BC : Teamwork

• give details about a time you worked in a team
• learn how to structure a talk about a professional/academic experience
• learn words and phrases for talking about working in a team
• practise word stress to help you speak clearly.

HR Manager: TOMMY, as you know, this role involves working in a small team and it’s very important to work well with other team members. So can you tell me about a time when you worked with other colleagues towards a common goal?

TOMMY: Yes. I remember one time when we had a sales drive. The team had to increase new customer accounts by ten per cent over two months. It wasn’t easy but we worked together as a team and met the target.

//NOTES: [音] It wasn’t easy…(pause)… but we worked together-ras-sa-team//

HR Manager: I see. So tell me what you did.

TOMMY: Um … well quite soon I realised that not all team members were motivated. When I talked to them, I understood that they already had a lot of work to do and didn’t think the increased target was realistic. So I got the team together and we worked out how we could all share the existing and new work. I even took on some of my colleagues’ work.

HR Manager: Ok. And what was the result?

TOMMY: Well as I said, we met the target. But also everyone was able to contribute, which meant every team member got a bonus for completing the sales drive. Also, I learned the need to deal with any issues in a team quickly.

HR Manager: Great, thanks TOMMY.