Shadowing Practice: Trust the Process: How to Design Teams That Actually Work - Learn English Speaking with Video
Creating lesson...
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Swift trust can help your communication and your teams be more effective.
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My name is Matt Abrahams, and I teach strategic communication at Stanford Graduate School of Business.
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Welcome to Think Fast, Talk Smart, the podcast.
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Today, I look forward to speaking with Melissa Valentine.
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Melissa is an associate professor in the Management Science
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and Engineering Department at Stanford and a senior fellow at the Stanford Institute for Human -Centered Artificial Intelligence.
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Her research focuses on how emerging technologies, including artificial intelligence and algorithms, are fundamentally transforming work, organizational design, and team dynamics.
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Melissa, along with her co -author Michael Bernstein, wrote the fascinating book, Flash Teams, leading the future of AI -enhanced on -demand work.
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Well, welcome, Melissa.
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I'm really excited to have you join us.
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Thank you.
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This show is so fun, and I love the guests you have, so I'm delighted to be here.
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Well, thank you.
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And thanks for being one of them.
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Should we get started?
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Let's do it.
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Excellent.
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I have to say, I really enjoyed your book, Flash Teams, very much.
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Really, really interesting.
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Can you define for all of us what a flash team is and explain what people, processes, and infrastructure enable flash teams to get aligned and execute quickly?
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So my PhD is in organization science, basically.
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So I got my PhD at a business school.
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And then my collaborator is a computer science professor, and he was doing a lot of work on crowdsourcing
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so what's cool about crowdsourcing is um like the crowd is like millions of people online right
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and you can get things done quickly
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because you just like put a task out
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and then there's millions of people who are available to come work on the task
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but what he was seeing at the time that he
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and i started working together was crowdsourcing was sort of stuck
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because they were doing like really they call them like micro tasks
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but just really like small tasks and then i had this toolkit organization science
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and my dissertation had been about how you can use basically like team scaffolds
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or like sort of lightweight team structures
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and then like you you populate the team structure with experts
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and the team structure and the role structure helps them know how to work together
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so we sort of were able to combine the logic of both of these
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so you have these like lightweight structures
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that allow people who are like relative strangers to come together
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and to work together on really complex stuff this system
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that we built with like a great team of like a
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PhD student Daniella Ratelny she organized this great lab at the time we first did our flash teams
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so we built a platform that basically like took all the logic of organization science
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and team science and then the speed and scale of crowdsourcing
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and then like put them together so the way the system works we have this platform
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where like i'm somebody who like wants to get something done
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so i go to the platform i like design the team
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and then the platform integrates with something like we used upwork
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so there's like 10 million freelancers who are on upwork and then so i'll say here's the task that I need done.
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Here's the role I need filled.
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And then the platform can integrate with Upwork.
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And then it's open call to like the 10 million freelancers.
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Who's got the right expertise?
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They join the team.
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So you can just convene teams really fast.
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And what we showed with this research is that like you can get things done really quickly.
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You can pull teams together.
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They build really complex stuff really quickly.
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And it was really inspiring.
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I mean, it's even faster now with Gen AI.
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So you set a framework and expectations and then leverage a tool
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that pulls people in and then the Flash team is really the focused, concerted effort that it's all about.
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Can you talk to us a little bit about the structures that you can set up for teaming?
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It sounds like you've done some research in that.
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Give me an example of what a structure for efficient teaming looks like.
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There's like three structures that are very useful for a Flash team.
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The first is the role structure.
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So that's going to be our relative expertise.
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So let's say that I am I'm a UI designer and you're a front -end developer, like we get together and we know, I know what I'm responsible for.
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I know the skills I need, I know the tools, the platforms, and you know that too.
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And since we're both so expert at what we do, we can kind of negotiate it fast.
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I can say, how is the screen gonna work for you?
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Or you can say like, where is this functionality gonna come from?
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And we just like negotiate it quickly.
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Because we know each other's role.
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Exactly.
