You're listening to Business English Pod, the Business English podcast for professionals on the move.
Hello, and welcome back to Business English Pod.
My name's Edwin and I'll be your host for today's lesson on English collocations for discussing change management.
Change is a constant.
Nowhere is this more true than in business.
Just look at the list of Fortune 500 companies from 50 years ago.
You might be surprised by how many of those well-known companies are now gone.
So what's the difference between a company that survives and one that dies?
A lot of it is about how they manage change.
In this lesson we'll listen to a meeting featuring three colleagues who are trying to figure out how to restructure their company.
During the discussion, you'll hear lots of useful expressions that we call collocations.
And what is a collocation?
Well, it's just a group of words that go together naturally.
You heard me use the expression, restructure a company.
That's a collocation.
The words go together as one expression.
Native speakers learn collocations naturally.
They simply repeat expressions that they've heard hundreds of times.
If English is your second language, however, it might not come so automatically.
But by studying collocations you can improve your vocabulary and sound more fluent at the same time.
As you listen to today's conversation, try to pick out some of these collocations and we'll discuss them later in the debrief.
In the dialogue, we'll hear Jake, Finn, and Lauren.
The company they founded has grown and now they need to carefully manage the transition to a larger company.
As you listen to the dialogue, try to answer the following questions.
One, what does Finn think is required to manage change in their company?
Two, what does Lauren say is the first step in change management?
Three, what does Jake believe is driving change in the company?
Okay.
So I think what we need to do today understanding that this whole thing is not a quick process is figure out a general approach to restructuring the business.
Agreed.
It's not just about aligning roles and renaming a few departments.
No, of course not.
Right.
I mean, it requires a cultural shift.
People need to renegotiate how they relate, how they communicate with each other.
Everything.
Everything.
For sure.
That will be difficult for some people.
So, if we want to transition effectively, we need to help people make that cultural shift.
It's a change management issue.
Precisely.
So, as we've always said, all change management starts with… Creating a sense of urgency.
Helping people understand that change is necessary.
Right.
Okay, hold on.
Sometimes that sense of urgency is used to sell change, get people on board with changes that have already been decided.
But I don't think we should adopt traditional strategies here.
How do you mean exactly?
Well, it's not just about helping people make that shift, as you put it.
It's about making employees themselves agents of change.
Doing that means consulting with them about how all this happens.
Okay, I get that.
But we need to be careful not to create unreasonable expectations.
I know we want their input, but it's ultimately the investors that are driving this change, not employees.
Well, I would say it's our success that's driving the change.
Finn, I totally agree that we need to get people to champion some of the initiatives.
I guess what I'm getting stuck on is the difference between consulting with them or soliciting feedback and getting them to champion these changes.
Those seem like completely different goals to me.
Now let's go through the dialogue again and look at the language and collocations used during the meeting.
Okay.
So I think what we need to do today understanding that this whole thing is not a quick process is figure out a general approach to restructuring the business.
At the start of the meeting, Jake clearly identifies a group's purpose, which is to figure out how to restructure the business.
Companies grow and change, and as they do, they often need to change how they're organized.
In other words, they need to restructure.
This is especially true of growing companies.
How else can we use this collocation to restructure a business?
Let's try a few more examples.
You may want to restructure your business to take advantage of new tax laws.
Restructuring a business can be very stressful for everyone involved.
Agreed.
It's not just about aligning roles and renaming a few departments.
Finn agrees, emphasizing that the group is dealing with some major changes.
As he says, it's not just about aligning roles.
To align something means to make sure things match or line up.
When we align roles, we make sure that people's jobs are clear, coordinated and in line with company goals.
Let's try some more examples of this expression, to align roles.
The company has grown quickly, and now it's time to align roles in every department.
Since we aligned roles on our team, everyone's much clearer about their responsibilities.
Finn has more to say about what kind of changes they're dealing with.
No, of course not.
Right.
I mean, it requires a cultural shift.
People need to renegotiate how they relate, how they communicate with each other.
Everything.
Finn is talking about how people communicate and relate, or how they maintain relationships and work together.
That's all part of workplace culture, which includes attitude, behaviors and approaches in a company.
Finn is saying that restructuring the business will require a cultural shift or a change in the culture.
Let's run through a few more examples of cultural shift.
We're seeing a cultural shift in the company as the workforce becomes younger.
After several major crises, Uber has a new CEO and is attempting a cultural shift.
Now let's listen as Lauren supports Finn's point.
For sure.
That will be difficult for some people.
So if we want to transition effectively, we need to help people make that cultural shift.
It's a change management issue.
Lauren agrees that a cultural shift is important if they want to transition effectively.
Transition is another way of talking about change from one thing to another.
And if you manage that change well, then we can say you transition effectively, which is the entire goal of change management.
How else can we use the collocation to transition effectively?
Let's practice some more examples.
Even when everyone agrees change is needed, it's hard to transition effectively.
Transitioning effectively will be difficult if our employees don't understand the reasons for change.
Now back to the dialogue, as the team begins to discuss what is involved in transitioning effectively.
Precisely.
So, as we've always said, all change management starts with Creating a sense of urgency.
Helping people understand that change is necessary.
