📘 Part 3: Motivation

This episode's vocabulary

Component (noun) - one of the parts of a system, process, or machine.

Interference (noun) - an occasion when someone tries to interfere in a situation.

Limp-wristed (adj.) - used to describe a man who does not behave in the strong and determined way traditionally expected in men.

Figure (noun) - an important or well-known person.

Cut (verb) - create.

Encourage (verb) - to help someone to feel confident and able to do something, or to give advice to someone to do something.

The forefront (noun) - the most important or leading position.

Zealous (adj.) - enthusiastic and eager.

Affirmative (adj.) - positive, or showing agreement.

Deter (verb) - to prevent someone from doing something or to make someone less enthusiastic about doing something by making it difficult for that person to do it or by threatening bad results if they do it.

Outlier (noun) - a person, thing, or fact that is very different from other people, things, or facts, so that it cannot be used to draw general conclusions.

Muddy the waters -  to make a situation more confused and less easy to understand or deal with.

Overwhelming (adj.) - very great or very large.

Put your head above the parapet (idiom) - to be brave enough to state an opinion that might upset someone.

Charisma (noun) - a special power that some people have naturally that makes them able to influence other people and attract their attention and admiration.

Promote (verb) - to encourage people to like, buy, use, do, or support something.

Cheerleading - the fact of strongly supporting a particular idea or person.

Channel (verb) - to direct something into a particular place or situation.

Frivolous (adj.) - behaving in a silly way and not taking anything seriously.

Praise (noun) - things that you say that express your admiration and approval of someone or something.

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Questions and Answers

M: Rory, how could employers motivate their staff?

R: Well, I suppose the basic components are just by treating them well and with basic respect and then by paying them well as well. Probably some good humor and allowing people to learn from their failures works too. This isn't rocket science, and it seems many employers struggle with these concepts.

M: Do you think money is the most important motivating factor at work?

R: I think it's the baseline, but isn't the only thing. There are other factors, but it depends on the job. Like, for example, I have a reasonable amount of freedom from interference when designing my lessons. I don't like being told to do something in a particular way. And that's useful because my bosses usually just say, like, here's the material, do what you like. So if you value that kind of freedom, then that can also be a really important motivating factor. Maybe in a job where you work in a factory, for example, that wouldn't be very motivating.

M: How could leaders encourage their employees?

R: By actually leading, I think. There are so many sort of limp-wristed and uninspiring leaders out there who say a lot, but they actually do very little and they don't exactly cut inspiring figures to follow. So leaders should be prepared to give good examples and encourage people to do the same.

M: Is it a good thing that a leader likes taking risks?

R: I suppose they should be carefully calculated risks, but there is always an element of risk, well, when taking the lead. You're at the forefront of the effort. And that means you'll most likely be the first to see problems or at least take decisions to deal with them. So you shouldn't be scared, but you also shouldn't be overly zealous, since this can have negative side effects, too.

M: There are more male then female world leaders. Do you think this will change in the future?

R: Not unless there's some positive discrimination or affirmative action or whatever you want to call it. No. Firstly, generally speaking, men are better at this kind of work, although they shouldn't exclude or deter women, who are like outliers, from participating if they can. If they have the the goods, then why not use it? Secondly, most leaders have support from the majority of their population and that seems to include men and women. So they seem to prefer voting for and supporting men in this case. So this all seems largely biological in origin, and that means it's probably not likely to change anytime soon.

M: When making decisions should a leader discuss it with team members?

R: It depends on the nature of the problem. To make a good decision, you need to have access to as much relevant information as possible. So some team members may have access to this information and involving them might be useful. Other times it could just muddy the waters if you have lots of non-expert input that doesn't add anything to the decision making process.

M: Why are some people afraid of becoming a leader?

R: Well, the responsibility can be overwhelming or even terrifying for some people. In addition, when you stick your head above the parapet, you can put yourself in the line of fire when it comes to serious consequences from the decisions that leaders have to make. I suppose that happens to me a lot. I'm prepared to accept the consequences of leading, but there are some people that aren't because they're afraid.

M: What are the qualities of a good leader?