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Yes, and because we know people of that role, somebody else could plug in if you get sick or move on.
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Excellent, I really like that.
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Yeah, so the role structure.
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So the second one is the team structure.
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And the team structures are like what help a group know that they are accountable to each other.
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And so for example, one team structure could be like everyone being responsible together for something.
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Like maybe there's a team rating instead of individual ratings.
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So that's what you're going to be looking for.
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Individual ratings, then everyone is going to be like every person for themselves.
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If it's a team rating, like everyone pulls together and is like, we're all in this together.
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So it's how we team and how we assess the teaming.
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Very powerful.
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Students don't like group projects, right?
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Because being all in it together can either be the best thing or the worst thing.
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So the team structure.
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And then the last one actually is hierarchy.
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And hierarchy as a structure is about who has the right to make decisions, right?
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In some ways, again, people don't necessarily think they like hierarchy, but hierarchy is so useful for coordination because you have...
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you know five strangers show up together maybe everyone has a different idea of what should happen
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but if you have this sense it's like another role structure
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if you have a sense of who's the final decision maker
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right a good enactment of hierarchy is they take in all the information they understand like what needs to happen
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and they just communicate it clearly right
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so like the coordination of the group happens through hierarchy that's fantastic
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so so three primary roles that you just identified our role that is how we relate to each other in our expertise, the teaming, how we assess and work together and reward,
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get rewarded, and then hierarchy or decision -making, which really determines how we can actually move forward.
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That's right.
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And I think all of us, regardless of if you're putting together a flash team or not, can think about those structures in your team that you currently have to help optimize it,
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or if you're forming a new team, to think about that.
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Thank you.
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That's great.
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You know, one of the essential elements of any teaming or groups coming together is trust.
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What are some of the communication skills or other skills that people can deploy to establish trust quickly?
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I'm assuming part of what flash teams do besides accomplish their work is they're able to coordinate action, perhaps through building trust.
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Yeah, trust in flash teams is essential and complex, right?
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Because it is relative strangers.
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You get together and you work together really intensely and then you disassemble.
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So I think that there's this idea in the literature called like swift trust.
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And there's like an assumption that you just assume trust.
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Like you just meet somebody for the first time, you assume they're competent, you assume that they know how to do their role, you assume you're both there for the same reason, to like work hard, get it done.
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So that, yeah, the assumption of swift trust is really useful.
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It doesn't always work out.
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So I think it's, yeah.
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But the sort of like offering of swift trust is part of it.
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And then, yeah, paying attention to when it's not going right
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and like being willing and able to kind of repair quickly is also important.
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I love this idea of swift trust.
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So you approach from a place of trust, assuming that you are trustworthy and I will trust you and you will do the same,
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can expedite things because there's a lot of this testing that goes into trust and time.
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And if you start from that place, and obviously, you know, it might fail or people could take advantage of it.
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But the second part of what you said, I think really is the helpful part is to have
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that meta awareness and watching for it and then being willing to speak up and try to repair it.
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Yeah.
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So I think it's not only swift trust being open to trust, but being open to repair when it's not there.
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Yeah, exactly.
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I really like that idea of swift trust.
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So much in my life I think would be better if we just approached everything with this notion of idea.
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Yeah.
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I mean, there is a real difference because I think of the person I wrote the book with, Michael, he and I have worked together for 15 years now, and that is a different kind of trust than swift trust.
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But swift trust is a tool that's useful.
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Right.
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And it's a way to at least initiate, and then you can build deeper trust in a relationship.
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That can only happen, I think, after repeated exposure and time.
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Totally.
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Yeah.
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You talk about discursive diversity, and I had to practice saying that multiple times, by the way.
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Can you share what you mean by discursive diversity?
