This is the Business English Podcast, Episode 115, Teamwork English Skills for Business Success.
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Offer ends August 10th. allearsenglish.com slash connection. on like group projects or with a team, like collaborating with people?
Oh my gosh, yes. I love working with a team.
I think, you know, I'm so happy that we get to podcast together and we have our whole team.
It would be a lonely job podcasting alone or doing our work alone.
Don't you think, Michelle? I don't know.
Yeah, we would, that would be, yeah, no, that would not be very fun.
The whole fun of, I don't know what I would do if I was just by myself at the mic talking about English.
Like it just wouldn't, No, we need we need each other.
You need people. I mean, a lot of people do it.
A lot of people run their own podcast, just a solo teacher or solo podcaster.
But it wouldn't work for me. I need the chemistry.
I need the connection. Right. We need this connection.
We need this conversation. So basically, I love collaboration and team projects.
So, yeah, sometimes at work or at school, actually, we might be assigned something and we have a team project working on something special with someone and you need to split up the workload.
Like who's who's going to do what? I mean, it's OK to split up the workload, right?
Like or do you think it's important to do every part of, you know, a project together?
Yeah. Yeah, it's okay. I think it's totally okay with some caveats.
This reminds me of graduate school a lot.
Graduate school is a time I knew you did graduate school in New York.
And that's a time when everyone is working a job.
Some people have families already, but you also have a full workload.
And most of your work is group projects.
At least that was my experience. So yeah, challenging.
Yes, it can be challenging. So you kind of have to divide and conquer, as people might say.
So we're going to talk about that and how to do that today.
What's the language you can use? What are the steps you can take?
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So good. So there is another episode, by the way, that our listeners should check out.
What is that episode? Yes, episode 84 is avoid misunderstandings in business English with this adverb advice.
So talking about misunderstandings kind of made me think of this episode because we want to make sure we know what we're doing and what tasks we should do as a part of the team.
Yeah, I think in general, just as a bottom line, you know, splitting things up works as long as everyone is sort of proactive in doing their part and also sort of grabbing, like understanding what, as long as everyone sees the big picture.
It doesn't quite work if you just do your own work and kind of just like stay in your silo, right?
You have your work, plus you also have to understand what's new coming up.
Like you need, you kind of need that to make group work work.
And I think also just, yeah, knowing then how it all fits together.
Don't just, you know, like I do your part, you do your part, and then we'll meet together on presentation day and we've never reviewed it together, given each other feedback, like gone over things together.
So I think there's the, okay, we can do certain things apart, but let's not forget the team aspect of it.
Mm-hmm. Yeah, 100%. I agree with that. So you kind of need, this goes for the workplace as well as graduate programs, PhD programs, you kind of need a project manager, someone overseeing everything.
But then each person kind of needs to be plugged into the big picture too, I think.
Yeah, true. Yeah, I agree. So guys, how do you split up this work?
And how do you make sure that it's fair?
I mean, I think it starts with just, you know, from the beginning, you got to assess the product project as a whole, maybe just have a meeting about it, make a list of the tasks.
Maybe how long each task should take or how much time, how much effort.
And then once you have everything, then you can divide it fairly.
Maybe you divide it based on how much time.
Maybe you divide it based on interest or strengths.
We talk a lot about it at All Ears English, right?
What can get done most efficiently? Maybe somebody has... is really good at you know you're making a presentation someone's really good at you know photoshop and all that stuff they're you know maybe put them on the visual aspect and so lots of different ways to think about dividing up tasks strategically Yeah.
Be strategic in how you use people's time and you, you know, make sure, yeah, make sure the true expert on that thing is working on that thing.
That just gets the work done faster and the work will be better in the long run.
Yeah. Yeah. So, I mean, what can, what can you say?
Let's talk about some ways that we can actually, some phrases we can use, how we can bring these things up.
Okay, here we go. So first one, you say what we need to do, right?
So guys, write these down. You're going to want these at work.
So we need to do, we need to X, Y, and Z. We need to, you know, write the outline.
We need to research the vocabulary and we need to get new microphones, right?
