Shadowing Practice: My 17 Minute AI Workflow To Stand Out At Work - Learn English Speaking with Video

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In 2025, it will take you longer to read something and comprehend it than the amount of time it took to create it.

So if you think finding the signal within all

that noise is only going to get worse with all

that AI generated regurgitation of posts on LinkedIn and all that SEO optimized blog posts that don't actually contain anything good.

So we have to move up the knowledge work value chain and luckily we can do it with AI as well.

So let's come back to the fundamentals of knowledge work and find where we can get leverage.

Knowledge work can be broken down into four steps.

We have our input, the data, the knowledge, the information that we get,

and then we process it to get some sort of output.

right and then from the feedback of the output we then improve our input right

and over time we're going to spiral upwards we're going to

improve the quality of our knowledge work now most people spend

the majority of their time thinking about how can i outsource my thinking process to ai

and so we're using claude we're using chat to pt or say okay you write this for me, you do that for me.

But we realize the results are not really fantastic.

And why is that?

It's because the input that LLMs have are pretty average, right?

We're averaging down to the level of the internet.

It's got some gold in it, but the majority is pretty average.

So what we want to do instead of focusing on process, we want to focus on using AI to improve our inputs.

Even if nothing changes in the way that we process information, our outputs will be better because we won't have this garbage in garbage out problem.

So let's focus our effort on using AI to help us improve our inputs.

And the 8020 we're going to do here is to add academic papers and research into our input.

Now you might think, okay, first of all, boring.

Second of all, this is practical work, right?

This is not some sort of academic research that we're conducting.

We need practical things to happen.

But think about it.

Do you read Harvard Business Review or McKinsey Quarterly or the MIT Sloan Review?

All of these are aimed to take boring, hard, complex academic papers, make it relevant to working professionals

and deliver it in a way

that we can get something actionable out of them we got

to realize now we don't want to be readers of hbr right we read

so slowly but if you just feed the entire archive to chat gpt immediately it will know

so much more than you right

and we don't want to even be the writer for hbr

because people spend their entire life writing a few insights you know you can just leverage those insights

if you don't want to why spend

that time researching instead what you want to be is hbr itself for your team for your organization meaning

that you are going through trusted resources that are complex

that are nuanced take that translate it into the context

that you're in create frameworks that make that theoretical knowledge

and insight into something that's actionable

and be able to share it deliver it in a way

that busy people can understand so we gotta move up the value chain

and look at the things that used to be reserved to academics scientists authors

that had the resources had the time had the brain power

to sit through long -winded papers now you can too

and let's take an example and let me show you the three tools

that i use to make sure i become hbr for my

team for my organization all right let's use an example say one of the biggest things

that managers face which is the problem of team underperform they are bright people

but they seem like they don't want to do anything they're

always complaining about stuff how do i improve team performance okay

so usually if you get average input you might go to chat gpt

and ask it this question

which will give you some average results you might go to

google it might give you some average inputs let's give it a try

so you know how to improve team performance at work common

question right oh gosh it tells you focus on goals focus

on open communication i mean these are just such empty broad recommendations

that is not going to lead to great output

so what i like to do instead is to use the first tool of today elicit

so this helps you find academic papers

on the question that you ask so let's just copy

and paste this

and see what kind of results we get in elicit it's free you just have to sign up and you'll get

something like this you get the summary of the top four papers that's for free

and then you get a list of the papers

that is relevant now what i like to do is just to make sure what i'm reading is

well cited is peer -reviewed

and not some random thing i like to sort by most

cited i take a look for example team design features

and team performance there seems to be a relationship let's take

a look at this one all right what you can do is then click into semantic scholar

which will usually lead you to the actual paper itself

and in this case it is locked so

if you don't have access you know to a university subscription

or something you might not be able to see this

but no problem we'll just copy and paste the paper name and go into google and see

if we can find a pdf version okay here we go

here's the pdf published by sage let's just double check

that seems to be the right one okay so we'll download this

and then we'll use the second tool of today

which is notebook lm by google

so it this tool unlike chat gpt unlike claude is not using ai on the internet's knowledge

but it's only on the sources that you upload

so you have less likely likelihood of hallucination sign up with your google account

and you'll see something like this so you want to create a notebook

and essentially that just houses your sources

and since we downloaded a pdf we are going to just

upload it here now we haven't even read the paper we don't really know what's in there

so what i like to do is to use it as a table of content first, and this is automatically generated by Notebook LN.

All right.

So now we have a table of contents.

Okay.

Groups is important.

There's classification theory.

Looks like we have to look at characteristics, some team size, team level task design, leadership.

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Okay.

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Interesting.