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And how can teams recognize when they need to shift their communication style from a more open -ended,
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brainstorming ideating to a very highly coordinated approach yeah so
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that is from the dissertation of one of my really brilliant PhD students
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so her name is Katarina Licks and she kind of invented that measure
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so what she was able to do she had all of
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the sort of like slack transcripts of different flash teams
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and she was able to she did this NLP processing
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and NLP is natural language processing yeah yeah before it was cool she learned how to do it
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and she was able to create this measure where she was looking at like the similarity of the language
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that people were using so you have all of the slack interactions
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and you can basically compare people talking on the team
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and how similar are the words
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that they're using the sentence structure right are they using the same adverbs like adjectives sense of urgency gets encoded
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and all of that
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and what she was able to show is the the sort of similarity of the language
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that people are using or the the difference
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so this is where let's see right discursive diversity yeah
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so like the diversity of discretion i guess like the diversity different types of words exactly yeah yeah
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so that sort of would predict the team meeting a milestone in different ways
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so there were times when you really want the language to diverge
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so this is a moment of brainstorming ideation right you want
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a lot of creativity you want a lot of divergence but then as you get closer to the deadline, you really, for the team to meet the deadline, then the language needs to converge.
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Like people need to start sounding more like each other to hit the deadline.
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So one, it's a measure really.
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So you can, you can look at, you know, if I'm a manager or somebody looking back at doing a post -mortem or after a project is done, and I can look at the communication, be it Slack, JIRA, whatever the tool is.
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And I can actually see the language might be a hint as to where we are.
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Yeah, totally.
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And as you're trying to get closer to the decision, more similar language is a sign.
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What I'd be curious, and I don't know if there's any research on this, is can you actually use language to influence that?
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So can I, as a manager, encourage more diverse language through ideation?
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But when I want us to start moving towards a decision, encourage people to start using similar language.
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I wonder if it's causal in that way.
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Right.
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I think that's a great research question.
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I think that's really interesting.
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So I encourage everybody listening to think about the language you're using for the different tasks you have
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and start to notice what that looks like.
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And maybe you can run your own experiment and play with that.
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I want to keep on flash teams and then I want to have a broader question.
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But when flash teams hit a snag, for example, like a miscommunication,
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what is the most effective way to fix that so they don't fraction and deal with too much friction in those situations?
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I'm so glad you asked this question.
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I have an unpublished paper.
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So we ran three really complex flash teams one summer, and we had all of the DMs.
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So we had all the Slack front stage and then all of the Slack DMs, the backstage.
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And the thing that was really interesting in analyzing all of that data is a lot of repairs happen backstage.
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So something would happen in the public Slack channel
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and then a dyad would go to the back channel and they'd be like, what is this bug?
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And they would like kind of sort it out and then come front stage with the solution.
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Oh, interesting.
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So it created a lot of like smooth operations.
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Like the Flash teams, they all, you know, accomplished their goal.
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There didn't seem to be a ton of conflict.
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So, this pattern of backstage repair was really interesting to discover.
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I think, I mean, like any human behavior, it's got different sides to it.
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So I think it did support smooth operation.
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But what I saw in the analysis that I have not yet published is
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that the people who were more involved in backstage repair ended up with more influence over time.
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So these are the workers and the managers who were really helping make the decisions.
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So it's something about like access to where the real problems get solved was like creating a lot of influence for people.
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And I think that I don't totally know what to do with
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that as someone who is interested in flash teams going well.
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I would maybe say you need like a postmortem on a flash team.
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What were the problems?
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Who helped solve them?
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What do we learn about this together?
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It's really, really intriguing that the people involved in that repair or that dealing with those problems end up being more influential.
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Yeah.
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Yeah, because it's like they had like the realer story of what was going on, and sometimes it was like in the backstage repair that decisions were made and then presented as if they were quite done,
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if that makes sense.
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That's really intriguing.
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I'm putting on my manager hat and thinking if I were in the midst of any team, be it a flash team or a regular team,
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how I could be aware that the folks who are involved in helping fix, repair, dive deep into problems,
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what that means for them in terms of their currency and how we interact on the public stage.
