Q3e Listening & Speaking 4: Audio Script

Unit 1, Note-taking Skill, Activities A and B

Page 4
Speaker: If you are a leader, then you know that highly motivated people do better
work than people who are discouraged, tired, or just unenthusiastic 1. But
how can you keep a team excited over the long haul2? How can you motivate
them to do their best? Those aren’t easy questions to answer, but here are
three simple ways to start.
First of all, make sure you’re communicating your expectations clearly. When
you explain what you expect, you’re providing your team members with a
specific goal. And this will help your team focus their energy and efforts on
what is important.
Also make sure to provide your whole team with feedback that will help
them improve. Having helpful feedback makes it easier for us to learn and
develop, and it also helps us identify and correct problems before they get
too big.
Lastly, remember to reward good work. Don’t just be a critic. Rewards can be
anything from a “thank you” to a party, a pay raise, or even a day off. Be
creative, and don’t be cheap. Make sure your team knows when they’ve done
well. They’ll get excited when they know a reward is on its way, and they’ll
feel like their hard work is actually paying off.

1
unenthusiastic: adjective not feeling a lot of excitement and interest about someone or
something
2
long haul: noun a difficult task that takes a long time and a lot of effort to complete

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Q3e Listening & Speaking 4: Audio Script

Unit 1, Listening 1, Activities A and C

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Leadership Isn’t Just for the Boss
Mark Connolly: While every company needs a great leader, some of the most effective
ones encourage their workers to take on some kind of leadership role as
well. Our workplace columnist, Margot Ross-Graham, joins us now to talk
about leadership. Good morning, Margot.
Ross-Graham: Good morning, Mark.
Connolly: So, how does it help to have leaders at every level of an organization?
Ross-Graham: So, I think what’s helpful is to have leadership qualities at every level . . .
Connolly: Uh-huh.
Ross-Graham: . . . and that there really actually is a distinction between being in a
leadership role, which we often think of someone who supervises people . . .
Connolly: Right.
Ross-Graham: . . . versus being a leader in your role, which is, in my opinion, around an
attitude of how you approach your work. So I think organizations have every
opportunity to create opportunities for people to act more leadership-like in
their roles, and I think that’s good for an organization because it describes
1______________ and 2______________ and 3______________ to people all around you.
Connolly: So what are ways that companies can create leadership opportunities, I
guess?
Ross-Graham: So, one thing they have to do is have a 4______________ themselves, and what I
mean by that is, in my opinion, one of the greatest ways to promote
leadership is to 5______________, so cross-borders team activities, because what
it does is it puts people out of their comfort zone, it gives them an
opportunity to try something new, to practice their skills with a different
group, which means they have to 6______________. But that means organizations
have to provide those opportunities and have to believe in people moving
outside of their boxes and moving outside of their silos 0, which creates
different kinds of communications as well. So I’d say that’s a big piece, is let
people 7______________ and, in fact, encourage them to do that, because it gives
them an opportunity to try different things. So that would be one thing. And,
the flip side0 of that is be really 8______________ of people within their roles and

0
silo: noun a system, process, department, etc., that operates separately or is thought of as
separate from others
0
flip side: noun a different way of looking at an idea, argument, or action

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Q3e Listening & Speaking 4: Audio Script

