Managing Up: Talking to Your Manager Effectively

CompleteB2,C1Business Communication,Business vocabulary,Communication,Role-play,Speaking,Vocabulary,Workplace Communication

Main objectives of this material

Develop advanced workplace vocabulary for talking to your manager, including expressions such as flag a concern, walk someone through, be at capacity, bandwidth, push back on, a trade-off, loop someone in and a heads-up.
Strengthen speaking and listening skills by comparing two versions of the same one-to-one conversation, analysing why one fails and one succeeds, and role-playing three realistic scenarios with a manager who pushes back.
Learn and practise a five-step structure for difficult conversations at work (signal, concern, evidence, options, ask) using phrases such as I want to flag something, My concern is that..., Can I push back on that a little? and What would you like me to deprioritise? to raise concerns, ask for support and challenge decisions diplomatically.

What students are going to cover

In this lesson, students will explore how to communicate effectively with their manager through two contrasting versions of the same one-to-one meeting: one vague and apologetic, one clear and constructive. They will build advanced vocabulary related to managing up, workload and decision-making, including be at capacity, a trade-off and loop someone in, while strengthening their speaking skills through guided analysis, a phrase-sorting task and three role-play scenarios with a defensive manager. Students will practise a five-step conversation structure and rewrite blunt sentences such as "This deadline is impossible" into language a manager can hear. By the end of the lesson, learners will be able to raise a concern early with evidence, ask for specific support, and challenge a decision by naming the trade-off in diplomatic professional English.