Practice Listening Business English Exercises for B1 – Leadership

1   They are preparing for a presentation to senior management at the end of the month.

2   To decide which information John will present and which tasks each of them will do to prepare.

3

      a   focus on the goal

      b   collect ideas

      c   discuss the ideas

      d   choose the best options

      e   assign tasks

Audioscript

J = John   P = Philippe   B = Bettina   A = Angela

J:   Thanks, everyone, for coming to this special meeting today.

P:   No problem. Happy to be here.

B:   Sure.

J:   There is a management meeting at the end of the month and I have to present a short update on our team and our current project. I called this meeting because I need your help to prepare the presentation, and I want to give the most accurate update, while also representing the successes our team has had recently.

A:   OK, how can we help?

J:   Well, ideally, the goal for this meeting is to decide which information we want to present to senior management, and which tasks each of you will do to prepare.

P:   OK, sounds good.

J:   So, we have one hour. Let’s start by first focusing on our goal in a little more detail. Then, I’d like to collect your ideas on what we should present. After that, we can discuss your ideas and mine. Next, we’ll choose the best options, and then finally we can assign tasks for each of you to do in advance of the management meeting. Does that process sound alright?

All:   Yes.

J:   OK, let’s begin by thinking about the management meeting and what our goal actually is.

2, 3, 4, 7

Audioscript

A = Angela   P = Philippe   J = John   B = Bettina

A:   So I think we should include some information about the delay in finishing the new designs as that has had a …

P:   No, we shouldn’t do that. We don’t want to draw attention to our mistakes. I think we should focus on different facts of the …

J:   Philippe, I understand what you’re staying is important, but please let Angela finish. We can come to you next, OK?

P:   OK, sure, fine.

J:   OK, Angela, back to you. Could you try to limit your overview to about two minutes? We need to keep an eye on the clock.

A:   No problem. Thanks, John. So, as I was saying, I think we should at least explain that there were delays because they had an effect on the next steps of the project, which meant that we all had to work overtime to get back on track.

J:   Yes, that’s a good idea, I’ll need to explain the increase in costs due to overtime. OK, back to you Philippe.

P:   Thanks, John. Well, as I was trying to say, we need to be careful about the negative information we present. We don’t want to focus on the negative elements of the past, risk getting in trouble or even worse, we could have our budgets cut.

B:   Wait a minute. Who said anything about budgets being cut?

P:   Don’t interrupt me, Bettina.

J:   OK, OK, you two, take it easy. I know you’re both passionate about this, but we need to allow each other time to speak.

P:   Yes, I agree. And I am not finished. I just wanted to say that I think we should instead focus on the fact that we ran into some difficulties, but we got the designs finished and the project is now running smoothly.

J:   OK, thanks, Philippe. Good idea.

B:   I need my budget to pay for the market research we already agreed on.

J:   Bettina, I understand your concern, but the market research has already been commissioned and the results are also expected back next week. No one has said we need to reduce the budgets. The market research results aren’t on today’s agenda, so can we talk about that when the results come back in? In the meantime, can you give us a brief update on what you’ll be working on in the project for the next couple of weeks?

C

The action points were:

Angela – prepare two slides on the designs update.

Philippe – prepare an overview of the media campaign and the timeline for what will happen.

Bettina – prepare an overview of the market research results.

John – prepare some brief information on the overall timeline and where they expect to be in the next two months.

D

1, 4, 5, 6

Audioscript

J = John   P = Philippe   A = Angela   B = Bettina

J:   Thanks, everyone. This has been a very productive meeting. It was useful to talk through both our successes and areas for concern. I need to be able to present a realistic, but positive, picture of our team’s activity at the management meeting.

P:   Thanks, John. Yes, it’s been good to talk through everything.

J:   OK, so the action points from this meeting are: Angela, you’ll prepare two slides on the designs update. I’ll mention that there were delays that we are now on top of, but the main focus should be on the positive outcome of the designs and the next steps.

A:   Right.

J:   Philippe, you’ll prepare an overview of the media campaign we’re planning and the timeline for what will happen.

P:   OK.

J:   And Bettina, you’ll prepare an overview of the market research results. Hopefully they’ll confirm what we think about the market and give some further information.

B:   Sure. I hope to have them on Wednesday, so that will give me time to review them and send you the most important points.

J:   Great. So, is everyone OK with their tasks?

All:   Yes./Sure.

J:   Does anyone have any questions about what they have to do? Or need any support?

All:   No.

J:   OK, great. And I’ll prepare some brief information on the overall timeline and where we expect to be in the next two months. Let’s meet again to finalise everything at 2 p.m. on Friday next week. Please send me your completed tasks before close of business on Thursday.

A:   Sure.

P:   No problem.

B:   Fine.

J:   OK, thanks, everyone.

A

Cris Martinez is Senior Finance Manager. (He says he reports to the Chief Financial Officer.)

Alex Cortés is Operations Manager. (She has to make sure the day-to-day business runs smoothly and she negotiates with suppliers and clients.)

