How Great Teams Work – Structure, Clarity & Meaning (Project Aristotle Part 2) - Business English lesson

In this podcast we continue our deep dive on how great teams work and Google's project Aristotle. If you're a non-native English-speaking professional who wants to sound more native and natural when speaking English at work, this podcast uses real-world vocabulary, Business English phrases, and grammar insights that you can immediately use in the workplace. Today we explore how to talk about "Structure and clarity" and "meaning" when building an effective team. 

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Today's examples:

- Now that we've laid out a clear roadmap for where we're going, we just need to execute on it.

- If you find yourself sailing through these targets then we've set a couple of stretch goals for you too.

- This is a really dynamic project so I'll make sure that I keep you up to speed if anything changes.

- You’ve got a couple of pieces of work outstanding this week but you’ve done some outstanding work so far.

- I want to give a shout out to Emma for the great work she's done this week. Thanks for going the extra mile.

- The project your working on really is central to what we're trying to achieve so feel free to give me a shout if there's anything I can do to help.

Also, if you're studying for the IELTS, TOEFL, or Cambridge English tests and exams then you might find some of the vocabulary in this episode really useful.

This podcast is all about helping you to communicate better, in English, at work. I work with international English speakers from around the world who use English, at work, as a second or third language and I hope that I can bring some of the ideas, vocabulary, and grammar, from those sessions, to you in this podcast.

Don’t forget that my full time job is helping international professionals who use English at work to improve their communication skills. So, if you need English to do your job but don’t speak it natively then maybe we can work together to help you to achieve your language goals. 

