Shadowing Practice: Googleyness and Leadership Interview Question - Learn English Speaking with Video
Creating lesson...
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Imagine you work in a place with a negative culture.
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what would you do about it and how would you improve it?
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This is an interview question from Google.
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And specifically where this interview question would show up is in your Googliness and leadership interview.
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And while the G &L interviews tend to be behavioral, Not all of those questions will be behavioral.
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You could face an open -ended, hypothetical question like this one.
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And in this video, we're going to dive right into the weeds of how you can have success answering this type of question.
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So item one is CFAS.
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And yes, we have talked about this a lot of times.
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CFAS is the preferred method you want to use when you get any open -ended or hypothetical question.
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And simply put, you just want to present some clarifying questions to the question.
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Think either or, or yes or no, that's true clarification.
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Then, we want to present just a few high level concepts that are going to help narrow our
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for the solution
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so think with the framework really high level then we're going
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to make just a few assumptions to really narrow our focus
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and create great visuals for our audience
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and then lastly we are going to solve focusing in on one framework concept at a time
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that really helps keep us organized now remember When it comes to open -ended questions, the space you build is actually more important than the words you use.
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So really make sure you're building in that great space.
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And then secondarily, transitions.
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Make sure that you create really strong transitions that will also be critical for success.
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So item two, Let's get right into the solution.
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So we are going to go ahead and follow this CFAS method.
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So I wanted to prompt with that.
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As always, our fake interviewer is going to be Sue.
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And I'm going to pretend like I'm speaking directly to Sue in this video.
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And then lastly, let's just imagine that Sue is an unresponsive interviewer.
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This is very common that they'll just look at you, stare at you and just see how you navigate that ambiguity.
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So Let's go ahead and prompt the question one more time, and then we'll dive in.
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Imagine you work in a place with a negative culture, What would you do about it?
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How would you improve it?
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Well, Sue, a few items I would want to clarify.
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Before we dive in Is this negative culture only on my team or is this across the entire organization?
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I Okay, well, a few other things that I'd be thinking through are
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Has it always been this way or was this negative culture triggered by some form of an event, even something like COVID?
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I would definitely want to understand where this is coming from.
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Is it based on kind of leadership?
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Is it more about the overall strategy, process and vision?
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Or is this something related to benefits?
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Definitely want to understand the size of the company.
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Are we talking about a small, medium, or large company?
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Is this my personal opinion or do other people feel this way?
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And then lastly, I would want to know
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if there had been any past and /or recent attempts to try and fix this situation.
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Sue, can you clarify any of these items for me?
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Okay, a few concepts we would want to focus on to solve this challenge are
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We absolutely have to establish some really strong goals.
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We want to look at that historical data because that historical data will lead and guide us.
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We're gonna wanna bring in the critical stakeholders, focusing strongly on communication, always having that inclusivity lens,
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we're absolutely going to have to do some training and education, and then we're going to want to look at those specific success measurements.
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Now, of all those items, I think we should start with a really basic one in terms of communication.
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But is there an area that you want to focus on, Sue?
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Okay, why don't we get started by making a couple of assumptions?
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Let's assume that this negative culture is across the board and it's somewhat facilitated,
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almost supported by not only leadership but just people within the organization
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and it's common knowledge and everybody kind of knows it and understands it.
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Let's say that Basically, I've experienced this my entire time there.
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Let's say I've been there for a year and let's call it a medium -sized org of like 500 people.
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And then lastly, let's make the assumption that When I first joined, there was some form of an attempt to really make this better,
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but it just didn't really take it didn't really work.
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So if we're going to start by focusing in on communication, let's set the right tone and mindset right away.
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All communications should start by thinking with positive intent.
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We didn't try to intentionally get to a negative culture.
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that empathy is we have to create an environment of psychological safety.
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This is a critical facet of communication that people feel like they have a safe space to speak.
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So I'm going to reach out to my direct teammates and lead.
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and we're gonna start the communication process.
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So this is probably just scheduling one -to -ones.
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We can make this pretty simplistic, do it all via video.
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And I'm only gonna really focus in on two items.
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I wanna come in with a listening mindset.
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So come in and just kind of think about and see their observations.
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Just listen to hear if they've built in any bias themselves.
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And then the questions will all be focused around opportunities.
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How can we create better ownership?
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How can we create better alignment?
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and then end each meeting with a mini action plan, and a commitment for me to keep them included in any next steps.
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Sue, we could definitely go more in depth into the types of questions I would ask in these meetings.
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We could go and talk a little bit more about that critical item of an action plan, Or we can move on to training and education.
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Is there any part that you prefer I focus on?
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Yeah.
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Okay, let's kind of flip over.
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We talked a little bit about the what, right?
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Which was part of your initial question.
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Now let's focus a little bit on the how and let's really pivot and focus in on that training and education.
