English for personal assistants - part 41 pptx

11 Team building and giving/receiving
feedback KEY
᭿
Task 1
1. prone to
2. provocation
3. painstaking, conscientious
4. manipulative
5. offloads
6. averts
7. incidentals
8. discerning
9. dwells on
᭿ Task 2
1 An ideal team should have 2 a healthy balance of all 3 – nine team roles. 4 – Strong
teams normally have 5 a coordinator, 6 a plant, 7 a monitor evaluator and one or more
implementers, 8 – teamworkers, resource investigators or completer finishers. 9 A
shaper should be 10 an alternative to 11 a coordinator rather than having both in the
same team. In practice, 12 the ideal is rarely 13 the case and it can be helpful for 14 a
team to know which of 15 the team roles are either overrepresented or
underrepresented and to understand 16 – individuals’ secondary roles. 17 – Team
roles tend to develop and mature and may even change with 18 – experience and
conscious attention. If 19 a role is absent from 20 the team, then it is often filled by
someone who may not have recognized this role as 21 a dominant one. 22 The team
should share their team roles to increase 23 – understanding and enable 24 – mutual
expectations to be met.
᭿
Task 3
Carola is a coordinator and her allowable weakness is offloading work.
Emily is a teamworker and her allowable weakness is being indecisive.
᭿

Task 4 Suggested answer
Dear Carola,
I understand that you are under enormous work pressure, as we all are, but you did
agree to arrange the location of the conference next month. You are the person with the
most experience in this area and so I would be grateful if you could sort this out asap.
We are all working on this as a team and please rest assured that Emily will be taking
responsibility for the equipment as usual. Thank you very much for your help and we
are all looking forward to a very successful event.
᭿
Task 5 Suggested answer
Dear Emily
Further to your email correspondence with Carola, she will be responsible for deciding
on the location. Further, we all agreed that you would be responsible for sorting out the
equipment, so as soon as you hear from Carola where the conference will take place,
could you get in touch with the centre and let them know what we need? We should all
remember that we are part of the same team and have to pull together. Thank you very
much for your help and we are all looking forward to a successful event.
᭿
Task 6
1. OK I hear what you’re saying; and anyhow, it’s the first time something like this has
happened so I don’t think I need worry too much about it
2. in any case, what you said isn’t quite true; the projector did actually work
3. but I had very little time to organize everything; I could have got things together
much better
4. if you’d told me about the meeting a month in advance instead of a week
5. it’s just that not all the participants could work it properly; it really isn’t my fault if
they got lost; I also really can’t be held responsible for the weather
᭿
Task 7
1. Thanks for taking the time to talk to me

2. I know that things weren’t perfect
3. what I’d really like to know is what suggestions you’ve got that would ensure that
4. it’s always a learning curve for me to get feedback on an event
5. I’d like to know what I can do to make it better next time
᭿
Task 8
It’s unclear – what does “bugging” really mean? What exactly has happened “to drive
them mad?” Who are “we?” There are also no constructive suggestions for
improvement. It’s impolite, disrespectful, and unprofessional.
᭿
Task 9
It presents factual information, uses “I,” and invites a dialogue.
Team building and giving/receiving feedback KEY 201
᭿
Task 10 Suggested answer
That report you wrote yesterday was really good. The introduction and summary were
particularly clear and you kept to the point all the way through. It was very well-written
and concise. Thank you.
᭿
Task 11 Suggested answer
To: HR Dept.
From: Anne X, PA to Bill Y CEO
Date: 31/08/20XX
Subject: Courses on team-building and feedback
Mr Y has decided to run courses on the above as a matter of priority as the company
is expanding fast.
Could you contact some external training consultants to find out:
᭤ Length of courses offered
᭤ Course contents
᭤ Fees charged

᭤ Client references
Please also draw up a list of possible participants.
I would be grateful if you could get back to me asap.
Anne X
202 Team building and giving/receiving feedback KEY
12 Deadlines and reminders KEY
᭿
Task 1
1. worked out entails draft
2. standards reckon
3. offload completed
4. calling in meet
5. slack hitches
᭿
Task 2
1. up and running
2. teething troubles
3. hectic
4. draft
5. extent
6. break down into manageable chunks
7. milestone
᭿ Task 3 Suggested answers
1. Hi Jeanette, I was expecting to find the itinerary for Nicolas and Johanna on my
desk this morning so that I could then finalise all the arrangements for their trip
with them this morning. Have there been any problems?
2. Marc, you do know that the delegates’ conference packs have to be got ready
today, don’t you?
3. Margot, I seem to be running low on headed paper. Shouldn’t we have got our new
stock of stationery by now?

4. Hi Paul, have you managed to draw up next year’s holiday planner yet? I was
hoping to have a look at it this afternoon.
᭿
Task 4 Suggested email
Dear Simon
I’m checking on what’s happened to your draft of the advertisement. I haven’t
received anything from you yet and the deadline was yesterday. I have to have it
ASAP because I need to go through it and then get it off to the magazine by close of
work today in order for it to appear in next week’s magazine. Please let me know if
there are any problems so that they can be sorted out. Otherwise, please let me have
the draft by 2pm today at the very latest.
Best wishes
Peter
᭿
Task 5 Suggested letter
Dear Mr Tricard
Invoice No YT 7832
Please let me first assure you that the above invoice has now been paid. Your bank
statement should show $6,843.58 credited to your account Sept 15th.
I must apologize for the delay which was due to the introduction of new finance
software. However, I am pleased to be able to inform you that the system is now fully
up and running and we have ironed out any glitches. All future invoices will be paid
on the due date.
I regret that you have been inconvenienced in this way but, hopefully, this will be the
first and last time that it happens.
Yours sincerely
Jan Belmont
᭿
Task 6 Suggested second reminder
Dear Mr. Desai

I am writing concerning our order, No. PP 3528/c which we placed April 10
th
. The
agreed delivery date was June 5
th
. The brochures had not arrived by June 8
th
and we
sent you a reminder. The goods have still not arrived and we have received no
explanation for the delay from you.
The brochures are needed for the trade fair in Hanover in July. If we do not receive
the order in time, it will cause serious problems for us at the fair.
I would appreciate your immediate reply to this letter and a guarantee that the
brochures will be with us by the end of June.
Yours sincerely
Nicky Tellekamp
᭿
Task 7 The correct conditional forms are in bold.
If this sounds familiar to you, you are almost certainly stressed out. Stress is constantly
with us. What happens to you when you’re under a lot of stress? Your heart races,
your breathing gets faster, your blood circulation and metabolism speed up. Your
204 Deadlines and reminders KEY