📕 Part 1: Teamwork

Do you like teamwork?

I like it when everyone does their part, yes. Many hands make light work, if you believe that old saying, and you can definitely do more when you involve people in a project. That's why we have things like the internet and skyscrapers.

What do you dislike about teamwork?

Well, there are often times when people don't pull their weight or fail to meet expectations. And that's quite annoying. I mean, I'm quite an orderly and organized person, so when the team effort is needed to be successful and people can't get their act together, it really undermines the whole project. From my point of view, at least.

Have you teamed up with someone else before?

All the time. Currently, I'm teaming up with a former colleague in Kyrgyzstan to deliver a teacher training course. And the business I share with other colleagues requires regular coordination of efforts, and I suppose being a teacher means you have to work with others on a regular basis to be successful, too.

What do you learn from working in a team?

I suppose I learn to exercise and develop my patience, since not everyone is as organized as I am, and I get a chance to practice my organizational skills and other soft skills like that. Lastly, it reinforces my own belief that my way is usually the best way, since we tend to get more done if we plan in advance.

Hey! Teamwork! Yay! And Rory, tell me, teamwork, is it one word or two words? Like team and work?

It's a good question. I always have it down as one word.

According to the Cambridge online dictionary, teamwork is one word, dear listener.

Ooh... So Cambridge and I have that in common.

And it's C1.

Is it a C1-level word? Seriously?

C1. Can you imagine? Teamwork? Oh my gosh. The word itself is advanced. Okay? Teamwork. Wow. Maybe, like, you should use it accurately, dear listener, then if it's so advanced. For example, can I have an article? Can I say a great teamwork is important?

I'm trying to think of a time when you might say that, but I can't, actually.

No article, dear listener. You see? It's crazy. So you say great teamwork is important, because, you know, like work is important. Work is good for us, the same as teamwork. So no article, but we can say, for example, the teamwork. No?

not in general. But if we talk about the teamwork of a particular department, and if that's good or not, then that could be okay.

Yeah. The specific teamwork. But usually, dear listener, like no article, okay, I enjoy Teamwork. Teamwork is very important in our life, or I just dislike teamwork. Rory used a very interesting expression, many hands make light work.

Yes, but that just means, if there are lots of people working on something, something complex, then it will work or be effective.

Hmm, it's a kind of a proverb.

It is.

Not even an idiom. Yeah. Like when people can do things more quickly and easily together. It's a huge project, but many hands make light work. Light work? Like easy work.

Is that what that means?

Well, according to Merriam-Webster, this idiom actually used to say that people can do things more quickly and easily when they work together.

Yeah, but when it's make light work, it means that the work is not heavy. Is that what it means?

Yeah, like say they do it more easily. So yeah.

Oh, my God. I thought it meant, um, it makes, it's like an idiom. If lots of people are working on something, then the lights are on.

No, Rory. Come on.

But that's cool. I've misunderstood. But it's about the value of teamwork. So even if I didn't understand it correctly, I still got the gist of it.

Yeah, it's kind of like more people make a task easier. For example, oh, it's a big project, and we need more people to take part in it, to help us with it. Many hands make light work, you know? So when you involve more people in a project, you involve, you kind of get more people to work for this project, it becomes easier. We can dislike teamwork, or, for example, I hate teamwork. I can't stand teamwork. Like I really dislike it. Well, maybe, maybe you don't. And here Rory said, when people don't pull their weight. So to pull one's weight. Like pull my weight, or he pulls his weight.

But that just means you do what's expected of you, or you do what you can or what you're capable of.

Yeah. Work as hard as other people in a group. And it's an idiom. And it's C2, dear listener. So band nine. Proficient level. Yay. Like pull your weight. For example, when you work in a team, you have to pull your weight. You have to work as hard as other people in a group. Could you give us more examples?

Well, if a project is not organized well, then people frequently fail to pull their weight, and then other people need to pick up the slack.

Pick up the slack. What is this?

Pick up the slack? That means do the extra work, which is created by people not pulling their weight.

Slack, like Slack?

Yes.

You see? Two idioms in one sentence. Oh, my gosh. Yeah, like, if he doesn't start pulling his weight, he will lose his job. Okay? So like, um, you have to pull your weight. And sometimes when we work in a team, people fail to meet our expectations. So we expect something from people. We wait for others to do something, but they don't. So they don't meet our expectations, which could be quite annoying. Annoying. I don't like it. And for example, you can say, well, I'm an organized person. I am an orderly person. I enjoy order. And some people are messy. They are not organized. And I'm annoyed when I work with disorganized people. And also when people can't get their act together.

Well, if you have your act together, then you're organized and prepared. But if you don't have your act together, then you're disorganized and unprepared, and you might need to get your act together, which is the process of becoming organized and prepared for something.

Get your act together. Start to organize yourself so that you do things in an effective way. Like, oh, I'm so disorganized, I should get my act together. And dear listener, it's an idiom, and it's C2, again, band nine. Wow. Rory, give us another sentence.

I never have to worry about people on the podcast getting their act together, because they're always so well prepared. Vanya.

If people are disorganized, if they don't get things done, they don't do anything, it really undermines the whole project or everything that they do in a team. So to undermine something is again C2.

Really?

Oh, band nine. I know, look at us.

No, come on...

