Professionals Podcasts – Relationship-building

http://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/en/professionals-podcasts/relationship-building

Introduction
Professionals Podcasts from LearnEnglish help you to improve your English for your career in the
workplace, and cover a large number of business and work themes. They are suitable for learners at
intermediate to advanced level.

This support pack contains the following materials:

• two comprehension tasks
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• a language task: vocabulary

• the article
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Task 1: General comprehension

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Listen to the lecture and decide whether these statements are true or false.
rit
is

1. Relationship-building is the same as team- a. True

building.
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b. False
2. One good idea is to say ‘Good morning’ to three a. True
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people you do not know. b. False

3. It is a good idea to target somebody that you a. True

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want to build a relationship with. b. False

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4. It is important to understand what is happening a. True

in the world so that you can talk about it. b. False
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5. In a conflictive situation you should focus on the a. True

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person. b. False
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a. True
6. You should ask people open-ended questions.
b. False
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© The British Council, 2011 Page 1 of 4

The United Kingdom’s international organisation for educational opportunities and cultural relations. We are registered in England as a charity.
 Professionals Podcasts – Relationship-building
http://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/en/professionals-podcasts/relationship-building

Task 2: Detailed comprehension

Choose the correct word or phrase in each sentence.

1. Relationship-building can refer to individuals a. and

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______ groups of people. b. and not

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2. It _____ a good idea to meet colleagues a. is

outside the office. b. isn’t
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3. Small talk is a______ thing to practise with a. bad

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colleagues. b. good
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a. nurture
4. It is important to _______new relationships.
b. analyse
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a. deficiencies
5. Do not focus on a person's _______.
b. competencies
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a. speaking
6. We should try to develop our ______ skills.
b. listening
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a. Plan
7. ______ questions to ask an acquaintance.
b. Don’t plan
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8. People ______ have an opportunity to give a. always

or

their point of view b. don’t always

g/
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© The British Council, 2011 Page 2 of 4

The United Kingdom’s international organisation for educational opportunities and cultural relations. We are registered in England as a charity.
 Professionals Podcasts – Relationship-building
http://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/en/professionals-podcasts/relationship-building

Task 3: Vocabulary
Use the words in the box to form common collocations that you heard in the recording.
• event
• affairs
• sense
• building
• talk
• hands
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• questions
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• point
• lives
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1. team-
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2. day-to-day
is
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3. starting
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4. common
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5. social
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6. small
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7. current
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8. shake
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9. open-ended
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Transcript
So as we have seen, then, relationship-building is not the same as team-building. When we talk about
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relationship-building we are talking about a competency in which we cultivate relationships both inside
and outside the workplace, with individuals and groups.
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I’m going to sum up by suggesting practical ideas of how you can all develop your relationship-
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building competency ... tips that you can easily incorporate into your day­to­day lives in such a way
that they will eventually become a habit.

I’m going to talk about informal relationships but, as we discussed earlier, the ideas can be
transferred to a more formal environment. First I’ll talk about initiating new relationships and then I’ll
mention a few ways that you can practise developing existing relationships.

Let’s start off with the obvious. Common sense is always a good starting point. The first thing we
should all do is to practise simple courtesies. This might seem like common sense to some people,
but in actual fact you’d be surprised at how many people do neglect these things. Set yourself a goal
to say ‘Good morning’ to three people you normally wouldn’t.

© The British Council, 2011 Page 3 of 4

The United Kingdom’s international organisation for educational opportunities and cultural relations. We are registered in England as a charity.
 Professionals Podcasts – Relationship-building
http://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/en/professionals-podcasts/relationship-building

We should also try to get to know colleagues outside the office. Ask people what their interests are. If
you share an interest in tennis say, suggest a game. Plan an occasional social event with co­workers.
It doesn’t have to be anything complicated, a coffee together or a picnic lunch, for example.

Another thing you can do is to actually target somebody in your office – somebody you would like to
know better. Make it your goal to talk to them. Small talk is fine. Listen to what they say and take
notice of the information you learn about their interests. Make sure you keep yourself up to date
on what’s happening in the world too. You won’t be very good at small talk if you don’t know about
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current affairs.
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So let’s imagine that we have done these things and that we have started a few new relationships.
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What can we do to develop them further? How can we nurture the relationships so that they don’t just
fizzle out or stay on a plain?
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Well, for a start we should focus on a person’s good qualities and not on their deficiencies. Nobody’s
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perfect after all.

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We should also practise effective listening. We are all good at speaking but how many of us really
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listen? And people want to be listened to. They appreciate it and they respond. Try it!

If we are in a conflictive situation with somebody, we should focus on the issue and not on the person.
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So, we can hammer out a point of disagreement but then – shake hands and go for a coffee. Usually
it is an issue that is the problem and not a person.
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Choose somebody who you consider to be an acquaintance and make a point of learning something
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new about his or her interests. Think of some questions that you can ask them for when you next
meet.
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Finally, when you are talking to people with whom you have a relationship of some kind, get into the
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habit of asking open-ended questions. That way they’ll be able to give their points of view. Sometimes
people just need to have the chance to say what they think … and very often it doesn’t happen.
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Task 3

Task 2:

Task 1
Answers
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9.
8.
7.
6.
5.
4.
3.
2.
1.

8.
7.
6.
5.
4.
3.
2.
1.

6.
5.
4.
3.
2.
1.
questions
hands
affairs
talk
event
sense
point
lives
building

b
a
b
a
a
b
a
a

True
False
True
True
False
False

© The British Council, 2011 Page 4 of 4

The United Kingdom’s international organisation for educational opportunities and cultural relations. We are registered in England as a charity.