In a previous life I was responsible for social media engagement in a leadership strategy.
Many hours were spent finding the right quote, developing a clever meme or writing a snappy and engaging blog. The most popular post ever though was surprisingly simple. It said ‘great leaders listen’ and it received hundreds of likes and shares on Facebook. Why? Because many of us at work feel that we aren’t being heard.
Of course, listening is important for all of us, not just leaders. Our co-workers, families and friends all want to be heard and we want people to listen to us.
The wise Simon Sinek says ‘Listening is active. At its most basic level, it’s about focus and paying attention’.
Active listening is one of the most useful things you can to do develop strong relationships and encourage open communication within your teams.
Here are a few tips to keep in mind this year to listen better
1. Show interest – be aware of your body language, be aware of your non-verbal communication
2. Minimise distractions – turn your phone off, leave the office, close your door
3. Be patient – no interrupting, concentrate on understanding the story not on your next response
4. Stay with the flow of the person, use open questions rather than providing your own stories. Open questions start with who, what, why, when
5. Let the person know that you’re listening by providing non-verbal and verbal prompts
6. Keep an open mind – suspend judgements, labelling and evaluating until you’re heard the whole story
7. Jot down a few notes if you need to and it’s appropriate, for example if the conversation is a regular catch up
8. Analyse and reflect back to and ask questions to check understanding
9. Listen to the words being said and the emotion being given
10. Pay attention to the verbal and the non-verbal information – are the messages consistent? Ask questions to check understanding, for example, I’m noticing when you say that…’
Lastly a word of warning from Andy Stanley...
"Leaders who don’t listen will eventually be surrounded by people who have nothing to say."
Ask us about one of our communication, mindfulness or leadership programs or make a time for some individual coaching if you would like to build your listening skills and foster better communication and engagement within your team.
Call us on (08) 8941 5661 or email corp@corp.org.au for further information about our workshops.
Darwin Head Office
Level 2, The Avenue
217/12 Salonika Street
Parap NT 0820
(above Karma Cafe)
P: (08) 8941 1752
E:
easadarwin@easa.org.au
Toll Free: 1800 193 123 (NT only)
Alice Springs
Jock Nelson Centre
10/16 Hartley Street,
Alice Springs NT 0870
P: (08) 8953 4225
E: easaalicesprings@easa.org.au
Katherine
Katherine Regional Training Centre
Block F, Room 3
19 Second Street
Katherine NT 0850
P: (08) 8941 1752
E: easadarwin@easa.org.au
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