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Team Building – Interactive Essay Lesson A

Hi this is AJ and welcome to this months’ VIP interactive story lesson. This month we’re going to go through an essay, a writing, from a woman named Robin Benacasa and it’s about leadership and team building, of course. First I’ll read the whole thing, then I’ll go back and teach you some of the difficult vocabulary phrases and idioms. That’ll be part A. In part B I’ll ask you questions and you’ll answer them. Let’s begin…

In our real lives, and from a young age, we’re wired to think of winning as being a mutually exclusive thing. If I am to win everyone else must lose. But, once we’ve decided who is on our team, is it just you against the world every day or do you consider your family, your business unit, your clients or your entire company as part of your team? This is an important question, one that we have to think about and answer every single day.

Why can’t we then strive to take all of our teammates onto the top of that podium with us? Does it somehow make us less than, to have our teammates with us as we cross that finish line? I submit that as a leader and a team builder it makes you more than. Isn’t it more fun and memorable to have a Stanley Cup style finish with everyone pouring champagne on one another on stage, then to have an Olympic style awards ceremony where you are standing on that podium alone?

Whenever we saw a team in which there was finger pointing at one another, we knew that particular team was never going to make it to the finish line, no matter how great the individual members were as athletes. Rumblings like, I don’t think Bob trained enough, he’s been lying to us the whole time. Or, Steve really blew the navigation in that section. Give the signal that the individuals will be thrown under the bus on this team, so it’s every man or woman for himself.

If this pointing out of individual weaknesses or mistakes continues, especially in public, you can wave goodbye to team unity and the desire to work for your teammates versus protecting yourself from them.

To that end, the best teams word everything as, we. We lost our way. We struggled in that section. We lost the account. The people who are responsible feel bad enough already and more than likely they know who they are. They will appreciate you having their back and in the future when the shoe is on the other foot they will have yours. What happens on the team stays on the team. This grace and generosity of spirit is the glue that holds a team together over the long haul.

Besides, many team issues are due to a lack of synergy and not a particular individual’s performance. For example, if an adventure racing team’s navigation is wrong, it is not because a single navigator screwed up. There are three other people who are supposed to be helping that navigator along the way. His job is to communicate which landmarks you should be looking for, and the rest of the team should be vigilantly backing him up.

For example, “Steve, I see that ridgeline you told us to look for and I think I see that little meadow coming up too.” It’s that constant communication that keeps people thinking as a team. On high performance teams everyone accepts complete responsibility for the group’s successes and failures. Allowing even one person to fail is a breakdown of the entire team, because everyone should have been pitching in to help the one who was struggling. Conversely, if someone is having difficulty and keeps it to themselves, they’re not a ‘we’ thinking person either.

All right, let’s go back to the beginning and learn some vocabulary.

Now, this woman is an adventure racer.

Adventure race – An adventure race is a team race.

So, you know, like normal running races where it’s just, like a marathon for example, it’s just one person right? You’re just competing for yourself to get your best time. Well, in adventure races teams compete, so everyone on the team has to cross the finish line at the same time, so it’s a team event. So that’s why she’s writing about team building and leadership.

All right, let’s go back to the beginning and learn some vocab.

Vocabulary

So she said in our real lives and from a young age we’re wired to think of winning as being a mutually exclusive thing.

Wired to – means programmed to, taught to or programmed to.

So we’re taught to think of winning. We’re programmed to think of winning… as being a mutually exclusive; mutually exclusive thing.

Mutually exclusive – means you have two things, but only one can happen.

So if one happens the other cannot. So, for example, if we have two people competing, let’s say a tennis match, right? If one wins the other must lose. It’s mutually exclusive, both cannot win and both cannot lose. It’s a mutually exclusive competition; only one can happen and if one happens the other cannot.

If I am to win everyone else must lose, but once we’ve decided who is on our team, and there’s a little paragraph here, is it just you against the world every day or do you consider your family to be part of your team, your business to be part of your team, your entire company to be part of your team? She asks, why can’t we then strive to take all of our teammates onto to top of that podium with us?

Strive to – means to try hard to. To strive to do something means you try hard to do something.

If you strive you try hard to take all of your teammates onto the top of the podium…

A podium – is a kind of platform. There’s different kinds. One kind is something you stand behind when you give a speech, but also, a podium can be something you stand on top of, like at the Olympics when they give the medals, the gold medal right, it’s kind of a raised stage. It’s a higher or raised platform or stage. That’s also called a podium.

And so, she’s talking, if you go to the top of the podium it means you won. So what she’s saying is, you try to take all of your teammates to the top of the podium means take all of your teammates to winning.

Does it somehow make us less than, to have our teammates with us?

Less than – means here, it means inferior. Does it make us inferior if we do it with a group, instead of alone? She’s asking.

As we cross the finish line.

Crossing the finish line – just means to succeed. It’s kind of an idiom.

