THE ROLE IS THE GOAL

HOW WILL YOUR WORK ROLES RE-ENGINEER YOUR PROFESSIONAL ENGLISH?


Do you sometimes feel like your English is not good enough when things get really challenging and burning at the workplace? When you need to respond smart in a difficult situation, defend your view, justify your actions or convince stakeholders, you just cannot turn your knowledge into lines that would really manage the task?

Non-native speakers of English often feel that.

Actually, it is so common that most of my learners come to my one-on-one sessions with this complaint. But don’t worry, here you can re-engineer your English with the right approach.


WE PLAY ROLES AT WORK

At work, we don’t just speak English like in our free-time. We use it to fulfil the work role that we play at the workplace and in the organization. We use it to perform the duties and requirements that we undertook in our contract. To complete these duties and requirements, we use a number of very basic activities. We answer, analyze, inform, report, compare, negotiate and sometimes even convince stakeholders to fund our innovative ideas. These are the activities that I always look for in my one-on-one teaching practice, because these are the activities that you will actually use your English for. As you can see, Professional English is much more focused and intentional than the more spontaneous everyday English.

OUR WORK ROLES KEEP CHANGING AND WE FOLLOW

Let’s look at an example. Imagine a learner of Professional English, who works for a multinational corporation as a team leader. Let’s pick the name Mark. Let’s see what work roles Mark takes on in this position.

work role

MARK, THE ANALYST

As part of his job as a team leader, Mark analyzes his team’s performance on a quarterly basis. To do this, he will take on the role of an analyst and he will probably do activities like

  • describing data,
  • estimating,
  • calculating,
  • comparing variables,
  • highlighting anomalies,
  • interpreting trends, also
  • framing uncertainty,
  • expressing probability, and more.

MARK, THE PRESENTER

If Mark also presents his data in a formal meeting, he will take on the role of a presenter with a whole list of new activities that he will do:

  • greeting the audience,
  • framing the topic,
  • outlining the structure,
  • summarizing findings,
  • signaling limitations,
  • clarifying,
  • rephrasing,
  • responding to questions, and so much more…
work role
work role

MARK, THE CANDIDATE

If Mark decides to apply for a new job or role, he will want to communicate about his professional identity in a way to excel in the role of a candidate and get the job. So I will teach him how to:

  • tell his professional story,
  • refer to his studies and work experience,
  • discuss his strengths and weaknesses,
  • respond to unexpected and hard questions,
  • discuss his vision,
  • envisage himself in a new organization, and I could go on and on…

MARK, THE NEW HIRE

During his onboarding period at the new workplace, Mark will have to max out his role as a new hire and make a good impression, ask smart questions about the new processes. In the role of a new hire, he will:

  • introduce himself,
  • try to transfer his skills to the new tasks,
  • ask questions,
  • respond to questions,
  • reflect on what he is told,
  • signal limitations again,
  • clarify again,
  • engage in small talk, and so on…

DRESS YOUR ENGLISH FOR THE ROLE

Let me ask you something.
Should Mark wear the same clothes for sitting in the office working as an ANALYST on his computer and as a PRESENTER in front of his stakeholders in the formal meeting? Or on his first day as a NEW HIRE? Obviously, not. However, he will definitely be able to wear the same shirt, tie and jacket combo as a PRESENTER and as a CANDIDATE. So there are overlaps in roles as well. But, generally speaking, we dress differently for times when we act in different roles at work. Your Professional English should be outfitted in the same way exactly for the role.

MIX AND MATCH YOUR ROLES LIKE YOUR CLOTHES TO SHAPE YOUR PROFESSIONAL IDENTITY

work role
Your Professional English will fit your work roles and
become part of your professional idendity.

The English on the Job Learning Modules are designed along work roles and activities to make your job easier in re-engineering your Professional English. The modular structure will give you all the freedom to mix and match the work roles like your clothes . You can pick and choose the work roles for your needs just the next day.

If you want to focus on your strategic skills before a strategic meeting, you can pick Module 10: The Strategist.
If you feel you are not convincing enough, I recommend Module 4: The Negotiator and Module 12: The Stakeholder-Whisperer.
If you engage in a project, make sure you check out Module 1: The Pro and Module 2: The Associate.
If your team is undergoing a change, go to Module 14: The Navigator and Module 15: The Visionary leader.

BE ADAPTABLE

I’m sure that Mark in our example above, has even more work roles in his position and the real magic of his job is that he switches between his roles day-to-day, and sometimes minute-to-minute. Through Mark’s example you can see, how our roles keep changing and how we need to follow them to remain successful and competitive even in the communication.

In another word, he is adaptable. He will have the capacity to adjust to the changing work conditions. Adaptability is key to success at the modern workplace. If you realize and accept how your work roles keep changing even within one job, one position and one working day or hour, and you learn to switch your Professional English between these roles, the whole world is yours!

HOMEWORK

Spend some time thinking about your work roles. Break your work down to work activities. Watch yourself during work for at least one week, and find the simple, even elementary activities behind what you do or think about. Ask yourself questions like:

Am I reporting? Am I convincing someone? Am I disagreeing? Am I arguing for or against something? Am I justifying actions? Am I assessing a situation? Am I inquiring? Reassuring somebody? Giving feedback? Asking for feedback? Recommending? Suggesting? Declining? Denying? Comparing? etc.

You will quickly see that our brain uses hundreds of functional activities on a day at work. Some of these activities are more relevant in one role, while others are needed in another role. If you start watching these elementary activities in your job, you will find what roles you take on.

Written by: Gabriella Harsányi
Date: 7 October, 2025

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