Shadowing Practice: The Real Cost of Avoiding Conflict - Learn English Speaking with Video
Creating lesson...
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a lot of leaders encourage their people to collaborate, to avoid conflict, and to reach a consensus on how something should be done.
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But this doesn't harness the constructive tension.
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It just removes it.
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And without this, you're extremely unlikely to arrive at the right answer.
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Welcome to Moments with Marty, your short, sharp shot of Leadership Insight to help you to stay on track between our weekly episodes of the No Bullshit Leadership podcast.
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Virtually every company has natural tensions built into its DNA.
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For example, there's the classic friction point between sales and operations.
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It's easy to sell something, but then your company has to deliver it.
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Salespeople have a natural tendency to oversell a product,
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sometimes to the point where it's almost impossible for the company to deliver that product profitably.
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To find a balance between sales and operations requires a comprehensive dive into these natural tensions.
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Another example is the natural conflict between a CFO and an asset owner, especially in an industrial business.
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The CFO wants to minimise capital expenditure because they're monitoring critical metrics like return on assets.
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The CFO's job is to limit the amount of capital that the business deploys.
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However, the operators are incentivised to provide asset availability and reliability.
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So the more capital they have to spend, the less issues they're going to have to manage.
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And they're also more likely to hit their own KPIs.
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Which is why it's in their best interests to spend as much money as they can on building
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and maintaining the company's assets.
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How do you manage these natural tensions so that people work together to achieve the best outcome for the company, not just for their immediate team.
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Single point accountability is critical.
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It has to be clear who the decision maker is for every initiative that your company undertakes.
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When it comes to higher order issues, like capital investment in assets, accountability often rests with the CEO or the board,
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because that's the only way you can ultimately resolve the tensions between a chief revenue officer and a COO.
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But no matter what level the accountability resides,
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a clear decision has to be made by accountable executive who's in a position to weigh the relative merits of competing positions.
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If you're a leader trying to balance natural tensions, there are a few cardinal sins that you could make.
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One of the worst you can commit is dumbing down your team.
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Now a lot of leaders encourage their people to collaborate, to avoid conflict, and to reach a consensus on how something should be done.
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But this doesn't harness the constructive tension, it just removes it.
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And without this, you're extremely unlikely to arrive at the right answer.
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More often than not, consensus decisions deliver the worst outcomes.
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Because when you seek consensus, the focus shifts from solving the problem to appeasing the people.
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It pushes you to the lowest common denominator, and what you end up with is a decision that everyone can live with but no one is really happy with.
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This is reason number 426 for overcoming your conflict aversion.
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If you don't learn to sit comfortably in the middle of your team's natural tensions, you'll leave a lot of value on the table.
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For more depth on this insight, have listened to episode 78 of the No Bullshit Leadership podcast, Refereeing Your Leader's Disputes.
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We'll leave a link in the show notes.
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I really hope you enjoyed this moment and that it gives you that extra little spark to be a No Bullshit Leader.
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This B2 speaking lesson is built on the video “The Real Cost of Avoiding Conflict”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: tension, natural, asset, consensus, conflict. This video has 39 sentences and 593 words to shadow. The speech runs for 4:02. The speaker talks at a steady 147 words per minute, a comfortable pace for shadowing. Only 80% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English, so the vocabulary is demanding.
Key vocabulary in this video
The 15 most advanced words in the video, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| consensus noun | /kənˈsɛnsəs/ | A process of decision-making that seeks widespread agreement among group members. |
| accountability noun | /əˌkaʊn.təˈbɪl.ə.ti/ | The state of being accountable; liability to be called on to render an account or give an explanation; liability to be held responsible or answerable for… |
| collaborate verb | /kəˈlæb.ə.ɹeɪt/ | To work together with others to achieve a common goal. |
| harness verb | /ˈhɑɹ.nəs/ | To place a harness on something; to tie up or restrain. |
| constructive adjective | /kənˈstɹʌktɪv/ | Relating to or causing construction. |
| podcast noun | /ˈpɑdˌkæst/ | A program, especially an audio program, produced on a regular basis, delivered over the Internet in a compressed digital format and designed for playback on… |
| insight noun | /ˈɪnsaɪ̯t/ | A sight or view of the interior of anything; a deep inspection or view; introspection; frequently used with into. |
| appease verb | /əˈpiːz/ | To make quiet; to calm; to reduce (something) to a state of peace; to dispel (anger, hatred, etc.). |
| aversion noun | /əˈvɜːʒən/ | Opposition or repugnance of mind; fixed dislike often without any conscious reasoning. |
| denominator noun | /dɪˈnɒmɪneɪtə(ɹ)/ | The number or expression written below the line in a fraction (such as 2 in ½). |
| oversell verb | /oʊ.vɚ.sɛl/ | To agree to sell more of something than one can supply. |
| profitably adverb | /ˈpɹɑ.fɪ.tə.bli/ | In a profitable manner, in a way that achieves profit or gain. |
| salesperson noun | A person whose job is to sell things, often in a shop or store. | |
| reside verb | /ɹɪˈzaɪd/ | To dwell permanently or for a considerable time; to have a settled abode for a time; to remain for a long time. |
| deploy verb | /dɪˈplɔɪ/ | To prepare and arrange (originally military unit or units, i.e., to array troops) for use. |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 11 contractions and reduced forms, such as they're, you're, doesn't. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: aversion /əˈvɜːʒən/, friction /ˈfɹɪkʃən/
- Long words — get the stress right: accountability /əˌkaʊn.təˈbɪl.ə.ti/, collaborate /kəˈlæb.ə.ɹeɪt/, denominator /dɪˈnɒmɪneɪtə(ɹ)/, profitably /ˈpɹɑ.fɪ.tə.bli/, expenditure /ɛkˈspɛndɪt͡ʃə/
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 consensus, accountability, collaborate.
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.