Influencing Without Authority (B2 Level) English Listening Practice (Workplace English)

 

Vocabulary
A. Influencing (verb) influencer: To affect someone's decisions, actions, or opinions. Example: Good teachers are skilled at influencing their students.

B. Authority (noun) autorité: The power to make decisions or give orders. Example: The manager has the authority to approve the budget.

C. Launch (noun) lancement: The official introduction of a new product or service. Example: The company planned a launch for its new smartphone.

D. Feature (noun) fonctionnalité: An important part or function of a product. Example: The camera feature makes this phone very popular.

E. Bring everyone together (expression) réunir tout le monde: To get people together to work toward a goal. Example: The festival helped bring everyone together after a difficult year.

G. In contrast (expression) en revanche / par contraste: Used to show a clear difference between two things. Example: My brother enjoys winter; in contrast, I prefer summer.

H. Pressure (verb) faire pression sur: To strongly encourage someone to do something. Example: My parents never pressure me to choose a particular career.

I. Less likely (expression) moins susceptible de: Having a lower chance of doing or experiencing something. Example: People are less likely to forget appointments with a reminder.

J. Gain (verb) obtenir / gagner: To get something useful, valuable, or important. Example: She gained valuable experience while working abroad.

L. Tight (adjective) serré / court: Having very little extra time available. Example: We have a tight schedule, so we must leave early.

Pattern: Depend less on + noun/gerund + and more on + noun/gerund
This is used to compare two factors and show that the second one is more important than the first.

Structure: Subject + depend(s) less on A and more on B

French equivalents
dépend moins de... que de... (most common)
repose moins sur... que sur...
est davantage fondé sur... que sur... (more formal)

Examples
- Success depends less on talent and more on consistent effort.
La réussite dépend moins du talent que d'efforts constants.

- Customer loyalty depends less on price and more on the quality of the service.
La fidélité des clients dépend moins du prix que de la qualité du service.

Guide Questions
1. What does the speaker say about managers and team leaders?
2. What does a manager do when an important feature is delayed
3. What happens when a project manager repeatedly pressures colleagues?
4. What does the speaker say about good leadership?

Discussion

1. You are leading a project, but the engineering team reports to another manager. A critical feature will be delayed. How would you persuade the engineers to prioritize your project without giving them orders?  
2. A colleague from another department refuses to share important information because they are busy with their own work. How would you convince them to cooperate while maintaining a positive working relationship?
3. Your manager supports your idea, but several experienced coworkers are skeptical. What strategies would you use to gain their trust and encourage them to support your proposal?
4. During a meeting, two departments disagree about how to solve a problem. If you have no authority over either team, how would you help them reach an agreement?
5. A senior employee often ignores your suggestions because you are less experienced. How could you increase your influence and make your ideas more convincing?
6. Your team needs another department to complete an urgent task before a deadline, but they have different priorities. How would you encourage them to help without creating conflict?
7. You believe a company procedure should be changed because it wastes time. Since you cannot make the decision yourself, how would you persuade the decision-makers to support your recommendation?
8. A new employee has excellent ideas, but nobody listens to them. If you wanted to help this person influence the team, what advice would you give?
9. Think about a time when someone successfully influenced you without using their position or authority. What did they do, and why was their approach effective?
10. Imagine you are responsible for introducing a new way of working, but no one is required to follow your recommendations. What would you do to gain support and encourage people to adopt the change?

TRANSCRIPT

For a manager or team leader, influencing without authority is part of the job. Imagine leading the launch of a new product while working with engineers, designers, buyers, and marketing staff who all report to different managers. For example, when the engineering team announces that an important feature will be delayed, the project manager cannot order people to work overtime or move employees from one team to another. Instead, they bring everyone together to explain how the delay could affect the product launch, discuss practical solutions, and encourage each team to find ways to help. In contrast, a project manager who constantly pressures colleagues for updates is less likely to gain their support. This shows that good leadership depends less on giving orders and more on bringing people together to achieve a common goal, especially when deadlines are tight and teams have different priorities. (144 words)