportunity to share what
interests them. Let's be honest, sometimes work can be
repetitive or mundane, so asking about what inspires
them is a little more interesting. If someone asks you this question, you
can respond enthusiastically, saying, "I've gotten into..." or "I love..."
Another great question that works really well in the workplace is "What
are you currently working on?" Or, What are you currently reading?
What are you currently writing? What are you currently programming? You can use any verb that seems like
it makes sense for your workplace. This question is great
when making small talk, because it enables you to
talk about something that
you're engaged in right now. In fact, it doesn't even have to be
related to work. You could also ask, What are you currently
watching on Netflix? What channels are you watching on YouTube?
What are you currently listening to? The question you choose will depend on
your coworker and your work environment. This can be a good transition question
to more general conversation topics. If someone asks you this
question, you can say, "I'm currently working on..." or "Right
now I'm..." and then share more details. After you've talked with your
coworker for a few minutes, you probably want to return
to your work. In this case, make sure you thank
them for their insight. You can also show that you were listening
by repeating something that they mentioned, along with a plan
to put it into practice. Let's talk about a few examples.
Thank you so much for sharing. I'm going to try that with my client.
Your perspective was really helpful. I'm going to keep that in mind as
I move forward on this project. Thanks for me about your new
project. It sounds super interesting. I can't wait to hear more
the next time I see you. I appreciated hearing about
your organizational system. I'm going to try some of these tips.
By ending the conversation in this way. You make your coworker feel like their
time was well spent talking to you. You got something out of the conversation. This also gives you something to talk
about the next time you see each other. Even though you're in the office, you may not feel like talking about
work while you're on your break or just interacting in this brief, casual
conversation. In this case, I encourage you to stick to neutral, yet engaging and interesting
topics of conversation. Make sure to choose a topic that seems
relevant to your coworker's interests if you've gotten to know them a little bit. You don't want to ask someone who hates
sports if they saw last night's game, or someone who doesn't own a TV if
they watched the latest episode of this year's hot show. Here are some neutral topics that
you can use to make small talk in the workplace. Be sure to check out the next video in
this series where we'll talk about these topics in much more depth. Recent
weather over the past few days. Traffic or the daily commute,
especially in major cities. Funny or unusual news. Recent viral YouTube videos making
the rounds. Local sporting events, especially if the team
is having a good season. Major television or entertainment
events, like the Super Bowl, the Oscars and the Grammys, but
only if they've happened recently. Popular TV programs,
Netflix, and Amazon series. Local tourist attractions,
especially if you're new to the area. Weekend plans, if it's Thursday or Friday. Upcoming holiday plans, especially if a long weekend or
a major holiday is approaching. Upcoming vacation plans, if it's a high travel season like
the summer or school vacations. Recent weekend trips or vacations, if
you know they've come back from one. Compliments on a new hairstyle,
especially if it was a major change. Compliments on an article
of clothing or an accessory. Questions about where to buy specialty
items that you know your coworker is interested in, such as gourmet
food, cool shoes or jewelry. Food, especially if you're at a meeting where
food is provided or it's breakfast or lunchtime. Cool apps or useful websites, especially if they help you do
work better. As you can see, there are a lot of potential
topics, they just take practice. Be sure to check out the next video
in this series where I break it down. Of course, there are some topics that you should
avoid in the American workplace, especially if you're new and
don't know your coworkers well. The first one is politics. Talking
about politics can be controversial, as people have very different
beliefs. During election season, you will probably hear people
mention their preferred candidates, but it's usually best to avoid topics
that can cause strong emotions, especially if you don't know
your coworkers very well. You should also avoid
talking about religion. Religion is a very personal
belief for many people, and it's considered to be
part of your private life. Your private life is
your life outside work. Even if your religion is important to you, you should try to avoid
talking about it at work. Another topic to avoid is relationship
status. In some countries, it's pretty normal to ask
someone if they're married, but you should avoid asking this
question in the American workplace. It can make someone feel uncomfortable
if they're single, divorced, or widowed. Your relationship status is
considered part of your private life, and it's completely normal not to
mention anything about your relationships outside of work. Once your coworker has volunteered
information about their romantic partner, it's okay to ask polite questions
about that person. However, if you feel uncomfortable, you're not
sure what to ask, don't worry about it. It's normal to avoid the topic. Similarly, we often avoid talking about family. You should avoid talking
about your coworker's family, unless you're 100% sure
that they have children. Once your coworker mentions
that they have children, then you can ask some
questions about the family. Asking about their children's interests
or hobbies is a neutral conversation topic. But please never ask a married
coworker if they plan to have children. This question is considered
extremely rude in American culture. Another topic to avoid is health. Aside from talking about minor
illnesses like colds and allergies, you should avoid asking any questions
about your coworker's health. There are often legal
protections around health issues, so it's a topic we tend to avoid. Now that you understand how to start a
conversation in the office and how to make small talk with your coworkers
and colleagues, it's time to practice. Leave a comment and let me know two
questions that you think you'll use with your coworkers and colleagues. Once
again, I'm Kim from englishwithkim.com. If you like this video, please give it a thumbs up and be sure
to subscribe and click that bell so you don't miss any of my future videos. Be sure to check out this playlist for
even more tips on how to make better small talk. Have a good one. Goodbye.