Danni Lee is a Trainee Sales Manager. (He graduated and joined the company recently so we can assume he is in a relatively junior position.)

B

1 (generic) training  2 network   3 (other) senior managers

4 talent development   5 better results   6 suppliers and clients

7 communicating in English   8 fluency   9 the right things

10 (quite) stressed   11 Excel   12 lead a team

C

Cris Martinez seems most resistant because he has done a lot of training in the past and wants something different. His suggestion for a network of mutually supporting senior managers is something many top companies have implemented.

Audioscript

HR = Human Resources Manager   CM = Cris Martinez   AC = Alex Cortés   DL = Danni Lee

1   Cris Martinez

HR:   Have you had any thoughts about your current training needs, Cris?

CM:   Well, these days I’m responsible for formulating our long-term business plans and, as you know, I report directly to the Chief Financial O­fficer. I’ve done a lot of generic training courses in core management skills over the years. Now I need something more practical than sitting down all day in a training room looking at PowerPoint slides and doing roleplays.

HR:   I see. So, regular training courses are not of interest to you?

CM:   No, no, no. I want to tie my leadership development to my real-world projects. It’d be good to be able to build up a network with other senior managers in Grupo Tula around the world to share ideas, … and problems and solutions.

HR:   So, a support network of peers would interest you?

CM:   That’s right! We can learn a lot from each other’s experiences. One key role of senior executives is managing change and I think we can support each other with this. It would be good to get the perspective of executives with diverse cultural and business perspectives.

HR:   At the same time, you have a great deal of knowledge and expertise which you could pass on.

CM:   Yes, that’s true. Of course I believe that talent development should be a part of a senior manager’s job. It’s just getting the time to do it, isn’t it?

2   Alex Cortés

HR:   What type of training would interest you Alex, and why?

AC:   My job essentially is to make sure the day-to-day business runs smoothly, which includes overseeing a lot of staff. I know the technical side of my job well. So, I’d like to do something new to improve my leadership skills. I want to help my staff develop, get better results from them, and not just focus on completing the task.

HR:   Right. So you want to help your staff improve their performance?

AC:   That’s it!

HR:   Anything else you might like to do?

AC:   Yes, well, a big part of my work is negotiating deals with suppliers and clients and more and more of them are outside Mexico nowadays. I can see why the company has adopted English as the o­fficial language since the merger, but I don’t feel as confident communicating in English as I do in Spanish, particularly in meetings and when I’m giving presentations. I know I’m really going to need to do something to improve my fluency if I’m going to progress through management levels in the future.

HR:   Yes, I think a lot of people are going to want more English language training now. By the way, have you been back to Spain recently?

AC:   No, but my parents are coming here next month. It’ll be good to see them again!

HR:   I can imagine.

3   Danni Lee

HR:   So, Danni how are you adapting to life in Mexico? A bit different from Wisconsin, right?

DL:   It’s been great! Everyone’s so helpful and friendly.

HR:   That’s good to hear. Now tell me a bit about yourself. I see you have a degree in business administration and started here six months ago in the sales division. How’s that going?

DL:   I really love the work, but I’m not always sure what I’m supposed to be doing or if I’m focusing on the right things. I have so many demands on my time and I feel quite stressed by it all. I work really long hours but I don’t think that’s what I should be doing either because I have no life outside the o­ffice at the end of the day.

HR:   I see. That’s not good. It sounds like you need some help with those issues.

DL:   And you know, I don’t know why they didn’t teach us more practical computer skills at university, like Excel. It would really help me a lot with my job now.

HR:   Maybe some on-the-job training would be an idea or an online course?

DL:   Yeah, I’m sure I could pick it up quickly enough with some help. I’m really keen to learn as much as I can. At the moment I don’t manage any staff but I’m quite ambitious. I’d like to lead a team one day so I’d like to know more about what that involves.

Type 1: 1 b   2 a   3 b   4 b   5 a

Type 2: 1 a   2 a   3 a   4 b   5 b

Type 3: 1 a   2 a   3 a   4 b   5 a

Audioscript

In today’s training session, we’re going to look at three different types of leader – how they work, their strengths and weaknesses, and the areas or business in which they are most successful.

The first type of leader, commonly known as the authoritarian, or autocratic, leader, believes in a hierarchical structure where decisions are passed down from senior management to the rest of the staff. They are performance-focused, that is they put the company’s performance before other considerations such as staff morale or career development.

They don’t regard other people’s feelings as important and do not show emotion. They tend to distance themselves from their staff and are usually seen only when giving presentations or on important social occasions. In some companies this kind of leader may be valued for being cool under pressure and able to make tough decisions and make them quickly. They are also valued for achieving targets and being highly profitable. This type of leadership tends to work best in areas such as production which involves manual or automated labour where there is less face-to-face contact. In more extreme cases, this type of leader may have a very low level of empathy and make decisions that damage the morale of the company and lead to long-term dissatisfaction even though short-term aims are achieved.

