Learn what to say to keep your international team motivated — in English.

- If you're leading a team,

you're probably interested in keeping them motivated.

And if you're on a team, you would probably love

for your team leader to create an environment

that keeps you happy, enthusiastic, and productive.

So today, you'll learn how to talk about

motivating your team in English.

Hi, I'm your English coach, Christina,

and welcome to Business English with Christina,

where you become better at English, and better at business.

So how do you motivate your team,

and like really why does it matter so much?

Well, I think you probably already know this,

but a motivated team, it means getting things done,

and it means accomplishing your goals.

And an unmotivated team, well, nothing works.

Just like in this clip

from silly American movie called the Office Space,

which is just kind of the,

the place you would never want to work, let's watch it.

- I just stare at my desk, but it looks like I'm working.

I do that for probably another hour after lunch too.

I'd say in a given week,

I probably only do about 15 minutes of real actual work.

- That's probably not what you want your team be like.

You need a team that is functioning,

but even better, productive,

happy, engaged, even enthusiastic.

And I've looked around some very reputable sources

like Harvard Business Review, inc.com,

and gathered a few rules for you,

but also some great business English expressions.

Have you ever heard the expression,

to pay someone what they're worth,

to pay someone what they're worth?

It means that a person is paid for the value

that they truly and really provide to your company,

for their expertise, for their skills,

for their knowledge, for their enthusiasm,

all of that good stuff that they bring to your company.

And then have you ever like actually been in a job

where you weren't paid what you're worth,

and you know how like, just how unmotivating that feels?

And did you know this,

according to an article on the website inc.com,

a good employee would be willing to leave your team

to go to another company,

like maybe your competitor, for just a 5% increase in pay.

Now you might think that paying someone what they're worth

is not directly related to soft skills or leadership,

but just think about it for a minute for yourself.

Would you be willing to change companies

if another company offered you a five or 10% pay increase,

and how do you think about your higher ups,

your managers, your boss,

when they pay you what you're worth,

and they acknowledge the value that you bring?

It changes everything.

You know, one of the things that I've learned

managing an international team,

you know, at Business English with Christina,

we have teachers in the U.S., in France,

in the UK, in Vietnam.

And you know, one thing that I've learned

is that you pay people what they're worth,

the value that they bring to your team,

not based on where they're living,

or maybe what the market is, but really based on the value.

And I find that it's not the only thing,

but it's probably of the things

that has helped us to have a really solid motivated,

fun team for the past, the past few years actually.

So that's something that I've learned

from managing my own international team,

and just really how important it is

to show people that you value them.

A happy team is a productive team.

And you know what we say

in English about happiness and enthusiasm?

Well, like a virus, it's contagious,

enthusiasm is contagious.

So maybe instead of sharing your virus with everyone,

share your enthusiasm and your happiness with them.

So like concretely,

how do you encourage happiness on your team,

and how do you make sure that the conditions are right

for your team members to be happy?

The first thing you can do

is to keep tabs on on how everyone is feeling.

Be aware of how people are doing, pay attention to that.

So, before we go into the next part of this video,

just a little reminder

that you can go to christinarebuffet.com/worksheets,

and get the free worksheet that goes with this video,

so that you can really learn the expressions

that you're learning in this video.

And also as a little bonus,

I've given you some links

to some interesting articles on this topic

that you can read in English

to continue, I would say learning about this topic,

but also improving your English.

Win-win situation, yay, go get the worksheet.

And people are more motivated

when they feel that what they're doing,

it's making a difference.

When their work has actual value,

not just monetary value,

but like they're contributing

to making the world a little bit better.

And do you know what Steve Jobs said

when he wanted John Sculley to leave Pepsi,

and come to Apple to start doing some work

that makes a difference in the world?

"Do you wanna spend the rest of your life

selling sugared water,

or do you want a chance to change the world?"

You know, in the end,

I guess we all wanna do meaningful work.

And on that note, like for you,

what makes work meaningful for you?

I mean, for me, it's helping people around the world

to improve their English, and to feel more confident,

and maybe go and live in the U.S.,

create their business there, just get a new job,

or just to feel better about themselves,

and speaking English,

because that, it just opens so many opportunities

for you, and opens new doors,

and it's just a fabulous feeling really

when someone feels that way.

And I love it when I can contribute just a little bit

to helping them feel that way.

And as we say, if you don't use it, you lose it.

So here's a way that you can use the things

that you learned in the video today.

In the comments below,

tell me about what kind of work you would find meaningful.

And is that the work that you're doing in your current job,

or is it a job that you would like to do?

It's a perfect way to practice some of the things

that you learned in this video,

and just to you share some of that with the community.

And if this lesson was helpful,

and maybe, I don't know,

maybe even a little inspiring for you,

then there are three ways

that I would love for you to tell me.

The first thing is go ahead and subscribe to my channel,

so that can continue

sharing business English lessons with you.

You can go over to my website, christinarebuffet.com,

and get the worksheet that goes with this video,

so that you can really practice, and assimilate,

and really learn the things that you're watching

in these videos.

And the third thing, go and watch this lesson

all about how to keep your motivation high.

And that's it for today.

Thank you so much for learning with me,

and with Business English with Christina,

and I'll see you next time.