R: Well, patience and the ability to forward plan and charisma and the ability to listen. If you lead people, you have to be willing to accept that they might make a mess of things, so being patient is critical. You also need to prevent the messes from happening in the first place and promote success. So you should plan for this and people follow those they can believe in, so charisma is important. But you can't know everything, so you should be able to listen to others but ultimately be ready to make the final call.

M: When should parents encourage their children?

R: Always. Well, assuming that it's not something obviously stupid, they should always be encouraged to get back up again and try. And if not, if it doesn't work, then find a way around whatever it is or focus on something that's more achievable.

M: What kind of encouragement should parents give?

R: Well, ideally, more than just cheerleading, they should set a good example in addition to flexible boundaries and be ready to channel their children's passion into whatever they happen to set their sights on, assuming again that it's not something frivolous or ridiculous.

M: Should parents reward their children when they help others?

R: Absolutely. It doesn't have to be a physical reward, but it can just be simple praise, for example. But there should be some recognition that something good has been done. It helps encourage it to happen again. And it's a nice thing to do to be encouraged and recognized.

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Discussion

M: Rory, thank you so much for your answers.

R: I hope they help motivate people to the heights of success.

M: So, sexy vocabulary and grammar. There we go. First of all employers and employees. Careful with this words. So we have bosses, employers. Like teachers, employers and then employees.

R: Managers.

M: Managers, yeah. And then those who work in the company, they're called employees.

R: You can talk about managers. Or on employers you can talk about senior staff as well.

M: Senior staff. That's nice.

R: And junior staff if we talk about employees.

M: It isn't rocket science. It's not a brain surgery.

R: It's easy. And those are ways of saying that it's not a complicated task.

M: Yeah, this isn't rocket science.

R: Although to be honest, rocket science isn't really that difficult.

M: Yeah, a piece of cake. A walk in the park.

R: It's not. It's just like how do you direct the flow of an explosion?

M: It's just like, OK, he built a rocket. So? That's an achievement?

R: No, that's engineering.

M: What's rocket science?

R: Rocket science is just like the study of how rockets work, but rockets work by igniting fuel and firing them up into the air. That's not difficult.

M: Yeah. It's a walk in the park.

R: Yeah. It's another expression.

M: Right. Exactly. Yes. And the baseline.

R: The baseline is the norm. We've mentioned this before.

M: Yeah. So what's the baseline? What's the norm?

R: Well, being given money is the baseline.

M: Have you ever seen this series "Lie to me"?

R: No.

M: Oh, God. "Lie to me". You know, dear listener, "Lie to me" is when we have this guy an expert on lies and then the other guys and then this main guy.

R: You're doing a great job.

M: Listens to people. And then he says, OK, so he's lying, he's telling the truth. So the first question, he goes like, OK, what's your name? Like are you a woman, are or a man? So to establish the baseline, to establish the norm when the person tells the truth and when the person lies. What's your baseline? Yeah, beautiful explanation. So "Lie to me", watch it. It's amazing. Watch it in English several times with subtitles. "Lie to me". I don't like being told what to do.

R: Yeah.

M: Passive voice.

R: And it's always like this because it's well, you could say I don't like other people telling me what to do.

M: No, it's too easy.

R: Who tells you what to do? It's people. It's obvious.

M: Mm hmm. That's why you say I hate being told.

R: The voices in my head tell me what to do.

V: I tell you what to do.

R: What did I say?

M: When we talk about leaders, we talk about inspiring leaders they inspire you.

R: And they cut an inspiring figure.

M: I know, what is cut?

R: It just like means create an inspiring image.

M: I don't get it. So cut is a verb, an adjective, an adverb? What is it?

R: It's a verb here. You cut a figure, like if you imagine it like create. You don't exactly create an inspiring figure. It's like this, except it's the collocation is cut. To cut a figure.

M: Ok, so like lousy leaders. So people who are bad leaders, they don't exactly cut inspiring figures, right?

R: Yeah, which means that they're terrible at it. You could also describe them as being limp wristed, which means that they don't have very good handshakes, for example, or they're not terribly strong people. Nobody likes a limp handshake.

M: Handshake, yeah. Firm handshake is like nice.

R: Firm handshake, limp handshake, limp wristed like I can't do anything.

M: Right, so people can be limp wristed.

R: Yeah.

M: OK, leaders can be limp wristed.