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And I just think it's interesting that we now have these two channels and ways of communicating that can be measured.
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I know you think about storytelling and change.
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How can everyday employees in an organization use storytelling to drive broader systemic change
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and build coalitions to help achieve whatever it is they're trying to achieve?
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Yeah.
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So one of the studies that I did when I first got to Stanford was actually an academic Cancer Center.
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And I saw stories be really influential in this study.
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So it feels a little different than what we've been talking about with AI and algorithms and so forth.
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But it still to me is a study of organizational design, which is what I'm really interested in.
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So in this, what happened in this study, so I was studying as this cancer center was trying to do a transformation.
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They were trying to kind of decrease the coordination burden on patients and their families.
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And during During the study, there was a group of patient advocates
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or activists who really wanted the Cancer Center to understand how much coordination they were having to do.
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So the way that they made their case, this is why I'm thinking of it, is they had an initiative they called patient stories.
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And so they collected, they went to great effort to collect a lot of patient
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stories where patients just talked about like a family member had
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to quit their job to become the full -time coordinator for the patient.
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So they came up with dozens of patient stories.
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And then in this paper that I have, I analyzed how they basically used the stories to make the case and to kind of spread the movement,
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spread the message across the cancer center.
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And at the end of the study, they had kind of convinced the cancer center to take on some of the coordination work.
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So it ends up being this kind of end -to -end story of like patient stories, patient narratives, actually changing the organizational design, which is why I'm thinking about it.
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It was like a very powerful thing that these patient activists did.
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Stories can really resonate and motivate people.
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Was there anything specific to the stories that you think were really important?
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Was it the fact that the stories accounted for all the specific coordination events?
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Or was it the emotionality?
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Or was it the fact that these people just collected a bunch of stories and the Cancer Center was like, wow, there are all these stories, we should probably do something.
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I think a lot of us interface with the healthcare system and we could just like see ourselves.
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So the patient stories were just like, this is us, this is you and me.
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So there's a connecting piece there.
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Yeah, really connecting piece.
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And then it illustrated the problem really specifically.
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So like somebody is like, you know, sitting in a wheelchair in a hallway cause they'd sort of been dropped or something like that.
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And so it's like, wait, like I think the cancer center is so full of people who care
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and then hearing like the specific instance in a really relatable story, they were just like, oh, that's a problem that I can help with.
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I think you hit on it.
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It's relatable and real.
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Yeah.
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And we can connect.
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Thank you.
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Can you take what you've learned about Flash Teams
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and give us any insight that we can just apply to a normal team?
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So I've got a team that's been around for a while and we meet regularly.
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Is there any insight from your work on Flash Teams that could perhaps help my team be more efficient, feel more connected, ideate better?
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One thing that Michael and I used to say when we were writing the book, we were trying to think of, like, what's the mindset here that, like, any manager would find empowering?
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And the phrase we came up with is experts everywhere all the time.
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So you've got your, like, trusted team.
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Great.
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You know, keep working together, taking good care of each other, working hard.
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But, like, really recognize that your organization, the world, the Internet, your friends,
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like, the world is just full of experts who can help and people like helping and bringing their expertise to something.
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So it's just like having a mindset of like recognizing how much collaboration is available, how much expertise is available. And yeah,
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so maybe it like invites you to kind of like think of the boundaries of the team a little more porously.
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Yeah, exactly.
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That's funny you said that, because that was exactly the word I was thinking is porous is
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that it can be very easy to insulate a team and say, this is the team, but being a little more open and pulling in expertise.
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When I was managing a team, I ran a learning and development group, and we had this very tricky thing we had to train people on,
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and it turned out that somebody in the company who was an admin was using our tool,
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and they actually knew how to do things that we were trying to figure out how to train people on better.
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That person was an expert, and by just dumb luck, we figured that out and incorporated them into the team.
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and I like that idea.
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I think that there are a lot of tools that can be very helpful to managers
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in terms of how the team like works together, coordinates and stuff like that.
