Shadowing Practice: 309. Communicating Effectively with Executives: Little Snippet #19 - Learn English Speaking with Video
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Hello and welcome back to another little snippet.
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These are my short.
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five minute episodes.
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full of business English communication tips to help boost your confidence.
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So in this one, I really want to center my tips on communicating effectively to peers and executives.
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Let me give you some context.
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"I have a client.
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And I was meeting with them this week.
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They work in...
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a large multinational company and they work in the technical department.
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It's a very, very technical role.
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Previously, they were a consultant. And they were.
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working on projects, but now they're working within the company, if that makes sense.
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Also, I just want to touch very quickly on something that comes up a lot.
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What's the difference between freelance and consultant?
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Boats.
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describe different modes of working or being self -employed.
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However, what I would say is that freelance is often used for more creative industries.
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And it can have the connotation of being more informal.
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So if you work in professional services, and you have done some consulting, I would call yourself a consultant.
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rather than a freelance.
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Anyway.
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This person is actually really...
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overqualified for the role that they're doing.
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And that's not them boasting or showing off.
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In fact, they said something to me the other day, they said a football analogy, they said, You know, it's like I'm being played as the goalkeeper, but I should be the forward.
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and the thing that they said that's holding them back Thank you is communication.
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They've had this feedback, they've said, you need to work on your communication skills,
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it's not clear enough, And what they find really difficult is getting executives on board.
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with their messages.
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We've been looking at that this week
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and that's what I'm going to talk about today
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and give you some tips based on the things that we had a look at in those sessions, because I think it could be really useful for you.
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They are working on a really big transformational change project and they really need to sell that project to the exec board.
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And these are some of the points that we looked at when we were doing the sessions this week.
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The first thing before anything, coming back to the point about getting feedback, If you get the feedback that is your communication isn't clear,
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I would really suggest you try and get more specific feedback.
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That's the first point.
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try and help them out a little bit and direct them to the points that they may
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be able to help you out with, for example, is it pronunciation?
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other specific words Is it the pace?
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Am I speaking too fast?
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Is it content?
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Is there too much content?
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Is it like content overload?
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Is it structure?
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Could I order it better?
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Is it the length?
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Do I take too long?
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try to get more specific feedback.
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because your communication isn't clear, is not really very helpful for you for a starting point.
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Secondly, think about what the key message actually is.
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Just spend some time to think about it.
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What is it that you want them to walk out of the room?
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thinking about. or remembering.
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Not how you want to say it in English.
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Don't start there.
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just start brainstorming your thoughts then you can work it out a little bit more in english later
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but sit and think what is the key message what you want them to remember what is it important
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that they know Next point, number three is try to link to the results and impact.
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This is especially important if you're trying to persuade people why they should do something.
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For example, in this session, I was constantly trying to remind them to come back to This means that.
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This means that we will lose revenue.
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or this will enable us to.
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bring in more customers.
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or this will lead to.. higher profits.
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So use phrases that link to the impact and the results.
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Finally, think about how you can beef up your message.
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Beef up is a funny little phrasal verb But just like when you add meat to a spaghetti bolognese, you give it flavour, you give it substance.
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It's the same thing here.
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you give strength to something.
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Think about adverbs, adjectives and quantifiers.
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For example, rather than saying this is good for our customers, Why don't you say this is excellent for our customers.
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rather than saying this will reduce churn You could say this will greatly reduce churn.
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And rather than saying, then this will increase revenue, you could say this will increase revenue a lot. or significantly.
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None of these things are outside of your reach.
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They're all very simple, straightforward little things.
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but they do make a difference to the impact of your wording.
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Let me just run through that again then.
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Number one, try to get more specific feedback if you get your communication isn't clear.
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Think about what the key message actually is.
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use phrases that link back to the results and impact, And finally, think about how you can beef up your message.
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All right, I hope that was helpful.
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See you in the next one.
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This B2 speaking lesson is built on the video “309. Communicating Effectively with Executives: Little Snippet”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: feedback, communication, message, impact, specific. This video has 84 sentences and 871 words to shadow. The speech runs for 5:32. The speaker talks at a natural 157 words per minute, close to everyday conversation. 88% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English, so the vocabulary is easy to follow.
Key vocabulary in this video
The 15 most advanced words in the video, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| freelance adjective | /ˈfɹiˌlæns/ | Of or relating to a freelance; without a long-term employment contract. |
| consultant noun | /kənˈsʌl.tənt/ | A person or party that is consulted. |
| churn verb | /t͡ʃɝn/ | To agitate rapidly and repetitively, or to stir with a rowing or rocking motion; generally applies to liquids, notably cream. |
| adjective noun | /ˈæd͡ʒ.ɪk.tɪv/ | A word that modifies a noun or noun phrase or describes a noun’s referent. |
| bolognese noun | /ˌboʊləˈniz/ | An Italian sauce made from ground meat and tomato, originating in Bologna. |
| brainstorming noun | A method of problem solving in which members of a group contribute ideas spontaneously. | |
| connotation noun | /ˌkɑnəˈteɪʃən/ | A meaning of a word or phrase that is suggested or implied, as opposed to a denotation, or literal meaning. A characteristic of words or phrases, or of the… |
| overload verb | /ˌəʊvəˈləʊd/ | To load excessively. |
| overqualified adjective | Having too many qualifications to be deemed appropriate for a (usually unskilled) job. | |
| phrasal adjective | /ˈfɹeɪzəl/ | Relating to, or used in the manner of, a phrase. |
| quantifier noun | /ˈkwɑn.tɪ.faɪ.ɚ/ | A word, such as all or many, that expresses the quantity of a related noun. |
| snippet noun | /ˈsnɪpɪt/ | A small part of something, such as a song or fabric; sample. |
| transformational adjective | Of, pertaining to or leading to transformation. | |
| pronunciation noun | /pɹəˌnʌn.siˈeɪ.ʃən/ | The formal or informal way in which a word is made to sound when spoken. |
| boast verb | /boʊst/ | To brag; to talk loudly in praise of oneself. |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Meaning |
|---|---|
| come up verb | To emerge or become known, especially unexpectedly. |
| run through verb | To summarise briefly. |
| show off verb | To exhibit the best attributes of something. |
Sentences worth repeating
Short, complete lines from the video that you can reuse in everyday conversation:
- What's the difference between freelance and consultant?
- Am I speaking too fast?
- Could I order it better?
- Do I take too long?
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 14 contractions and reduced forms, such as isn't, they're, don't. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: connotation /ˌkɑnəˈteɪʃən/, pronunciation /pɹəˌnʌn.siˈeɪ.ʃən/
- Long words — get the stress right: connotation /ˌkɑnəˈteɪʃən/, quantifier /ˈkwɑn.tɪ.faɪ.ɚ/, pronunciation /pɹəˌnʌn.siˈeɪ.ʃən/, analogy /əˈnæləd͡ʒi/
How to practise with this video
- Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
- Start at 0.75× speed, shadow it sentence by sentence, then go back to normal speed once it feels easy.
- Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like freelance, consultant, churn.
What is the Shadowing Technique?
Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.