Shadowing Practice: Making an Impact at Work | Liz Wiseman - Learn English Speaking with Video
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One of the things that comes up over and over in my research is the relationship between impact and burnout.
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In this moment in time that we find ourselves in, we're dealing with epidemic levels of burnout in the workplace.
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Burnout meaning you're not just tired, you're inexplicably tired.
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And it is so easy to assume that people burn out because they have too much work.
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There's a workload that's too big.
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There's too much pressure, too much is on their shoulders.
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But everything in my research points to something different.
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We don't tend to burn out because we've got too much work.
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We burn out because we have too little impact.
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Hi, I'm Liz Wiseman.
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I am a researcher and an executive advisor, and my latest book is Impact Players, How to Take the Lead, Play Bigger, and Multiply Your Impact.
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Everybody craves impact.
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We all want our work to matter.
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When we ask people, what is the work experience like when you're working hard, but yet you're strangely underutilized?
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Or maybe you're doing work that isn't landing, that doesn't seem to have impact,
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where you feel like you're working hard but you're not getting anywhere or nobody sees or notices.
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People describe this state of work as frustrating, draining, demoralizing, and exhausting.
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Now when we ask people, what is work like when you're doing work that matters, that's visible, that gets noticed?
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You're using all of your skills and knowledge and capability and every IQ point.
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Well, people will say it's totally exhilarating, it's fulfilling, it's energizing, it's impactful.
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The way that you work has really important implications for burnout, for our own burnout, for burnout that's happening inside of an organization.
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Studying how we think and how we operate can end up creating extraordinary differences in impact.
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And what that means is without working harder, we can increase our impact and avoid burnout.
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The idea of impact players is a metaphor that I borrowed from sports.
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In the sports world, we all know who the impact players are.
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They're people who make this valuable contribution but that teams play better because they're on the team.
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They're the people we turn to in the high stakes situation and the people we hand the ball to
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in the moments that matter.
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People we know are gonna go out there and get the job done, but they're gonna do it in a way that secures a win for the whole team.
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In my research, what I began to see is that the workplace has impact players as well.
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When situations are messy, ambiguous, uncertain, the impact players move toward it and they take charge of it.
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While the ordinary contributor tends to pull back and maybe even run from the chaos, the impact players dive into it.
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They dive into it much like a surfer when they see this kind of big oncoming wave.
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Instead of retreating, they dive through that wave to get the other side where there's play, where there's opportunity, where there's a chance to innovate.
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I think it's pretty easy to hear about impact players and to see the value they're contributing, the power of the work that they're doing,
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and assume that to increase your impact you have to work harder.
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But what we have found is that the impact players in our study weren't working harder they were working differently
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the most important practice of impact players is that they do the job that's needed
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the difference between doing your job and doing the job that's needed really is the mindset
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the mindset of doing your job is a mindset of competence and it's a mindset of diligence This is my job, it's what I was hired to do,
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this is my boundary, this is my box, and I'm going to do it, and I'm going to do it well.
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Now, the mindset for the impact player is not one of diligence, it's one of service.
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How do I be of service to the most important priorities of the organization?
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What are the hot projects, the things that get funded and visibility?
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What are hot issues that divert people's attention?
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Understand those hot spots and then point yourself toward those.
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Working on something that's important, that's visible and has heat can feel like more pressure.
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But if you are working on what is red hot relevant, there's momentum them.
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Meetings get scheduled.
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Budgets start to flow.
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You start to receive feedback and guidance and praise.
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So instead of thinking about doing more work, think about doing more impactful work and think about working where there's heat
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and where you can work with ease rather than with effort.
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That impact player mindset is an antidote to burnout.
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This video has 56 sentences and 818 words to shadow. The speech runs for 6:05. The speaker talks at a steady 135 words per minute, a comfortable pace for shadowing. 86% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English; the rest is worth studying before you start.
Key vocabulary in this video
15 words from the video worth learning, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| mindset noun | /ˈmaɪn(d)ˌsɛt/ | A way of thinking; an attitude or opinion, especially a habitual one. |
| dive verb | /daɪv/ | To swim under water. |
| visible adjective | /ˈvɪzɪb(ə)l/ | Able to be seen. |
| workplace noun | /ˈwɝkˌpleɪs/ | The place where someone works. |
| diligence noun | /ˈdɪlɪd͡ʒəns/ | Steady application; industry; careful work involving long-term effort. |
| ordinary adjective | /ˈɔɹdɪnɛɹi/ | Having regular jurisdiction; now only used in certain phrases. |
| skill noun | /skɪl/ | A capacity to do something well; a technique, an ability, usually acquired or learned, as opposed to abilities that are regarded as innate. |
| priority noun | /pɹaɪˈɒɹɪti/ | An item's relative importance. |
| hire verb | /ˈhaɪɹ/ | To obtain the services of in return for fixed payment. |
| extraordinary adjective | /ɪksˈtɹɔːrdɪn(ə)ɹi/ | Out of the ordinary; exceptional; unusual. |
| contribute verb | /kənˈtɹɪb.jut/ | To give something that is or becomes part of a larger whole. |
| contribution noun | /ˌkɑntɹɪˈbjuʃən/ | Something given or offered that adds to a larger whole. |
| ease verb | /iz/ | To free (something) from pain, worry, agitation, etc. |
| guidance noun | /ˈɡaɪdəns/ | The act or process of guiding. |
| feedback noun | /ˈfiːdˌbæk/ | Critical assessment of a process or activity or of their results. |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Meaning |
|---|---|
| burn out verb | To destroy by fire. |
| end up verb | To bring to a conclusion. |
| go out verb | To leave, especially a building. |
| pull back verb | To retreat. |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 26 contractions and reduced forms, such as you're, they're, I'm. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: contribution /ˌkɑntɹɪˈbjuʃən/, implication /ˌɪmpləˈkeɪʃən/
- Long words — get the stress right: ordinary /ˈɔɹdɪnɛɹi/, priority /pɹaɪˈɒɹɪti/, extraordinary /ɪksˈtɹɔːrdɪn(ə)ɹi/, contribution /ˌkɑntɹɪˈbjuʃən/, differently /ˈdɪf.ə.ɹənt.li/
How to practise with this video
- Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
- Shadow it sentence by sentence at normal speed, repeating each one until your rhythm matches the speaker.
- Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like mindset, dive, visible.
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.