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So, you know, like having an eye towards, the other thing we said in the book is like AI driven team design.
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So just making use of the tools to be very thoughtful in how you're structuring your team.
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So AI can help us structure the team and maybe even identify who some of the experts are that we might know.
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I love that.
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Melissa, this has been great.
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Before we end, you know, I like to ask three questions when I make up just for you.
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And two, I've been asking everybody, are you up for that?
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Yeah, let's do it.
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Beyond the academic research you do, you're also a creator and you study the algorithms that serve up information on social media.
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What advice do you have for others who are creators?
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Okay.
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So I love Instagram and TikTok.
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Like I have, I think it's people have like complicated relationships with social media.
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So the attention stuff is real.
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My attention span is shot.
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But I have learned so much from content creators.
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I am such a fan.
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My advice is keep going.
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If you're an expert, put it out in the world.
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People will find it.
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I mean, different life transitions I've gone through, different health stuff, different fitness stuff, different hobbies.
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I have learned so much from the internet.
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So thank you, content creators.
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You know, as a creator myself, and it took me a while to identify as a creator, But, you know, I think many of us are motivated to help people
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and it's that motivation that actually helps us get through.
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I mean, it's hard to put out the content and the algorithm can sometimes help you and sometimes not.
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So it's that passion and that desire to learn and to help, I think, that really motivate.
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And I can hear that in your voice and see it in the things that you post and create.
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Question number two, who is a communicator that you admire and why?
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So I'm at a moment where I'm thinking a lot about communication, where we like really like take each other in, in like a really deep way.
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So I have a friend who is a therapist and a Buddhist, and she just like, she has like a quality of like listening and expression that,
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that allows for like.. true communication.
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So I would say I'm going to nominate her.
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Excellent.
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And it's really that presence and listening and being there.
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It's a fascinating thing about being very aware of yourself that allows you to be very aware of others.
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It is a lot of presence, as you're saying, a lot of presence and connection.
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I like that self -awareness and other awareness.
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Thank you.
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Final question.
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What are the first three ingredients that go into a successful communication recipe?
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Something that I've come to appreciate is how useful a deep awareness of your own experience is, because then you're even more able to take in another's and all of its complexity.
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So yeah, self -awareness, other awareness, and then working from there, I think what's possible between you is new.
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It's something that neither of you would have done without that kind of connection.
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I sort of bristle at the word synergy, but in this case, that's exactly what you're talking about is the power of the two is greater than either individually.
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But that comes, as you said, from a self -awareness and then another awareness.
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Well, thank you.
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Thank you for the three ingredients and thank you for the conversation.
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Your work to me is really intriguing because it focuses both on technology, but the human aspect of people coming together and the fact
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that there are structures that we can rely on to help expedite and make things more efficient.
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Melissa, this has been fantastic.
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Thank you.
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And thank you for the work you do totally really fun
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for me too thank you thank you for joining us for
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another episode of think fast talk smart the podcast to learn
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more about groups listen in to our episode 241 with colin fisher
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and to learn more about social media algorithms please check out episode 268 with angelie christine
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this episode was produced by katherine reed ryan campos
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and me matt abrahams our music is from floyd wonder with
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special thanks to podium podcast company please find us on youtube and wherever you get your podcasts.
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Be sure to subscribe and rate us.
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Also, follow us on LinkedIn, TikTok, and Instagram.
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And check out fastersmarter .io for deep dive videos, English language learning content, and our newsletter.
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Please join us for our Think Fast Talk Smart Learning Community at fastersmarter .io slash learning.
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You'll find video lessons, learning quests, discussion boards, an AI coach, and book club opportunities.
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Again, that's fastersmarter .io slash learning to become part of our ThinkFast, TalkSmart learning community.
