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C1EN

Leadership & Management English: Lead, Decide & Inspire

Develop your leadership English at the highest level! Explore management styles, decision-making, conflict resolution and team communication through advanced vocabulary, grammar and immersive simulations. Perfect for B2-C1 professionals who lead teams or aspire to management roles.

8 Activities
1

Leadership Warm-Up

Talk Time

Shared
  1. Describe the best leader you have ever worked with. What made them exceptional?
  2. What is the difference between a manager and a leader? Can someone be both?
  3. Have you ever had to make a difficult decision that affected other people? How did you handle it?
  4. How do you think leadership styles differ across different cultures and countries?
  5. What do you believe is the biggest challenge facing leaders in today's workplace?
  6. If you were suddenly promoted to CEO of a major company, what would be your first three decisions?
2

Leadership Vocabulary

Speed Match

Individual
  • Accountability→Taking responsibility for your decisions and their consequences
  • Delegation→Assigning tasks and responsibilities to other team members
  • Micromanagement→Controlling every small detail of a team's work excessively
  • Empowerment→Giving people the authority and confidence to make decisions
  • Transparency→Being open and honest about decisions, processes and information
  • Visionary→A leader who has a clear and inspiring picture of the future
  • Mentorship→A relationship where an experienced person guides someone less experienced
  • Burnout→Physical and mental exhaustion caused by prolonged workplace stress
  • Conflict resolution→The process of finding a peaceful solution to a disagreement
  • Autonomy→The freedom to make your own decisions without being controlled
  • Succession planning→Preparing future leaders to take over key roles in an organisation
  • Emotional intelligence→The ability to understand and manage your own and others' emotions
  • KPI→A measurable value that shows how effectively a company achieves its objectives
  • Restructuring→Reorganising a company's structure, often involving job changes or cuts
  • Stakeholder management→The process of maintaining good relationships with all interested parties
3

Leadership Language

Swipe Battle

Individual

  • "I trust your judgement on this — let me know if you need any support."

    A phrase that empowers the team member and shows trust

  • "Make sure you run everything past me before you do anything."

    A phrase that encourages initiative and independent thinking

  • "I hear your concerns. Let us find a solution that works for everyone."

    A phrase that demonstrates empathy and collaborative leadership

  • "That is not my problem — speak to HR about it."

    A dismissive response that damages psychological safety in the team

  • "I want to be transparent with you about the challenges we are facing."

    A phrase that builds trust through honest communication

  • "We have always done it this way and there is no reason to change."

    A forward-thinking phrase that embraces innovation

  • "Your contribution to this project has been outstanding — thank you."

    Specific recognition that motivates and rewards performance

  • "If you cannot handle the pressure, perhaps this role is not for you."

    A motivational phrase that encourages resilience in the team

  • "Let us schedule a one-to-one to discuss your development goals."

    A phrase that shows genuine investment in the individual

  • "I need results by Friday — I do not care how you get them."

    A results-focused phrase that also supports team wellbeing

  • "What do you think is the best approach here?"

    A phrase that involves the team in decision-making

  • "I will take full responsibility for what went wrong."

    A phrase that builds deep loyalty and trust in a leader

4

Management Grammar. Reported speech + passive voice in business context

Word Choice

Individual
  • The CEO announced that the company waswould bewill beis restructuring its operations in Q3.
  • It has beenwill beiswas decided at the board meeting that all departments must reduce costs by 15%.
  • The manager told the team that they werehadhavedid exceeded their targets for the third consecutive quarter.
  • The new policy has beenwill bewould beis implemented across all regional offices by the end of the month.
  • She informed her team that the merger had beeniswill bewas finalised and would be announced publicly on Monday.
  • It will behas beenwasis reported that employee satisfaction scores had dropped significantly over the past year.
  • The director said that a decision would not behas not beenis not beingwill not be made until all stakeholders had been consulted.
  • Performance reviews arehave beenwerewill be conducted annually but will now take place every six months.
5

Simon Sinek Why good leaders make you feel safe

Content Block

Individual
Watch video
6

Leadership Dilemmas

Debate Roulette

Individual

Useful phrases

  1. I would contend that...
  2. The evidence overwhelmingly suggests...
  3. One cannot underestimate the importance of...
  4. From a management perspective...
  5. That fundamentally depends on...
  6. The most compelling argument here is...
  7. I challenge the assumption that...
  8. In reality, what we see is...
  1. A great leader must be feared as well as respected.
  2. Remote work has made effective leadership impossible.
  3. Leaders are born, not made — natural talent cannot be taught.
  4. It is sometimes necessary to sacrifice individual wellbeing for the good of the team.
  5. Diversity in leadership teams always leads to better business outcomes.
  6. The best leaders admit their mistakes publicly and immediately.
  7. A leader who is too popular with their team cannot make tough decisions.
  8. Work-life balance is the personal responsibility of each employee, not the leader.
  9. Artificial intelligence will replace most management roles within twenty years.
  10. The most dangerous leader is one who surrounds themselves with people who always agree.
7

The Performance Review

Roleplay Quest

Individual

Scenario

It is annual performance review season at a large international company. Four people are about to have a series of difficult conversations. Each person has a hidden agenda and private concerns that they must navigate carefully while maintaining professional relationships.

  • Senior Manager

    You must deliver difficult feedback to your best employee who has been underperforming. You also need to discuss a promotion that has been put on hold due to budget cuts — but cannot fully disclose this yet.

    Secret goal: Navigate the conversation with empathy but honesty.

  • High Performer

    You have been deliberately underperforming as a quiet protest because you were passed over for a promotion. You have a job offer from a competitor but have not decided yet.

    Secret goal: Test whether the company values you before revealing anything.

  • HR Business Partner

    You know about the budget freeze but cannot reveal it. You also know the high performer has been contacted by a competitor. You must balance legal obligations with doing the right thing.

    Secret goal: Facilitate professionally. Protect confidentiality. Intervene when necessary.

  • Department Director

    You have just been told the company may need redundancies in six months. You must attend this review without revealing this, while honestly assessing whether this employee should be retained.

    Secret goal: Project confidence. Make genuine assessments without revealing the bigger picture.

8

Corporate Storm

Drama Event

Individual

Scenario

You are the senior leadership team of a major company. It is Monday morning and the week has barely started when things begin to unravel. React to each dramatic event as it unfolds — lead, decide and communicate under pressure. Everything you say will be scrutinised.

  • 🎲

    wordlist

    accountability restructure transparency stakeholder escalate contingency communicate decisive resilient consequences

  • 🧨

    Crisis

    A major data breach has just been discovered — customer data from 2 million accounts has been compromised.

  • 🧠

    Revelation

    An internal whistleblower has sent evidence of financial irregularities to a journalist.

  • ⏱

    Pressure

    The board of directors demands a full explanation and action plan within the next two hours.

  • ⚖️

    Conflict

    Two senior directors strongly disagree on whether to go public immediately or manage the situation quietly.

  • 🔄

    Twist

    The journalist who received the whistleblower information is the CEO's former colleague and calls personally.

  • 🚧

    Constraint

    Legal counsel advises that no one may speak publicly or to staff until a full investigation is complete.

  • 🎯

    Decision

    The company must decide immediately whether to notify customers, risking panic, or investigate quietly first.

  • 🧭

    Opportunity

    A respected crisis management firm offers to take over communications immediately — but at enormous cost.

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