A sense of urgency is a feeling that something has to happen, especially soon.
According to many change management experts, creating this feeling is an important first step.
After all, if people think that change has to happen, then it's easier to discuss and implement changes.
Let's try some more examples of this expression to create a sense of urgency.
The cash flow crisis has created a sense of urgency for our cost cutting plan.
If you can't create a sense of urgency among the managers, they won't support the changes.
Does everyone agree that it's important to create a sense of urgency?
Let's find out.
Right.
Okay, hold on.
Sometimes that sense of urgency is used to sell change, get people on board with changes that have already been decided.
But I don't think we should adopt traditional strategies here.
Finn's not sure about this strategy of creating a sense of urgency.
He's concerned that this just means that the company leaders will decide on the changes, then make other people get on board or accept the changes.
That's a rather traditional top-down approach to change management.
But Finn doesn't want to adopt traditional strategies.
A strategy is a way of doing something, especially methods of reaching a goal.
And if you use a particular strategy, we say you adopt a strategy.
That's the natural collocation.
Let's run through a few more examples of to adopt a strategy.
Given the slow economy, we've decided to adopt a cautious growth strategy.
Any competitive strategy we adopt needs to be supported by market research.
This question of strategy, or approach to change, is an important one.
In fact, it's one of the central points of discussion for the group.
Let's hear how Finn supports his opinion.
How do you mean exactly?
Well, it's not just about helping people make that shift, as you put it.
It's about making employees themselves agents of change.
Doing that means consulting with them about how all this happens.
Consulting with employees means asking them for their opinions and ideas.
But what does it mean for employees to become agents of change?
An agent is a person or thing who does something.
So an agent of change is a person who makes change happen.
Finn's idea is that their group shouldn't decide on changes, then get people to accept them.
Rather, they should help employees make changes themselves.
Let's practice some more examples of this collocation, agent of change.
As the leading agent of change, you need confidence and a clear vision.
Does Lauren agree with Finn's approach?
Okay, I get that.
But we need to be careful not to create unreasonable expectations.
I know we want their input, but it's ultimately the investors that are driving this change, not employees.
Lauren has some concerns about Finn's approach.
She agrees that they should get employee input, but she doesn't believe it's the employees that are driving the change.
If you are driving change, you are saying it has to happen and are pushing for people to change.
You are the reason for the change.
Let's run through a few more examples of this expression to drive change.
The death of print media is driving change in newspaper companies around the world.
The union is driving a lot of the changes in safety and compliance.
We haven't heard from Jake in a while.
What does he think about their approach and how to involve employees?
Well, I would say it's our success that's driving the change.
Finn, I totally agree that we need to get people to champion some of the initiatives.
Jake is agreeing with Finn, but he uses a different expression to talk about the strategy to champion initiatives.
An initiative is a work activity, group effort or project.
As they restructure the business, there will be many initiatives involved.
Jake wants the employees themselves to champion some of these initiatives.
When you champion something, you actively support it and push it forward.
You're not just a passive observer.
You actually work for the changes because you believe in them.
What are some other ways to use to champion initiatives?
Let's practice some more examples.
I'm happy to see that many of our managers are willing to champion new initiatives.
I can't take the lead on this, Murray, but if you champion the initiative, I'll support it.
Now, as we can hear, Lauren is still not sure how much employee involvement they should aim for.
I guess what I'm getting stuck on is the difference between consulting with them or soliciting feedback and getting them to champion these changes.
Those seem like completely different goals to me.
As you can hear, Lauren is using another expression that basically means consulting with someone.
She talks about soliciting feedback.
When you solicit feedback, you show your ideas to people and ask for their opinion on them.
What's unclear to Lauren is the exact difference between soliciting feedback and getting people to champion change.
Let's run through some more ways of using this expression to solicit feedback.
You'd better solicit feedback from a colleague on your proposal before submitting it.
Well, as we've heard, it can be difficult to decide on an approach to change management.
In discussing change in their company, Jake, Finn, and Lauren have used many useful collocations.
And they'll use even more as they continue the discussion in the next lesson.
Now it's your turn to practice some of the collocations we've looked at in this lesson.
In a moment, you'll hear a series of sentences with a word replaced with a beep.
Repeat the whole sentence, including the missing word.
Remember a collocation is two or more words that we commonly use together, so pay close attention to the words before the beep.
For example, if you hear, What type of strategy are we planning to on this?
You can say, After each response, we'll provide the correct answer.
Ready?
Let's give it a go.
As we've grown in size, we've undergone a huge cultural...
Answer.
As we've grown in size, we've undergone a huge cultural shift.
It's nice to see Tom championing the new rebranding.
Answer.
It's nice to see Tom championing the new rebranding initiative.
It's hard for tech companies to transition beyond the startup phase.
Answer.
It's hard for tech companies to transition effectively beyond the startup phase.
Change management starts with creating a sense of Answer.
Change management starts with creating a sense of urgency.
You can't restructure the without help from a good accountant.
Answer.
You can't restructure the business without help from a good accountant.
That's all for this lesson on collocations for talking about change management.
We've covered lots of expressions for talking about the approaches a company can take when undergoing change.
Thanks for listening, and see you again soon.