R: I really hope it's not a slur, because I've just realized it could also be used to describe another group of people. But we're in Russia and those people are hated anyway, so it doesn't matter.

M: Keep going.

R: Keep going.

M: Leaders take the lead.

R: Yeah.

M: And you take the lead when you take charge and you take charge when you're in control of the situation.

R: Yep. So Rory is taking the lead meaning he's in charge.

M: Oh my God. Have you seen the parish council meeting. There's the zoom meeting. Oh man. It went viral in February. So if you're listening to us in March google parish council zoom meeting. And it's got like every news network in the UK covered. It must have like a million, more than a million views by now.

R: What's it about?

M: It's this meeting of like the lowest level of government in the UK and these people are just having a massive argument about it. And one guy says you have no authority here and she just kicks him out of the zoom meeting. And she's just like, yes, I do. It's great. You should watch this. So she has the authority. She takes charge.

R: Yeah. She's taken the lead. Leaders take carefully calculated risks, which we won't dwell on because we already made an episode about taking risks. And here we talk about calculated risks.

M: And then people get overly zealous.

R: Yeah.

M: That's a strange word. Zealous.

Zealous is just very keen to do something. It's usually used to describe religious people. So if you're very zealous, that it means you really really believe in whatever religion it is and you're very into it.

M: Can you use this zealous word about our enthusiastic listeners?

R: If you're zealous about improving your score for IELTS, then you will listen to our podcast. You will be a zealous listener.

M: You can say I'm a zealous "IELTS Speaking for success" listener. Wow. Can I say I'm a zealous podcaster? No.

R: Yes. But not overzealous because we only do this once a month.

M: No, we do it more often. OK?

R: We talk about it sometimes.

M: Muddy the waters.

R: Yeah, if you muddy the waters, you just make things unclear for people. So imagine you have a meeting and everybody's shouting at each other. That muddies the waters because it's not clear what on earth is going on.

M: A good structure is starting your sentence with a gerund. A gerund is basically -ing form. So you can say being patient is critical.

R: Yes.

M: Being responsible is crucially important for a leader. This is how you can vary Rory your grammar structures.

R: Thank you. And I did. Didn't I?

M: You did vary your grammar structures. Well done.

R: Good. For a band nine score.

M: You did use it. Right?

R: I did. Did for emphasis. I was going to talk about something else there. But you also need to use idiomatic expressions. And I used to in the same sentence, didn't I?

M: In the same sentence?

R: Yes, I did. Where were they? Um, we talked about sticking your head above the parapet, which is a way of saying that you expose yourself to increased risk. And it puts you in the line of fire, which means that you're more likely to get shot and killed. But that's the literal meaning, obviously. Being in the line of fire again just means that you're exposed to more risk. So two idiomatic expressions for more risk in the same sentence. That was probably overzealous, but I still liked saying it. And it sounded natural so that's the most important thing.

M: Well done you. Band nine, everybody. Cheerleading. Yeah, you said like parents being cheerleaders.

R: Yeah, so cheerleading is just telling people repeatedly and very loudly that they've done a good job, but that's not the only thing. But that's all it is. But if you want to lead effectively, you can't just do that. You have to encourage people in other ways. Praising, rewarding. Not just cheerleading.

M: And we can say that children, they should always be encouraged to get back up.

R: Yeah, to get back up is just to recover.

M: Recover. Yeah. Recover, get over something, To get back up. So basically parents should set an example. So give an example, set an example and support their children, back them up. And also find a way around whatever is coming up, find your way around it or find a way around it.

R: Which just means you find a way not to solve the problem, but to ignore it effectively. We're good at doing that.

M: Ignoring the problems?

R: Finding ways around the problem.

M: Yeah, we find a way around it.

R: And hopefully we can help you find your way around your grammar and vocabulary problems for IELTS.

M: No problems, challenges.

R: No issues.

M: Difficulties.

R: What? No.

M: No, you say kind of like no problem. You use a euphemism. Challenges, difficulties, issues.

R: I know but I wanted to be more positive. And then you ruined it.

M: By saying problems?

R: No, you said problems.

M: No, you said problems.

R: No, you said problems.

M: Oh, come on. It's recorded OK? Dear listener, you should decide who said the word problem.

R: And in the meantime, we'll solve the problem of how to end this episode by saying bye!

M: Bye!

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