In her case it’s literal too also, she does races, so they actually do cross the finish line, but we can also use ‘cross the finish line’ as a general idiom just to mean to finish or to succeed.

Next she says, I submit that, as a leader, it makes you more than. It makes you superior, makes you better to do it as a group.

I submit that – here it means, I propose or I suggest. I suggest that as a leader it makes you more. I submit that.

Then she asks, isn’t it more fun and memorable to have a Stanley Cup style finish?

Stanley Cup – is a trophy for the hockey league, the professional hockey league in North America, Canada and the USA.

So, it’s the big trophy that the winning team gets.

So she’s saying, isn’t it more fun to have a big team finish where everyone’s pouring champagne on one another? Right, you’ve seen sometimes in the sports when they win the championship they have bottles of champagne, they pour it on each other’s heads to celebrate. So she’s saying that’s more fun to celebrate as a team when you win than to have an Olympic style award ceremony where you’re alone on the podium. In a lot of Olympic events it’s just one person when they get the medal and it’s kind of more serious. They’re not going crazy pouring champagne on themselves, so she’s saying the team celebration, the team victory is more fun than the individual one.

Next she says, whenever we saw a team in which there was finger pointing at one another, we knew they had a problem.

Finger pointing – means blaming, blaming and criticizing; blaming and criticizing is finger pointing.

So when they saw another team where they’re blaming each other for problems they’re finger pointing, she knew they were gonna have problems, she knew they weren’t gonna win. For example, rumblings like, I don’t think Bob trained enough. Here a rumbling – is a complaining sound, kind of erg, that’s a rumbling, it’s kind of the sound you make when you complain or when you’re upset or frustrated.

And, again, she does like these kind of athletic races where they run and swim and climb and do all these things, so sometimes she would h ear other teams saying, I don’t think Bob trained enough.

To train – means to practice right, to practice, to get in good shape.

Another example, Steve really blew the navigation in that section.

This might be another example of a complaint. He really blew the navigation in that section.

To blow something – to really blow something means to make a big mistake, to fail.

So Steve really failed with the navigation. Steve made a big mistake with the navigation, he really blew the navigation.

Navigation – means finding directions, finding the way somewhere, finding directions. Navigation is finding your way to a destination, to a place.

So in these races it’s not just a straight line, they have to use a map to figure out where they’re going so they need navigation, they need someone who can find the directions.

She’s saying, these complaints give the signal that individuals will be thrown under the bus.

All right, so give the signal just means show. Give the signal means show.

These complaints show that individuals will be thrown under the bus.

Thrown under the bus – that’s a good idiom. Thrown under the bus means sacrificed, left alone, left unsupported. Sacrificed.

If you throw someone under the bus it means you don’t support them. If they make a mistake, instead of supporting them, instead of defending them you criticize them or you kind of get away from them, you don’t help them, you don’t support them, you don’t defend them. You sacrifice them. You can imagine the image, throw someone under a bus, right? There’s a bus and you throw them under and they get run over, they get hurt or they get killed. That’s the image, but it just means to sacrifice someone, to not defend them, not support them.

So she’s saying that in these teams where they criticize each other, the team members they think, oh, I will be thrown under the bus if I make a mistake. I will be sacrificed if I make a mistake. I will not be supported if I make a mistake. Thrown under the bus.

And therefore, on those bad teams, it’s every man for himself. Another good idiom.

Every man for himself – means no teamwork. It means everyone is alone, everyone is competing alone. Everyone has to do it alone. Every man for himself, we’re not going to help each other it’s every man for himself.

If this pointing out of weaknesses continues… Pointing out - means to indicate, to indicate, to show, to show or to indicate.

So if they continue to show, they continue to notice, to indicate individual mistakes, you can wave goodbye to team unity.

Wave goodbye – just means say goodbye. It’s gonna go away, it’s going to disappear.

To team unity, what will disappear? Team unity.

Unity – means togetherness, togetherness. That feeling of togetherness, connection, being together, working together; unity.

So, again, she’s saying if the individuals, if you point out the individual’s mistakes, oh you did this, you made this mistake, you did that wrong that will destroy the unity, the togetherness of the team. It will destroy the desire to work for your teammates, to work for them, to help them versus, as opposed to, protecting yourself from them.

When everyone’s criticizing each other than the team members start to worry about protecting themselves, they want to hide their mistakes because they don’t want to be criticized. They focus on that instead of helping each other.

Next line, to that end the best team’s word everything as ‘we’.

To that end – means for that purpose, for that reason, for that purpose.

For that reason, to that end, the best teams word everything as ‘we’.

Now here word is used as a verb and it really means to say, to say. The best teams word to say in a certain way.

So she’s saying that the best teams always say we, we, we, we they don’t say I. They say we. We lost our way. We have a problem. We struggled in that section. We lost the account at the company. We, we did it, not I, not you; we.

