Business words, phrases and idioms
1. Multitask - Perform multiple tasks simultaneously.
Eg. Look at that employee, he's really good at multitasking! He's answering emails while speaking on the phone.
Look at that employee, he does many things at once! Responds to email while talking on the phone.
2. Get the ball rolling - Start something.
Eg. Good morning everybody! Let's get the ball rolling with our brainstorming session now.
Good morning everyone! Let’s start with our brainstorming meeting.
3. Get down to business - Let’s get to work.
Eg. Welcome back everyone. Let's get down to business and start the second part of our presentation.
Welcome back. Let’s get to work and start the second part of our presentation.
4. Bring (something) to the table - Contribute to something useful, such as skill.
Eg. The manager brought her public speaking skills to the table during the negotiations.
The manager contributed to the negotiations with her speaking skills.
5. By the book - Explicitly follow the rules.
Eg. The new employees did everything by the book, because they didn't want to leave a bad impression.
The new employees explicitly followed the rules because they did not want to leave a bad impression.
6. Go the extra mile - Do more than is expected or required, express yourself.
Eg. She really went the extra mile on this fundraiser. She surpassed her goal by 15%.
She really showed off with this charity event. It exceeded the target by 15%.
7. Behind the scenes - Do something discreet, behind the scenes, out of the public eye.
Eg. The public relations team had a lot of behind the scenes work to do in preparation for the launch.
The public relations department had a lot of work behind the scenes as part of the preparations for the launch.
8. Cut corners - Do something in the fastest and cheapest way, usually at the expense of quality.
Eg. The company lost profits because they had cut corners.
The company lost profits because they did everything quickly and cheaply.
9. Back to square one - Go back to the beginning due to lack of progress.
Eg. They saw that sales were too low, so they went back to square one to come up with a solution.
They saw that sales were weak, so they went back to the beginning to come up with a solution.
10. Call it a day - It is usually used at the end of the day when people are tired and less concentrated.
Eg. Alright team, let's call it a day and meet back tomorrow.
All right, team. Enough for today and see you tomorrow.
These phrases can be used in different verb tenses depending on the context. It is also interesting that most of these phrases are used today not only in the business environment, but also in numerous movies and series!
Credit: https://inicijativa.biz/blog-poslovni-zargon-fraze-i-idiomi-na-engleskom/