Next, we have the democratic leader. They enjoy open communication and sharing responsibility. They also enjoy risk-taking and thinking of new and perhaps radical solutions. They give their staff freedom to work in a way that best suits them but at the same time they will take responsibility and make the final decision. They are happy to mentor less experienced team members and believe that training and long-term career development is important. They have a high level of empathy and do show their emotions.

When a project is successful, they are happy to share the credit with their team and recognise and reward the performance of talented team members. They are not as focused on profit-orientated performance as autocratic leaders and may not be as highly valued by a company because they may not meet their targets and deadlines as reliably. However, the quality of what they produce tends to be higher than that produced under autocratic leadership. They are generally more successful in flat company structures working in creative areas such as product development and design.

At the other end of the scale, there are the leaders who delegate responsibility and pass on decision making to their team members, the delegative leader. They provide helpful guidance to team members if they request it and they will make sure that the team has all the resources that they need to do the job. This kind of leadership tends to work best when the team members are highly skilled, highly motivated and mature enough to take responsibility for their actions, for example technicians in a research laboratory. It tends to work less well when team members are less experienced and need the support of someone more experienced. In these cases, a delegative style may lead to poor motivation and lack of direction.

Speaker 1: Democratic

Speaker 2: Delegative

Speaker 3: Authoritarian

Audioscript

OK. Let’s move on to the next part of this session. I would like you to imagine this situation at work. The manager of a medium-sized department in a large company receives a memo from headquarters saying their office has to downsize and reduce staff numbers from 30 to 25, which means firing five people. Now, thinking about the description of the three types of leader we looked at in the first session, what would each type of leader do? Let’s listen and find out.

Speaker 1

I would ask everyone to attend a meeting and explain the situation. I’d ask everyone to express their opinion and to suggest some creative solutions. I would ask them whether they would consider the idea of job sharing – two people doing one job. I think an open and direct discussion should be encouraged and would take their ideas on board. I would weigh up the pros and cons after the meeting and then let them know my decision.

Speaker 2

I would send an email to everyone explaining the situation. I would ask the team to organise a meeting to discuss what they want to do and then let me know. I would then pass their request on to the Human Resources department. If Human Resources did not accept the team’s suggestion, I would ask the team to meet again and come up with another proposal.

Speaker 3

I would check the performance records of the whole team and choose the five people I think are underperformers. I would pass the list on to the Human Resources department and ask them to send the five people a letter saying that their employment will be terminated at the end of the legally required period of one month.

1 b   2 c   3 a   4 b   5 b

Audioscript

1   I think you did a really good job.

      A   I’ll bear that in mind.

      B   That’s good to hear. Thanks.

      C   I thought I’d done that.

2   I think in the future if you give us more time, it might help.

      A   I’m glad you find it useful.

      B   Thanks for your support.

      C   Right, I’ll bear that in mind.

3   It was good that you asked Philip to help you.

      A   I’m happy you feel that.

      B   Not a big deal.

      C   Can you be more specific?

4   What I’m saying is that you often waited until things were urgent.

      A   Thanks, I’m happy you feel that.

      B   Right. I’ll take those comments into account.

      C   Great! Thanks for that.

5   I don’t think you understand how busy I am.

      A   I appreciate that, thanks.

      B   Sorry, I’ll bear that in mind.

      C   I’m happy you feel that.

1 Chaudhary   2 Supervisor   3 twelve/12

4 deadlines   5 budget   6 interpersonal

7 delegate   8 British

Audioscript

Listen to a man being interviewed for a job.

A:   Good morning. Thanks for coming to see us about the Project Manager position.

B:   Thanks for the opportunity.

A:   So, you’re Deepak Chandry?

B:   No, it’s Chaudhary actually: C-H-A-U-D-H-AR-Y.

A:   Ah yes, sorry. And I see that you’ve got a management diploma from a university here in the UK.

B:   Yes, I have.

A:   That’s good. You’ve been working as a Project Supervisor in our Indian subsidiary. Is that right?

B:   Well, I started as an Engineer on one of the project teams and have worked my way up from there.

A:   What sort of management skills do you think you have?

B:   Well, as Supervisor, I’ve been responsible for twelve people. We work together and support each other as much as we can. I like to think that they can ask me anything and that we solve problems together. I think this has worked because we’ve managed to meet all our deadlines.

A:   That’s quite an achievement. Well done!

B:   I guess I’m doing something right because we’ve never gone over budget and, in fact, we’ve been under a couple of times.

A:   That’s what we like to hear. What would you say is your biggest strength?

B:   Well, I think I understand people well and my interpersonal skills are very good. Because I worked my way up, I know what it’s like to have a supervisor who just shouts out orders and doesn’t help you. I do the opposite. My team respect me for that.

A:   And your greatest weakness?

B:   That’s a difficult one. But something that my team sometimes say to me is that I should delegate more as I spend nearly every evening catching up with work and checking my team’s work.

A:   Now, I’d just like to check one thing. Do you have the legal right to work in the UK?

B:   I do, even though I was born in India, I hold a British passport. Both my parents have one and they went to England to live when I was six.

A:   Thank you.