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Now I don't want to read this yet it's a lot of text

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and really poorly formatted but you know notebook lm is still pretty much experimental

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so we will give them some time to figure this out but now we have a general idea

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let's click back on notebook guide

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and let's look at the suggested questions since we haven't read it

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but ai has processed it i usually like to use one

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of the questions just to give me the basic gist

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so here we go how to team design feature impact overall

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team performance let's see what it says all right well looks like there are about three components

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and we saw that in the table content as well right

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so there's team composition there's task design and then there's leadership

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and i love this val notebook lm

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which is you can click into this to find the actual

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place in the source where it talks about this idea

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so even though this giant paper is probably you know tens

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of thousands of words what i can do is figure out

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which parts are most relevant to me and actually find the citation of it

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so i can better understand what is it that they say

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and let's say you know i find i can't change the

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team composition i'm not going to fire anyone i'm not going to hire anyone new

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but i want to change task design and leadership i can focus on these cited areas first.

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Okay.

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So that's the first cool part about the Elicit to Notebook LM workflow, but this is only one paper, right?

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So what I would do again is go back to Elicit and now see if there's any other papers that are interesting.

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Well, leaders can learn about teamwork developing high -performance teams.

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That seems interesting.

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Let's take a look, see if we can find the paper oh here is pdf fantastic

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so now we don't have to oh no

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okay bad request that's all right it happens let's go back and let's see a via the publisher

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oh it's a wiley paper let's see

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if we can get the pdf all right we can't

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if you're at work i mean surely your work will help you subsidize getting this paper

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but even if they don't let's see if we can find it somewhere else

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let's see if this is the right one fantastic all right here's the second pdf we got

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We will head back to notebook .lm.

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and this time we're going to press on the plus sign

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and again upload it here once that's done processing you'll see down here

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that now you can chat with both sources but before we do

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that actually i want to uncheck the previous one

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because i just want to understand what this new paper is about

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so let me do a table of content for this one source

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and i will see that it's generating a new note let's wait for

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that all right here we go there are five essentials to building high performance teams leadership capable

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and committed members norms a team structure that has clear mission responsibility goal

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and framework to get results see this is already

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so much more clear and specific compared to the Google search results

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which just got diluted over time of everyone maybe one person starting from the source

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but eventually secondary sources just dilute the message okay a way to manage team processes

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and that's the fifth one okay great now let's select both and ask it to what are the key character components,

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key changes a leader can make in a team to improve performance.

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Now it will look through both sources and give us an answer.

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All right. So, okay.

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Focus on member selection.

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Let's say that's not relevant to us.

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Promote task meaningfulness.

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And this was mentioned in the first source, right?

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Empower the team with autonomy.

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I don't know if we've seen this.

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Okay.

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So this was in the first document.

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Great.

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And it gives us the exact things that we should be doing.

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Cultivate intra -team coordination.

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All right.

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Provide effective leadership, which means guiding

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motivating

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and supporting the team let's see details now let's say out

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of all of this i think for my team the thing

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that makes sense the most is to promote task meaningfulness i want to empower the team

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and i want to facilitate team development and of course provide effective leadership so

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give me a detailed plan with three changes each

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so we can improve team performance now you have a high level plan of how to do this

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but it still feels somewhat vague even though we know

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that the input is good

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and we're focusing on what academics have found out now we want to do the next part

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which is we're going to copy this and i'm going to go into claude and say help me create a detailed

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plan to improve team performance using

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and i'm going to copy in what notebook lm has shared

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with me now two seconds we got a 12 month three phase like four module plan to improve team performance

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So just think about if you were HR or you were a team lead and you share this plan with management, they will be blown out of their socks,

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but that's not all we need.

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Let's say out of all of this still sounds like really a lot of complications.

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So let's ask it, what are the 80,

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20 changes I can make to my team to drive performance

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that is dependent on leaders and not the team members to make a change and refer to,

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and I'm going to ask it to refer to these two studies, which is called a meta -analytic review

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And now, Claude has a better idea of where I'm getting these things from.

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And so based on details that Ian knows about these two sources, it gave me the core leader action plan okay

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so task design optimization seems to be one of them authority distribution second highest impact

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and contextual support so now from 12 months we're down to three months And it gives us some expected results.

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If that's true or not, we can wait to see, but it helps us list out things like key successful factors, measurement frameworks.

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So let's say, help me create a matrix to better design tasks with clear goals

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and interdependence structures.

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Here we go.

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Now we've got a framework that we can use to assess goals, clarity level, we can use interdependence level, we can see where they intersect.

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And we can even show the team, hey, this is what I'm thinking about for changing how we think about tasks.

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What do you think and get feedback on it, right?

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Now, if we simply ask Claude, help me with what I need to improve my team's performance.

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let's see what we get.

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Alright, it's asking me a few questions that's actually already improvement since previous GPTS.

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So let's say work team with teams underperforming and unmotivated.