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This video has 346 sentences and 4419 words to shadow. The speech runs for 22:06. The speaker talks fast, about 200 words per minute, so expect linked and reduced sounds. 85% 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 |
|---|---|---|
| flash verb | /flæʃ/ | To cause to shine briefly or intermittently. |
| repair verb | /ˈɹiːpɛɚ/ | To restore to good working order, fix, or improve damaged condition; to mend; to remedy. |
| swift noun | /swɪft/ | A small plain-colored bird of the family Apodidae that resembles a swallow and is noted for its rapid flight. |
| awareness noun | /əˈwɛɹ.nəs/ | The state or level of consciousness where sense data can be confirmed by an observer. |
| hierarchy noun | /ˈhaɪ.ə.ɹɑː(ɹ).ki/ | A body of authoritative officials organized in nested ranks. |
| creator noun | /kɹiːˈeɪ̯təː/ | Something or someone which creates or makes something. |
| expertise noun | /ˌɛkspɜːˈtiːz/ | Great skill or knowledge in a particular field or hobby. |
| coordination noun | /kəʊˌɔːdɪˈneɪʃən/ | The act of coordinating, making different people or things work together for a goal or effect. |
| slack adjective | /slæk/ | Lax; not tense; not firmly extended. |
| diversity noun | /daɪˈvɜː(ɹ)sɪti/ | The quality of being diverse or different; a difference or unlikeness. |
| algorithm noun | /ˈælɡəɹɪðm̩/ | A collection of ordered steps that solve a mathematical problem. A precise step-by-step plan for a computational procedure that possibly begins with an input… |
| backstage adjective | /bækˈsteɪd͡ʒ/ | Relating to, or situated in the area behind a stage. |
| relative noun | /ˈɹɛl.ə.tɪv/ | Someone connected by blood, marriage, or adoption; someone in the same family. |
| encourage verb | /ɪnˈkʌɹ.ɪd͡ʒ/ | To mentally support; to motivate, give courage, hope or spirit. |
| efficient adjective | /ɪˈfɪʃənt/ | Making good, thorough, or careful use of resources; not consuming extra. Especially, making good use of time or energy. |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| work together verb | To be coworkers with someone; to share a workspace with someone. | |
| come together verb | /ˈkʌm tʊˈɡɛðɚ/ | To assemble; to congregate; to combine. |
| check out verb | To record the departure or withdrawal of someone or something (such as guests, employees, books, etc.). | |
| come up with verb | To manage to produce, deliver, or present (something) by inventing, creating, thinking of, or obtaining it. | |
| end up verb | To bring to a conclusion. | |
| get together verb | To meet, to gather together, to congregate. | |
| figure out verb | To come to understand; to discover or find a solution; to deduce. | |
| get through verb | /ɡɛt ˈθɹu/ | To overcome; to endure. |
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| Present perfect continuous have/has been + -ing — an action that started earlier and is still going on | we've been talking · I've been asking |
| Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now | you've done · have worked · you've learned |
| Relative clauses who / which + clause — extra information about a person or thing | people who are · somebody who like · people who were |
| Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it | is done · were made · are involved |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 56 contractions and reduced forms, such as I'm, you're, don't. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “th” sounds: algorithm /ˈælɡəɹɪðm̩/, smooth /smuːð/, therapist /ˈθɛɹəpɪst/, thoughtful /ˈθɔːtfəl/, trustworthy /ˈtɹʌst.wɜː.ði/
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: flash /flæʃ/, coordination /kəʊˌɔːdɪˈneɪʃən/, efficient /ɪˈfɪʃənt/, organizational /ˌɔː(ɹ)ɡənɪˈzeɪʃənəl/, artificial /ˌɑː.tɪˈfɪʃ.əl/
- Long words — get the stress right: hierarchy /ˈhaɪ.ə.ɹɑː(ɹ).ki/, coordination /kəʊˌɔːdɪˈneɪʃən/, diversity /daɪˈvɜː(ɹ)sɪti/, organizational /ˌɔː(ɹ)ɡənɪˈzeɪʃənəl/, coordinate /koʊˈɔɹ.dəˌneɪt/
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 flash, repair, swift.
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.