Welcome to the Breakout Business English podcast, where I help you to communicate better at work in English.
Hi everyone.
My name is Chris and I've personally worked with over 1000 international professionals, just like you, to improve the way that they communicate at work in English.
Thank you so much for listening today and thank you so much for your time.
I know how valuable it is.
And today is part two of our deep dive into management styles.
Last week, we took a look at two very common ways to think about and approach managing a team.
These were democratic management and autocratic management.
Today we're going to talk about some maybe more interesting and definitely less often discussed management styles.
These are laissez-faire management and transactional management.
We'll see you next time.
So, while I'm not sleeping...
Well, my dog definitely is, and you may be able to hear him while I'm recording.
Okay, so let's start with laissez-faire or laissez-faire.
I don't think it's fair of me to start the podcast with such a big, heavy French phrase like this and not explain it.
This is a piece of vocabulary that you might be familiar with if you've studied economics or indeed, if you work in the field of economics.
This is a French phrase which basically means to allow someone to do something without monitoring or supervising them.
To allow them to do whatever they want.
So this is spelled L-A-I-S-S-E-Z, FAIRE, F-A-I-R-E, if you want to search for it yourself.
When we use it to talk about economics, then we're referring to governments choosing not to regulate or supervise companies and the way that they do business.
When we apply this to management, we mean that you leave your staff to make their own decisions.
You don't tell them exactly how to do their jobs and you trust them to choose the best methods and strategies to achieve their goals, targets and KPIs.
There are actually two leadership quotes that come to mind when I think about this style of management.
First, we have the often referenced and very quotable late ceo of apple, steve jobs.
Steve jobs once said it doesn't make sense to hire smart people and then tell them what to do One more time it doesn't make sense to hire smart people and then tell them what to do.
We hire smart people so they can tell us what to do.
We also have the American military leader, General Patton, from many years ago.
I think mainly from the First World War, he's known.
And he said, don't tell people how to do things.
Tell them what to do and they will surprise you with their ingenuity.
And once again, don't tell people how to do things.
Tell them what to do and they will surprise you with their ingenuity.
The word ingenuity refers to skill for inventing things or maybe finding new ways to achieve things.
For instance, if your car breaks down and you find a way to fix it using only a plastic bag, your umbrella and a packet of chewing gum, then a mechanic might admire your ingenuity.
Maybe you've heard a very smart person referred to as a genius.
A genius.
That's another noun form.
So ingenuity is a noun.
Genius is also a noun.
Or maybe you've heard of a solution to a problem being referred to as ingenious.
Ingenious.
That's the adjective.
What an ingenious idea.
Just a quick note.
A moment ago, I referred to Steve Jobs as the late CEO of Apple.
The late CEO of Apple instead of former or ex.
When we refer to someone as late in this way, it means that they have died.
So if I tell you that I'm very grateful to my late brother for his help, this means that he's not alive anymore.
In this context, it has nothing to do with punctuality or timekeeping.
So, in the spirit of Steve Jobs and General Patton, let's listen now to some examples of managers leading in a laissez-faire style.
If you think you've got a good idea, feel free to run with it.
Don't worry about getting me to sign off on it.
I want you to use your initiative and follow your gut.
I'm here if you need anything.
I want you to use your initiative and follow your gut.
I'm here if you need anything.
I'm going to take a step back on this project and I'll only step in if something goes wrong.
Now here's a question for regular listeners of the podcast.
Have you noticed how many times we end up talking about sports when we're discussing where words and phrases come from?
There are a couple of themes that come back again and again when researching etymology.
That's the study of where words come from.
Maritime industries and shipping is definitely a common area.
However, for this one, we're back to sports.
In the first example, we heard, This one comes from American football.
If you know anything about American football, you likely know that the aim of the game is to get the ball and run toward the end zone.
And if you're lucky, you'll score a touchdown.
I'll admit that all of my knowledge of American football comes from movies and TV shows, but I'm pretty sure I know what the objective is.
So around the mid 20th century, this phrase started to take on a more figurative and metaphorical meaning.
If I run with something, I take an idea suggestion, opportunity or maybe a task and I develop it further with energy, initiative or maybe creativity.
It suggests that I'm not just accepting what's been given to me, but I'm actively moving it forward, in a very similar way to carrying a ball down the field in a football game.
For instance, I might say that a colleague had an idea and ran with it, eventually developing it into something much bigger.
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In the third example, I used two phrasal verbs.
These were to step back and to step in.
We heard I'm going to take a step back on this project and I'll only step in if something goes wrong.
One more time.
I'm going to take a step back on this project and I'll only step in if something goes wrong.
Let's start with the first one.
I think this is maybe a little more familiar to the people I work with and coach.
It's also maybe a little more clear without further explanation.
However, if I step back, then I move further away from something.
It's more difficult for me to control, even if I want to.
For instance, a manager might say that my stepping back from the project has allowed a couple of team members to really develop their leadership abilities.