Yeah, right, right. So you're listing the tasks.
So that's a great way to just get it started.
And then so thinking about asking people what they want to do, you might want to say, do you want to get started on X and I'll do Y. So for example, Lindsay, do you want to get started on the chart and pictures and I'll do the surveys?
Right. Good. So that feels kind of collaborative, right?
Do you want to do this? It's kind of, it's not saying you do this all the time, right?
Did you have any situations in graduate school where someone kind of took over a little too forcefully in those groups for you?
I can't think of anyone in particular, a specific situation, but I've certainly been in groups where that's happened.
And it's like, it's always, um, interesting to figure out your role in a group and are you going to be more of a leader, a follower, how much, you know, and I think it can be, I don't necessarily think people always fit into one role.
Maybe in one situation you, you know, or, or maybe you're just more comfortable in a certain situation.
You're more comfortable taking that leadership role next time you sit back or could be depending on the group you're in.
Maybe someone is naturally like always takes that leader role and you're just like, whatever.
Right, right. That's an interesting conversation, right?
Because I think it's more often that it would depend on the situation.
What's the project about? Is it about something that you're more of an expert in than anyone else?
In that case, it makes sense that you take on the leadership role.
I think it's more rare that you find that someone takes on the leadership role in everything, like in community, let's say. you belong to an HOA in your community, your neighborhood, going to be a leader of that.
And then you're a leader at work and you're a leader in your school board.
It's just, I feel like that's more rare, that kind of, and I don't know if that's the right thing.
Why should that one person be a leader of all those things?
They can't be experts in all those things.
True. Yeah. It's really interesting. So anyways, okay.
So Michelle, what else? Hold on. Let's take a quick break and we'll come right back.
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Exclusions apply. See details online. All right, Michelle, what's next?
All right. So another thing you could do is ask them just honestly, you know, are you interested in starting with any of these tasks in particular?
So this one is nice. I mean, it's just saying like, what are you like?
You know, you know, maybe there's something that you're drawn to.
Yeah, it's a good way to start off a relationship, a working relationship by showing respect.
Or what's another thing you could say? You could say, how do you think we should split this all up?
You just throw it back to them. That's yeah.
Yeah. Or or maybe you start with something you choose something you like first.
So I'm happy to start with X. Do you want to do Y?
So I'm happy to start with the pictures.
Do you want to do the charts? That was very common in graduate school that someone would just say, I'm happy to do this or I'll do this.
Do you want to do that? It's more straightforward.
You're kind of grabbing what you want to do. or maybe we should work together on X, then I'll do Y and you'll do Z. Maybe we should work together on the surveys and then I'll do the charts and you'll do the pictures.
How does that sound? How does that sound?
Yeah, and that's a good bonus there. How does that sound, right?
Just to check in, make sure that, you know, it's good to take a leadership role to kind of come up with those ideas, but to always just say, well, you know, how does that sound to you?
Yeah, you really need those phrases. That could be another episode.
If you are a leader at work, or in your community, what are the phrases where if you're going ahead and taking charge, making sure you're not tone deaf, that you're not missing things from the group, are they okay with how you're assigning tasks?
We need those phrases to just check in, get a little gut check, right, Michelle?
Yeah. So maybe I'll save that next one as a secret.
I wrote one here. So maybe I'll save that for a follow-up.
Okay. So Lindsay, so why is all of this important?
Why is this really important to talk about? we walk a fine line and that's a great bonus for our listeners we walk a really fine line it's like a tightrope between being collaborative or taking charge too much taking over taking over is a way of taking you know so you need to constantly be negotiating at work between those two things am i pushing too much am i am i participating too little Is it just right?
And there are certain signals we can get through language or through body language that we can figure that out.
But it's really important to get the right balance.
Absolutely, absolutely. So let's do a role play, see how this would all fit together.
We're not going to use every single one.
We taught a bunch. Let's use some of the main ones.
So here you and I are working together on a project at work.
Here we go. So we need to do the spreadsheets, the proposal, and find the articles.
Yes, it's a lot, but we got this. How do you think we should split this all up?