Transcript

Welcome to the Breakout Business English podcast, where I help you to communicate better at work. Hi everyone, as always, my name is Chris and I'm a business English coach who has helped over 1,000 international professionals to improve their English communication skills. Thank you so much for listening and today's topic is once again, How great teams work. If you listened last week, then you know we talked about the first two findings of Google's Project Aristotle. This was a research study. Carried out by Google between 2012 and 2014, so just over 10 years ago now. Last week, we talked about the two more important components of building a team, the first two. And those were providing psychological safety and making sure that everyone on your team is dependable.So if you missed that, feel free to listen to last week's episode. Having said that, you don't need to have heard last week's episode to get value from today's. In this week's episode, we're going to discuss two more aspects of Google's research. These are structure and clarity, And... Meaning. Yes, that's two things: Google Group Structure and Clarity together in one item.So we're going to discuss what exactly Google Meet with these terms, and we'll look at some natural and native ways to talk about these topics with your colleagues and more generally at work. So, let's get started. We're going to begin with structure and clarity. Google explains it like this: An individual's understanding of job expectations and the process for fulfilling these expectations. That's difficult to say. The process for fulfilling these expectations. There we go. I said it successfully. Don't ask me to say it again. The process for fulfilling these expectations and the consequences of your performance are important for team effectiveness.So one more time with the correct pronunciation. An individual's understanding of job expectations, the process for fulfilling these expectations, and the consequences of their performance are important for team effectiveness. They go on to say that goals can be set at the individual or group level and must be specific Challenging. And... Attainable. Or in more simple terms, everyone needs to understand what they're supposed to do and how their managers want them to do it. There's the interesting idea in that. That goals should be challenging. Google says that in order to achieve this, leaders should regularly communicate team goals and ensure team members understand the plan for achieving them. Ensure your team meetings have a clear agenda and a designated leader. Let's listen now to some examples of people talking about these ideas.Now that we've laid out a clear roadmap for where we're going, We just need to execute on it. Now that we've laid out a clear roadmap for where we're going, We just need to execute on it. If you find yourself sailing through these targets, then we've set a couple of stretch goals for you too. If you find yourself sailing through these targets then we've set a couple of stretch goals for you too. This is a really dynamic project, so I'll make sure that I keep you up to speed if anything changes. This is a really dynamic project, so I'll make sure that I keep you up to speed if anything changes. Let's start our vocabulary discussion today with something I included in that second example. And that is the idea of a stretch. Goal. In the example, we heard, we've set a couple of stretch goals for you. We've set a couple of stretch goals for you. If something stretches your abilities, then it means it's difficult for you to achieve. Think about trying to reach something on a shelf. If a shelf is low down, then reaching that thing is easy. However, the higher the shelf is, the more you have to stretch. If it's too high, of course, you just cannot pick up what you're trying to from the shelf. But if it's just within reach, then maybe really stretching will allow you to pick up that thing. We take this phrase or this idea and apply it to trying to achieve things more generally. For instance. If I have a really busy day on Wednesday, and you ask me if I have any time to meet for coffee, Then I might say, It'll be a stretch, but I'll try to fit it in. It'll be a stretch, but I'll try to fit it in.So, you can probably guess that a stretch goal is one that challenges you and is difficult to achieve. Usually when planning, these kind of goals are in addition to your regular goals. They're nice to hit, but not at all essential. In fact, if you are hitting these goals every week or month, for instance, then they're probably not stretching you enough. In the third example: I described a project as very... Dynamic. Very dynamic. In the example, we heard "This project is really dynamic." This project is really dynamic. What did I mean by this? The word dynamic. Is used a lot in professional contexts. And has slightly different meanings depending on what we're describing. For instance: If we describe a team or a person as dynamic, then we mean that they are full of energy and new ideas. Everyone wants to work on a dynamic team. That's the kind of team that makes you want to come to work. If I describe a project or a situation as dynamic, however, I mean that it has a lot of moving parts. It's constantly changing and requires people to be updated. If I'm writing a book about a news story from 50 years ago, This probably won't be very dynamic. Everything is finished. Nothing is changing. However, if I'm a news presenter, telling you about a new story from just the past few hours, then there's a good chance that it's dynamic and changing all the time. Lots of new information is being found out and being discovered. We can therefore see how sometimes bad situations in the workplace can be described as dynamic. In the third example, I used the phrase "to keep someone up to speed". In the example, we heard, "I'll make sure that I keep you up to speed if anything changes." I'll make sure that I keep you up to speed if anything changes. To explain this, I want you to imagine a highway on ramp, or a motorway on ramp.So, what is an on-ramp? Well. If you're driving and joining a highway, one of those big wide roads that go between cities, then... An unramp is the small road that you drive down in order to join this much bigger road. Now the traffic on the motorway or the highway, is almost certainly going faster than you. In order to join this traffic, you need to accelerate. You need to start driving a lot faster. We can say that you need to get up to speed. We can take this idea and use it in a workplace context. Anyone who has all the newest relevant information is up to speed. They're already on that motorway and driving fast. However, If you don't have this information, then you need to get up to speed. Maybe someone could tell you this information. In which case, they would be bringing you up to speed. And of course, if someone wants to confirm that you know what's going on in a particular situation, then they might ask you, are you up to speed on everything? Are you up to speed on everything? This can happen if you're joining a team for the first time or maybe you're coming back from a holiday or vacation. And if you need to speak English at work, but it's a bit too much of a stretch. Then maybe we can work together. My full-time job is helping international professionals who use English at work to improve their communication skills. If you need English to do your job, but you don't speak it natively, then I'd love to meet you. If you'd like to book some time to meet with me through one-to-one video calls, just you and me, then you can go to BreakoutBusinessEnglish.com. That's the title of the podcast, BreakoutBusinessEnglish.com, and find out more. Starting on our very first call. We can focus on the specific opportunities that you personally have to improve your English and communication skills. And the mistakes that you make most often, or cause the biggest problems with your communication. And right now, you can use the code PODCAST30, that's PODCAST30, all one word, at checkout to get a 30% discount off your first booking of 30, 45 or 60 minutes, whichever is best for you.Sometimes my calendar gets a little busy, so