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Alright, and see, the plan it gives me is so much more vague, right?

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Communicate and feedback like I know this right having clear goals I know this I know all of this

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but it doesn't help help me help me create a framework to set goals let's say

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and yes smart is good monitoring is good but

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but as you can see

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because the input quality is not there we're stuck with these buzzwords that we hear all the time.

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I am excited and optimistic about the changes coming to knowledge work.

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We can critically think more.

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We can actually be more creative and associative and generalist.

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I think we'll have a great time in this era of AI.

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Let me know how you feel about it.

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Check out this video on how I use AI to create McKinsey style visuals and I'll see you in the next video.

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Bye!

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317 sentences

Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson

This B2 speaking lesson is built on the video “My 17 Minute AI Workflow To Stand Out At Work”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: paper, performance, improve, input, source. This video has 215 sentences and 2511 words to shadow. The speech runs for 17:29. The speaker talks at a steady 144 words per minute, a comfortable pace for shadowing. 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
notebook noun	/ˈnoʊtˌbʊk/	A book (physical or digital) in which notes or memoranda are written.
elicit verb	/ɪˈlɪsɪt/	To evoke, educe (emotions, feelings, responses, etc.); to generate, obtain, or provoke as a response or answer.
cite verb	/saɪt/	To quote; to repeat, as a passage from a book, or the words of another.
upload verb	/ˈʌpˌloʊd/	To transfer data to a computer on a network, especially to a server on the Internet.
insight noun	/ˈɪnsaɪ̯t/	A sight or view of the interior of anything; a deep inspection or view; introspection; frequently used with into.
actionable adjective	/ˈæk.ʃə.nə.bəl/	Able to be acted on; able to be used as the basis for taking action.
dilute verb	/daɪˈljuːt/	To make thinner by adding solvent to a solution, especially by adding water.
interdependence noun		The condition of being interdependent.
meaningfulness noun		The state or measure of being meaningful.
underperform verb		To underachieve; to fail to reach standards or expectations, especially with respect to a financial investment.
empower verb	/ɪmˈpaʊ.ə/	To give permission, power, or the legal right to do something.
vague adjective	/veɪɡ/	Not clearly expressed; stated in indefinite terms.
leverage noun	/ˈlɛv.(ə.)ɹɪd͡ʒ/	A force compounded by means of a lever rotating around a pivot.
pasta noun	/ˈpɑ.stə/	Dough made from wheat and water and sometimes mixed with egg and formed into various shapes; often sold in dried form and typically boiled for eating.
bore verb	/boɹ/	To inspire boredom in somebody.

Phrasal verbs you will hear

Word	Meaning
move up verb	To promote, put onto a higher level.
check out verb	To record the departure or withdrawal of someone or something (such as guests, employees, books, etc.).
figure out verb	To come to understand; to discover or find a solution; to deduce.
find out verb	To discover, as by asking or investigating.
go back verb	To return to a place or state after having been there at a previous time.
go back to verb	To stem from; to originate in.
go through verb	To travel from one end of something to the other.
look through verb	To take a view of the contents of; search in, either with the eyes or by hand.

Sentences worth repeating

Short, complete lines from the video that you can reuse in everyday conversation:

We're averaging down to the level of the internet.
Let's say that's not relevant to us.
I don't know if we've seen this.

Grammar in this video

The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:

Structure	In the video
Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it	can be broken · are aimed · are nuanced
Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now	haven't even read · haven't read · has processed
Relative clauses who / which + clause — extra information about a person or thing	face which is · leadership, which means · studies, which is

Pronunciation to watch

The speaker uses 51 contractions and reduced forms, such as we're, don't, I'm. Say them the short way, as you hear them.

The “sh” and “zh” sounds: actionable /ˈæk.ʃə.nə.bəl/, associative /əˈsoʊ.ʃi.ə.tɪv/, complication /ˌkɑm.pləˈkeɪ.ʃən/, hallucination /həˌluːsɪˈneɪʃən/, optimization /ˌɑptəmaɪˈzeɪʃən/
Long words — get the stress right: actionable /ˈæk.ʃə.nə.bəl/, analytic /ˌænəˈlɪtɪk/, associative /əˈsoʊ.ʃi.ə.tɪv/, complication /ˌkɑm.pləˈkeɪ.ʃən/, generalist /ˈd͡ʒɛn.(ə.)ɹə.lɪst/

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 notebook, elicit, cite.

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.

Shadowing technique: read the full step-by-step guide →

Shadowing Practice: My 17 Minute AI Workflow To Stand Out At Work - Learn English Speaking with Video

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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson

Key vocabulary in this video

Phrasal verbs you will hear

Sentences worth repeating

Grammar in this video

Pronunciation to watch

How to practise with this video

What is the Shadowing Technique?