Do you want to get started on the spreadsheet and I'll look for the articles?
Well, maybe we should work together on the articles.
How does that sound? Oh, that sounds great.
I'm happy to start with the proposal. Do you want to do the spreadsheets?
Yeah, perfect. Well, that went pretty well, right?
Yeah, we were all thrilled. I'm not sure if it normally goes that smooth way, right?
Right, right. Not necessarily. It sounds like maybe we worked together before.
Yeah, I mean, I think people start these group projects with good intentions and, you know, life gets in the way sometimes, especially in an educational scenario.
If you're a student, it's just hard, especially when you get to those higher levels.
I know, Michelle, we have a lot of listeners who are in PhD programs, graduate programs, scientists, academic labs.
People are juggling a lot, right? Right.
So you really have to, if something doesn't work, you kind of have to stand up for yourself and say if something doesn't work for you. yeah okay so what did we say i said so we need to do the spreadsheets the proposals and find the article so i'm just saying everything we need to do right and then i said how do you think we should split this all up and then i went right into another one was do you want to get started out of the pot on the spreadsheet and i'll look for the articles Yeah.
Or the other strategy could just say, how should we split this up?
Right. How do you think we should split this up?
And then just listen to get a sense of what they're thinking.
Right. You know, it's always interesting.
Yeah. Because sometimes we don't know what people are thinking.
We just have no idea what's going through people's heads.
So if you can throw out something, just be like, tell me what's on your mind.
How do you think this will happen? We'll go down.
That will be useful for you to see where they're at.
Yeah. And then what did you say? Well, maybe we should work together on the articles.
How does that sound? Yeah. So the how does that sound?
So here you're saying let's work together.
And then I said, I'm happy to start with a proposal.
Do you want to do the spreadsheets? So I'm happy to X.
Yeah, very common, right? I'm happy to do X. I'm happy.
We use this all the time, don't we? Yeah.
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, I always think about that one.
Maybe I'll make an episode about that at some point.
I think we should do an episode on that.
I'm happy to do this. Sometimes when I use that, I feel like a little funny.
Sometimes I'll take it out and it's because I feel like it can sound not in this scenario.
I think this sounds pretty good. But like there are times when I say that and then I take it out and I'm not sure why.
Well, I think there is something there. I think there's an episode there, probably a Business English episode, maybe Allers English, but let's go into that another day.
That's why our listeners should hit follow.
Yeah. Leave you guys on the edge of your seats.
All right. So for takeaway today, what's the main idea that our listeners should come away with?
Guys, collaboration is huge at work. You want to be good at collaborating with others at that team work.
And we want to be fair how we divide things.
And so today we gave you some strategies, like kind of a system of how you might do it, what should you do first, different ways that you can split things up and the phrases, expressions you can use.
And then also the takeaway is think about your role on teams.
Do you always take that leadership role?
Are there times when you should take that leadership role or when you should step back a little bit?
So lots of things to think about. Anything else, Lindsay?
Yeah, there's one other thing I want our listeners to think about here, and it's our cultural scripts.
So guys, you know, you might come from a culture or a corporate culture because they could be different within countries where the natural template or the script is for the more senior person. to take control in a group.
Let's say you come from different departments, but we know this person has been working at that company for 30 years.
So in some countries and cultures and corporations, it would be implied that that person would take charge.
That's not necessarily true in American business culture or English speaking business culture.
So think about what is the script you're coming into business with. check your culture, right?
Check your culture. Check that out. Have a think about that, right?
Because we need to know what are we assuming that may not be true about what our partners think is true.
That's really interesting. Yeah. Yes. Okay.
I'm glad you brought that up. Yeah. That's a great for the takeaway guys.
So while we wish you happy, happy teamwork.
It's fun working on teams in the end. It's better, right?
Yeah. I think so too. Yeah, good stuff.
All right, Michelle, I'll talk to you soon.
Have a good day. All right. Bye, Lindsay.
Bye, guys. Bye. Thank you for listening to Business English, a podcast just for you, the high achieving global professional.
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