Yeah, according to... No, no, this is like a super advanced, well, proficiency word, C2.

Undermines is not that advanced. Is it?

Yeah, it is not advanced, it's proficient. Proficiency level C2, the highest level.

Wow.

So, to undermine, to make someone less confident, less powerful or less likely to succeed, or to make something weaker. For example, criticism undermines people's confidence.

Definitely.

Criticism makes our confidence weaker, usually, or what can undermine things when we work in a team?

Well, poor teamwork. Not having your act together.

Could undermine what?

Well, could undermine your ability to get things done.

What else can we undermine? Like how do you use it in a sentence with other words? Undermine...

Well, what, the project was undermined by people not pulling their weight. Governments can be undermined by people not doing their job properly as well, I think.

Yeah, or something like tends to undermine something. We can work with someone in a team, or we can team up with somebody. So, for example, last year, I teamed up with my colleagues or I teamed up with my friends and we set up a new business, for example. So I teamed up with somebody to do something. Or you can say, like, I had to work with other colleagues on this project, or I have to work with others on a regular basis. So regularly? Very often. Or dear listener, you can just imagine and say, oh, like now, currently, at the moment, I'm teaming up with my two colleagues.

Paraphrasing can be that simple, just add -ing in the end after currently.

We learn a lot from working in a team. We learn to exercise and develop our patience, so we learn to be patient with other people who are less organized than us, or maybe we learn to be patient with ourselves, and we get a chance to practice our organizational skills. So get a chance to do something. Also working in a team is a soft skill.

What other soft skills are there?

Time management skills. Oh, there's an article somewhere on the internet. The importance of teamwork as proven by science. Some research.

I mean the importance of teamwork as proven by the fact that we're living in a society.

Yeah, we can also say that collaborative work, you know? Collaboration. Collaborative. When we work collaboratively, we work in a team. So another synonym. Oh, oh, and it says, like, research shows that collaborative problem-solving leads to better outcomes. Okay?

Nice.

So when you solve a problem in a team, you have better results. People are more likely to take calculated risks. So kind of like safe risks that lead to innovation if they have the support of a team. Working in a team encourages personal growth. So you grow personally. Increases job, satisfaction. You like your job more. And reduces stress, dear listener. According to science, okay? It's atlassian.com. You're welcome. Working in a team reduces stress, really?

Really?

But if everybody, kind of like, doesn't do their job.

Maybe they mean working in an effective team?

Yeah, in an effective team, yeah. Can you imagine, like...

No.

You have 10 people in the team, and everybody, you know, is different, and you kind of need to get them all together and kind of, ah, nothing is done. Chaos. Yeah, interesting. Yeah, but I do agree that if you have the support of a team behind you, it's kind of like, you feel more satisfied. What do you think, dear listener? Do you agree? Have you ever worked in a team? If no, maybe imagine that you do work in a team. Teamwork reinforces my belief that my way is usually the best. So when Rory works on the team, everyone agrees with Rory. He's a natural leader.

Everyone eventually agrees with me.

Yeah. And then, like, his belief is reinforced. His belief is like, yeah, my way is the best.

And it is.

Yeah. So we have like two verbs, undermines, to undermine and reinforce. What else can we reinforce?

Oh, God, everything. Anything that you want to make stronger. So you could reinforce an argument or a position. Reinforce a point by making additional points.

Make something stronger. An idea or opinion. Kind of you provide more proof, and support and it becomes true. For example, like this report reinforces the findings of this research, makes it stronger. And it's C1 word. An advanced word. There you go, dear listener.

Nice.

Or for example, like he cares for animals, and it reinforces his respect for life. You see? So it makes his respect for life stronger. Rory, have you ever worked in an international team?

Well, we're working in one now, really. Aren't we?

Oh, what about in Oxford?

Oh, yeah, that's true as well. There are people from Greece, from England, and people from Scotland. All over the world.

Teachers, right?

Well, teachers, administrative staff.

And was it easy for you?

Mostly, yeah. I mean, whenever you have a group of people that have never met each other before working together, there's always some kind of teething problems. But by and large, I think that went really well. I think it's the second-best summer school experience I've ever had.

And when you work in the team, like, do you become a leader right away? Do you kind of...

No, no, no. I try to avoid being a leader because it's very stressful, but invariably that winds up happening.

Yeah, but you are okay to follow people's, kind of, not orders, but like, you are okay to do what other people tell you to do?

I prefer that. I prefer people to tell me, do this job and we will have this outcome, and it's all nice and clear. Whereas if you're a leader, then you have to make all of these other decisions. And I'm like, I would rather not do that. I'd rather do what I'm told.

Yeah, you see? So in a team I prefer to do what I'm told, what I'm told by others, and Rory just said another idiom, by and large. By and large? Like when everything about a situation is considered together, like in general, generally. By and large, it was fine.

There might be one more idiom from the very, very start, when I said, when everyone does their part. So if you do your part, then you do your job correctly.

Yeah, I do my part. So kind of sounds like Sinatra. I did my part and did it my way.

Nice.

We get all musical, dear listener. Hey! So teamwork. Right? Did you enjoy it? It's full of idioms, okay? C2, C1 vocabulary for your band nine super score. So please use them, all right? Because teamwork is a very good topic to show off your super vocabulary, dear listener, all right? We'll get back to you in our next episode. Bye!

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