The people who are responsible, right, the people who made the mistakes right, maybe it’s one person, maybe it’s two people or more… the people who made the mistakes, the people who are responsible already feel bad and more than likely, probably, they know who they are. They know they did it. They know they made a mistake. They will appreciate you having their back.

This is a great idiom, very common slang or idiom and used a lot.

To have someone’s back, have their back, have your back, have my back – it means to support and protect and defend someone.

So, if I say I have your back, you know, you’re my friend I say I have your back don’t worry, I have your back. It means don’t worry, I will defend you. I will protect you. I will support you. I have your back. So again, think of the image, imagine the picture right, if you have someone’s back it means you’re protecting their back. If you’re in a fight right, it’s most dangerous if someone attacks you from behind, attacks your back they can hurt you. So, but if you have a friend they can watch your back, they can protect you so no one can hit you from behind. They’re defending you. They’re protecting your weak point. That’s the idea, right. To have someone’s back means to protect someone, to defend someone, especially when they’re weak, especially when they have a problem.

And in the future when the shoe is on the other foot they will have yours.

Another great idiom, very common.

When the shoe is on the other foot, when the shoe is on the other foot – this means when the situation reverses.

So, in other words, it’s when the other person experiences the same thing. Okay, let’s say it’s me and you. You have a problem. I have your back, I protect you. Then in the future when the shoe’s on the other foot, it reverses. Now I have the problem, but then you will protect me, right? Maybe you have the problem first, but when the shoe’s on the other foot, when the situation reverses suddenly I’m the one with the problem, then you will have my back; you’ll protect me. So she’s saying that if you help someone else, well then, in the future they’ll help you when the situation changes, when the shoes on the other foot.

What happens on the team stays on the team. This grace and generosity of spirit.

Generosity of spirit – just means an attitude of generosity, a mindset, an attitude of being generous, giving, helpful.

This attitude is the glue that holds a team together over the long haul. More idioms…

Glue that holds together – the glue that holds together, it’s the thing. It’s the thing that holds something together right, glue holds things together. So, in this case, it’s kind of a metaphor. It means to keep a team together you need this attitude of generosity, of giving and helping, especially over the long haul.

Over the long haul – means in the long run, is another way we say it. Over the long haul, in the long run, it just means into the long future, long-term.

Besides, many team issues are due to a lack of synergy.

Due to – means caused by. Due to means caused by.

So many team issues, many team problems are caused by a lack of synergy.

Synergy – is the situation where a whole or a group is better than the individual parts. So the whole is better than the individual parts.

For example, you might have a great team, a super great team because everyone works together well. But maybe each individual on the team they’re not that good. Let’s say a basketball team… so maybe the five players they’re good but they’re not great, individually they’re not that great but together they’re fantastic, because they work together very well. That’s synergy. So, for example, in an adventure race, if the navigation is wrong it is not because a single navigator screwed up.

A navigator – is a person who finds the directions, right, they find the way.

Navigation – is the art and the science of finding your direction. The navigator is the person who does that.

To screw up – means to make a mistake. To screw up means to make a mistake. Again, a common idiom, to screw up means to make a mistake.

So the navigator’s job is to communicate which landmarks to look for, but the rest of the team needs to help. The rest of the team should be vigilantly backing him up, backing up the navigator.

Vigilantly – means attentively, attentively, with a lot of attention; vigilantly.

Backing him up – means supporting him.

If I back you up it means I support you, I help you. To back someone up means to support and help them.

For example, they might say, Steve I see that ridgeline that you told us to look for.

A ridgeline – is the top line of hills. You have a group of hills, a line of hills, along the top, the very tops of the hills they kind of connect that’s called a ridgeline.

Or they might say, I think I see that little meadow.

A meadow – is a grassy area. A meadow is a little grassy area.

On high performance teams everyone accepts complete responsibility for the group’s successes and failures. Allowing even one person to fail is a breakdown of the entire team.

A breakdown – is a failure. It’s a breaking of, a failing of. So a breakdown of the team means a failure of the team.

Because everyone should have been pitching in to help. Another great idiom.

Pitching in to help – to pitch in to help means to join in to help, to join in and help; join in and help, pitch in to help.

So everyone should be pitching in to help the person who’s struggling. If someone is having difficulty and keeps it to themselves, they’re also not a ‘we’ thinking person.

Okay, to keep something to yourself – means to say nothing. Keep it to yourself, means to say nothing right, you stay silent. So if they keep it to themselves they stay silent. They’re also not a ‘we’ thinking person. They don’t have the ‘we’ attitude. So she’s saying that it’s also, if someone’s having a problem on a team they need to say something, they need to ask for help. If they try to hide their problem that’s also not being a good team member.

All right, so that’s a lot of vocabulary. In the next one we’ll go through with some of the idioms especially. I’ll ask you some questions so you get a lot of repetition for those idioms and learn them very well.

So I’ll see you in part B.