My stepping back from the project has allowed a couple of team members to really develop their leadership abilities.
Another way to say this might be to be more hands off, for instance.
You've heard of hands on, meaning to get engaged, to really get involved with a project.
Well, to be hands off is to step back. step in is maybe a little less clear.
If I step in, then I intervene and get involved with something.
If I see a fight starting when I'm out in public and walking down the street, then I have two choices.
I can ignore it and tell myself that it's none of my business.
Or I can intervene.
I can intervene.
I can get involved.
And I can step in and try to prevent what is happening from continuing.
We also see this word used to talk about the way that regulators deal with the companies that they are charged with supervising and monitoring.
In most cases, the regulatory body responsible for your industry will leave you alone.
For instance, the FTC or FDA in the United States, that's the Federal Trade Commission and the Federal Commission, Hold on.
Food and Drug Administration?
Not quite.
Food and Drug Administration?
Or in Europe we have the EBA, the European Banking Authority, which regulates banks and makes sure that they are stable.
So if you break the rules or do something that you shouldn't, then regulators like this will often issue fines or other punishments.
So if your manager steps back and gives you the freedom and independence to make more of your own decisions, then you should hope that they don't have to step in later and fix the work that you've done.
And if you want me to step in and help you to improve the way that you communicate in English at work, then I would love to meet you.
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 you don't speak it natively, then I'd really like 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 breakoutbusinessenglishcom.
That's the title of the podcast, breakoutbusinessenglish.com, and find out more.
Starting on our 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.
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I've worked with over 1000 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.
Let's now turn our attention to transactional management.
Transactional management.
Let's take that adjective transactional and turn it into a noun by removing the AL from the end.
So, what is a transaction?
If I say that my colleague and I completed a transaction, or maybe that my colleague and I transacted, then what am I talking about?
A transaction is usually when one person buys something and the other person sells it to them.
In other words, when two things are exchanged, usually money and a product.
So let's add the AL back on at the end and ask, what do we mean by transactional?
If I describe someone's management style as transactional, what do I mean?
Transactional management means that performance is rewarded.
If you succeed or do what I want you to, then I will give you something in return, something beyond your regular salary or wages.
By extension, this can also mean that failure is punished.
This kind of management style can be particularly useful for short-term projects with very specific goals and targets.
I think that anyone who has worked in sales has experienced transactional management at some point in their career, especially towards the end of a month or a quarter, for instance.
This type of management can be helpful also in a crisis where the goal is specific and clearly defined and everyone has clear roles.
It is however, terrible for creativity and generally not great for long-term success either, which in many ways makes it feel like the opposite of our first style today, our laissez-faire management style.
I should say, going back to that first one, laissez faire and laissez faire are both great pronunciations of this phrase.
Laissez faire and laissez faire.
Okay, back to transactional management.
Let's listen now to a couple of examples of managers leading in a more transactional way.
I want to make this worth your while.
So there are extra vacation days up for grabs to anyone who hits all of their KPIs.
I want to make this worth your while.
So, there are extra vacation days up for grabs to anyone who hits all of their KPIs.
If the floor as a whole is able to achieve a 93% sale, we all get an additional $1.3 million apiece.
If the floor as a whole is able to achieve a 93% sale, we all get an additional $1.3 million apiece.
Did you recognize that second example?
That was from the fantastic movie Margin Call.
Margin Call, which told the story of the beginning of the 2007-2008 global financial crisis.
That was a quote from Kevin Spacey's character, offering an incentive, a bonus in what was definitely a crisis where the targets were very specific and short term and the roles were clearly defined.
In fact, a little later in that quote he mentions that by lunchtime the SEC will be in here, will be in the office.
He was saying that the regulatory body, the SEC, would step in.
In the quote he used the phrase a piece.
In the second example, we heard we get an additional $1.3 million apiece.
We all get an additional $1.3 million apiece.
If someone says that you get something a piece, they mean each or for each person.
For instance, I could tell you that I've ordered two pizzas, so we should have three slices a piece.
I've ordered two pizzas, so we should have three slices apiece.
This means that we each get three slices of pizza.
Admittedly not quite as motivating as 13 million, but I think that's a little over the budget of this podcast.
Plus, I haven't told you what's on the pizza yet.
You'll be glad to know that the main topping is pineapple.
In fact, there should be around 20 pineapple chunks apiece on these pizzas, which indeed could mean that we all get 20 pineapple chunks, or that each individual pizza has 20 pineapple chunks on it.
And I'm sure that everyone can agree with me that pineapple is one of the best pizza toppings.
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In today's episode, then you can book a session with me to work on your English communication skills by going to wwwbreakoutbusinessenglishcom that's the title of the podcast, breakoutbusinessenglishcom or you can click the link down in the show notes and use the code podcast30 at checkout to get a 30 discount off your first booking.
As I mentioned, I've worked with well over 1000 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.
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That is it for today.
Thank you so much as always for listening and for your time.
And I'll talk to you again next time on the Breakout Business English Podcast.