within new roles that they’re taking on. Because one thing that happens in
organizations is a lack of clarity creates a lot of chaos.
Connolly: Right.
Ross-Graham: And, so, it really doesn’t create an environment where people thrive 0. It
creates an environment where people are muddled0 and sometimes not
achieving all of the goals that they set out because they actually don’t know
what those goals are. So being really clear on the roles and expectations is a
big thing you can do.
Connolly: But obviously, um, everybody can’t be a leader, right? You can’t have that
expectation of everyone, can you?
Ross-Graham: Well, I think that you can have the expectation that everyone can be leader-
like.
Connolly: Mm-hmm.
Ross-Graham: But it’s impossible to have an organization of two hundred people and all of
them be in leadership roles . . .
Connolly: Right.
Ross-Graham: . . . uh, in the traditional sense of a leadership role, which, because that
would mean that all three of us would be in supervisory roles and we’d be
tasked with supervising, but we’d have nobody to supervise . . .
Connolly: (laughs)
Ross-Graham: . . . and nobody to set expectations with, and we’d have all different things
that we would be doing, so it isn’t realistic to think you’re going to create
two hundred jobs in a two-hundred-person organization that are considered
management.
Connolly: So, so, what does leadership look like, then, if you’re in your role, uh, you’re
doing your job? I mean, are there qualities, are you talking about qualities or
things that you do or how you approach your job, or — ?
Ross-Graham: Absolutely. So, I’d say an example would be 9______________, so,
demonstrating initiative. So, rather than sitting and waiting for someone to
give direction, so in a traditional form a supervisor gives you direction and
you take that direction and you go and do it, and then you hopefully evaluate
how you did, but for sure your supervisor would. In a leader-like
organization, individuals would take initiative without waiting to get
direction, because they were very clear on what the organization was doing
and where they were going. They were clear in their own expectations of
their job, so they don’t need to wait for direction.

0
thrive: verb to become, and continue to be, successful, strong, healthy, etc.
0
muddled: adjective confused

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Q3e Listening & Speaking 4: Audio Script

Connolly: And, and that’s where the organization comes in, to make that, that clarity, as
you said earlier, right?
Ross-Graham: Exactly! So if . . .
Connolly: If you know what that is, then you can . . .
Ross-Graham: You can go do it. Which 10______________ for people . . .
Connolly: Yeah.
Ross-Graham: . . . because people are just doing what they need to do to get things done.
But also that means you might be 11______________ in how you approach your
work, and you would be encouraged to be more creative, which is more
leader-like, because it requires different skills to be creative than it does to
be a task- or a rule-taker. So I think that’s some qualities: motivation, how
you are motivated at work and how you bring that motivation to the people
that are around you. An example I could think about would be when you
come to work in the morning, or you guys come in the middle of the night.
Connolly: We come in very early in the morning.
Ross-Graham: Very early in the morning, or whenever you start work, wherever that is in
a workplace, whatever time of day you show up at work, the attitude that you
bring to work. So are you excited to be there? Are you talking with people in
the environment around you? Are you welcoming and saying hello? Versus
you come to work, you put your head down, you get your job done, you don’t
engage0 with anyone, and you get out. Which actually is what we would want
an employee to do. We pay you to come to work to do your job . . .
Connolly: Right.
Ross-Graham: . . . to do it well, and then to go home and come back the next day. And, so,
both of those are things that we expect, but leaders in organizations or
people who have leadership qualities come to work with an enthusiasm and
a motivation that’s infectious . . .
Connolly: Mm-hmm.
Ross-Graham: . . . which creates other people to be excited about being in the workplace.
So, in the past, I’ve talked about the importance of leaders or bosses walking
around and saying hello to people at work . . .
Connolly: Right.
Ross-Graham: . . . and really excited to see people, but that goes to employees, too. So, you
and I, if I came to work every day and never said hi to you, it’s not my
responsibility to say hi to you, but I create an environment where you might

0
engage: verb to become involved with and try to understand something/somebody

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Q3e Listening & Speaking 4: Audio Script

be more excited to come to work if we actually have an amicable 0 and maybe

a good relationship.
Connolly: Right.
Ross-Graham: So . . .
Connolly: It makes it much, much easier for everybody.
Ross-Graham: And more fun. I am sitting beside you all day long, so that relationship-
building quality would be a leadership quality that’s not expected of you to
do your job, but it creates an environment for all those around you that you
want to be there.
Connolly: Hmm.
Ross-Graham: So it’s quite easy to demonstrate leadership in a workplace without actually
being in a leadership job.

0
amicable: adjective done or achieved in a polite or friendly way and without arguing

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