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So We want to really capture and identify any themes from the conversations with both my teammates and anybody in leadership,
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ideally just my direct lead.
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Secondarily, I would want to conduct research on what have been some successful trainings that have happened within not only this organization, but other organizations. And then.
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make sure that we do some form of live workshop.
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It may have to be virtual.
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I definitely want to make sure it's live.
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If we can do it in person, that's going to be great.
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and then bring in the exercises.
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So a good exercise we might want to build off of is We might want to just do the colors exercise, which is behavioral assessment, personality type of test.
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The sticky note, That one could be good too, because the sticky notes are really about taking different concepts and themes that I mentioned before.
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And this could allow us to focus in on maybe some like root causes, constraints.
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And then also kind of just looking at the current policies and standards that we have in place.
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Now again, the sticky note exercise gets a little trickier virtual, but The major goal of the workshop is that we uncover how to work better together.
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And more importantly, we not only learn it for ourselves, but we figure out maybe some opportunities for some repeatability.
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And this will require another strong action plan with great documentation, tracking, we want to be really transparent,
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and then just creating that system for ongoing support, whether that's coaching, mentorship, whatever is needed to ensure of the training.
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Sue, I'm happy to dive much deeper into this training and education piece, or we can kind of come full circle on the how and discuss success measurements.
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Do you have any preference or anything else you'd like me to focus on?
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Okay, in order to really get into the success of changing around a negative culture, We need this communication and training and education piece.
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And while this is an urgent item, we'll probably need to spend, I would say, about two to four weeks,
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let's kind of focus in on four weeks after that initial workshop, to establish and gather any data about learnings, any opportunities for improvement.
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And I want to take all this information and then I want to create some form of short slide deck.
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Let's think, maybe three slides, something like that.
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And then we could, in those slides, it would just be about defining the overall strategy approach and the learnings that we had for success.
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I'd first roll this up to my lead.
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And then I look for support just within my own leadership chain.
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And the purpose of this presentation
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is to demonstrate how we were able to make a small cultural shift
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and have enough of a timeline and data to show what we did.
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And by piloting this small test group, with the purpose of presenting it within my own leadership, I just want to continue to try and pivot and change the culture,
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like one small group at a time.
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The presentation is going to be super simplistic.
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It's going to be that three slides, five minutes to just present and then five minutes of Q &A. And then
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The last piece I just would want to focus in on
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for measuring success would be focusing in on any kind of celebration,
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recognition of both teams and individuals and build that strong survey cadence.
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The surveys are going to be critical to make sure that we're keeping everything on track.
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Sue, I am happy to dive deeper into these success metrics.
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any of the initial concepts I mentioned or any other area that you'd like to focus on for success. And that's it.
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I wish you the best of luck with these types of questions.
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They are tricky, but focus on these items and you'll do great.
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Thanks.
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About This Lesson
In this lesson, you will practice responding to open-ended interview questions, specifically focusing on a question related to workplace culture. By examining the approach outlined in the video transcript, you will learn how to apply the CFAS method (Clarifying, Frameworking, Assumptions, Solving) to structure your answers effectively. Additionally, you will enhance your ability to articulate ideas clearly and confidently, which is crucial for job interviews and professional conversations.
Key Vocabulary & Phrases
- Negative culture: A work environment characterized by low morale, poor communication, or lack of support.
- Clarifying questions: Questions aimed at improving understanding and gathering more information.
- Framework: A basic structure that helps organize thoughts and responses.
- Stakeholders: Individuals or groups with an interest or concern in an organization.
- Inclusivity lens: A focus on ensuring all voices and perspectives are considered in discussions.
- Historical data: Previous information that provides context for understanding current situations.
- Transitions: Words or phrases used to connect different ideas smoothly.
- Ambiguity: Situations or questions that are unclear or open to interpretation.
Practice Tips
To effectively use the shadowing technique with this video, follow these tips:
- Start with the speed: The speaker in the video delivers content at a moderate pace. Begin by slowing down the audio if necessary to grasp the pronunciation and intonation before practicing at normal speed.
- Repeat key phrases: Utilize your shadowing app to replay segments that include key phrases and vocabulary mentioned above. Focus on mimicking the speaker's tone and rhythm to improve your fluency.
- Practice your transitions: Pay attention to how the speaker transitions between ideas. Try to incorporate similar transitions in your own responses. This will help you build a more cohesive narrative during your practice sessions.
- Address ambiguity: When repeating the speaker’s responses, include similar clarifying questions in your answers. This will help you to think critically and articulate your thoughts clearly.
- Engage with the content: After shadowing, summarize the video's main points in your own words. This will help reinforce what you've learned and improve your speaking skills using the shadow speak method.
By consistently practicing with the shadowing technique, you will develop your confidence and linguistic skills, making it easier to navigate complex interview scenarios and discussions.
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now | have talked · I've experienced · I've been |
| Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it | be focused · is needed |
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.