if you have trouble finding a time that works for you can always send me a message through the contact page on the website and ask if I have any time to fit you in. I've worked with well over 1,000 non-native English-speaking professionals, from new graduates up to CEOs and government leaders, to help them achieve their goals, and I look forward to meeting you. Let's discuss the fourth conclusion of Google. And this is that Our work needs to have meaning. Google say that finding a sense of purpose in either the work itself or the output is important for team effectiveness. The meaning of work is personal. And can vary. It can include financial security, supporting family, helping the team succeed, or self-expression for each individual, for example. The researchers say: That two of the ways that we can achieve this are to give team members positive feedback on something outstanding they are doing. And to offer to help them with something they struggle with. Managers can publicly express their gratitude for colleagues who helped out. Let's listen now to some great examples of how we can talk about these ideas. You've got a couple of pieces of work outstanding this week. But you've done some outstanding work so far. You've got a couple of pieces of work outstanding this week. But you've done some outstanding work so far. I want to give a shout out to Emma for the great work she's done this week. Thanks for going the extra mile. I want to give a shout out to Emma for the great work she's done this week. Thanks for going the extra mile. The project you're working on really is central to what we're trying to achieve, so feel free to give me a shout if there's anything I can do to help. The project you're working on really is central to what we're trying to achieve.So feel free to give me a shout if there's anything I can do to help. Okay, I'm guessing that first example was a little confusing. And I wrote it that way intentionally.So if you found it confusing, then that's great. It means that you were paying attention.So thanks for that. It's confusing because the adjective 'outstanding' has a couple of meanings depending on what we're talking about, so context really is important here. The first meaning of OUTSTANDING. Is that something has not yet been completed or maybe submitted. If you're trying to pay off a debt, for instance, then you might have paid most of it, but still have maybe 100 euros. Outstanding. You still have 100 euros outstanding. Right now, looking at my to-do list for the day, I've completed most of the things that I want to do. I have a couple of messages from people I am working with still outstanding, so those need replying to by the end of the day. And this podcast script is, of course, outstanding. I need to finish recording this by the end of the day. In the first part of the sentence, you've got a couple of pieces of work outstanding. This is what we mean. A couple of pieces of work that we're expecting you to complete. However, in the second half of the first example, we heard this: You've done some outstanding work so far. You've done some outstanding work so far. In this context, outstanding means great. Fantastic. Awesome. Maybe you've seen the movie Forrest Gump. From 1994. At one point in the movie, Forrest joins the army and is asked by a senior officer, "What is your purpose in this army?" To which Forrest Gump replies, to do whatever you tell me to do. The officer, obviously very happy with this response, replies, "That's the most outstanding answer I've ever heard." That's the most outstanding answer I've ever heard. Definitely a fantastic movie and one that I'm more than happy to reference vocabulary from. There is an important grammar point in the first example. Notice that I said "You've got a couple of pieces of work outstanding" not "You've got a couple of works outstanding". Work is usually an uncountable noun.Like information, knowledge, advice, and feedback. Therefore, we can't just add an "s" to the end of it to make it countable. Instead, we can add the word 'peace' before it and count it like that instead. Similarly, I couldn't say "My boss gave me three great feedbacks" that would be a mistake. You could instead say, my boss gave me three great pieces of feedback. Or if you want to be more general, my boss gave me some great feedback. Let's discuss the phrase to give a shout out. Which we heard in the third example. In the example, we heard, "I want to give a shout out to Emma for the great work she's done this week." I want to give a shout out to Emma for the great work she's done this week. If you shout someone out, You give them public praise and thanks for something they've done. I mentioned the movie Forest Gump a moment ago in the podcast.Well, one place we hear a lot of shoutouts is the Oscars. Every year people thank their friends and family, they shout out their colleagues and give shoutouts to everyone who worked on their movies. This is one that I know a lot of people are already familiar with, so what I want to note here is that it can be used as a verb or as a noun. And I've used it as both over the past couple of minutes.So, I can shout someone out, Aw. I can give a shout out to someone. Both have the same meaning, they're just slightly different grammar structures. In the third example, we heard another phrase using the word shout, and this was to give someone a shout. In the example we heard, "Feel free to give me a shout if there's anything I can do to help." Feel free to give me a shout if there's anything I can do to help. There's only a small difference between this and our last phrase. All we've really done is to remove the preposition 'out'.So what do I mean if I tell you that you can give me a shout? Quite simply, I mean to contact me. If we work in the same physical office space, then give me a shout might mean to come to my desk, or maybe literally shout across the office to me. However, it can mean to Dall-E or maybe send me an email.So if we're working together, then I might say, hey, give me a shout if you have any questions before our next session. And by that, I mean, send me an email, maybe send me a WhatsApp. Get in touch with me however you can. And don't forget to give me a shout if you want to work with me to improve your English communication skills. To book a session, you can go to www.breakoutbusinessenglish.com. That's the title of the podcast, breakoutbusinessenglish.com. Or you can click the link down in the show notes. And you can use the code PODCAST30, that's PODCAST30, at checkout to get a 30% discount off your first booking. I've worked with well over 1,000 non-native English-speaking professionals, from new graduates up to CEOs and government leaders, to help them to achieve their goals, and I look forward to meeting you. If you want a free example of the kind of work that we can do together, then you can send me a three-minute video of yourself speaking for an analysis and review on YouTube.So this week, I've got an analysis video of the English skills of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. So feel free to go to the Breakout Business English YouTube channel and take a look at that. I'm looking for podcast listeners who want to get involved. If you're interested in taking part, then you can go to breakoutbusinessenglish.com/contact and let me know that you're interested, and we'll arrange for you to send me over a short video answering a question, giving me an example of your English, and we'll analyze that and review that on the channel. If you're listening on Apple Podcasts, then I invite you to leave a review. Every review really helps me out and helps to push the podcast to new listeners and to grow the show. If you found this podcast useful, and you think that there are some valuable ideas in here, then feel free to just leave a star review. Or maybe if you like, write a couple of kind words and I thank you in Advance. That's a great place to request a topic for a future podcast, if you would like. That's it for today. Thanks a lot, as always, for listening. And thank you so much for your time. I know how valuable it is. And I'll talk to you again next time on the Breakout Business English podcast.