What do you do if your leadership skills could benefit from active listening?

"Many people believe they're excellent listeners because they've been hearing their whole lives, but most of us have never received formal training in listening skills." ?? There is no "if your leadership skills could benefit from active listening," active listening is one of your most critical skills for effective leadership. To begin, it's important to observe your current listening tendencies and preferences. What do you listen for during conversations? Is your focus divided or undivided? Is your mind quiet or busy? Do you ask open questions? You can't simply turn on the "show empathy" and "consider the other person's perspective" switch. Start by learning more about active listening and then assess your level after conversations.

Active listening has 2 components: 1) Hearing what's being said (a.k.a the words) 2) Reflecting back on what's being said (a.k.a the understanding) Most people hear the words that are being said, but instead of focusing on understanding them, they're multi-tasking in their mind: "How can I respond to show my point of view?" "I disagree" "I had the same thought" Basically thinking of their response rather than on what the speaker is saying and making sure we understand their intention. Active listening can also be expressed by reflecting back on what was said to make sure you understood it. This looks like asking clarifying questions, paraphrasing, and sometimes even positive body language.

No sólo pueden... DEBEN! Un líder que no escucha, no conecta y sin conexión no hay relaciones transparentes y genuinas. - Escuchar es la mejor forma de aprender. - Hace parte fundamental y primaria del feedback. - Un buen escucha, será un mejor comunicador. - La escucha consciente y permanente es el mejor insumo para sacar insights de liderazgo. - Saber preguntar complementa lo que de entrada la gente no quiere decir. - Posicionarse como un buen escucha, hará que las personas se acerquen más a tí y te confíen cosas que probablemente a otros líderes no les dirían.

The simplest and still the most working exercise is the following: if a thought comes to you that you would interject with, put it on a shelf in your mind, and stay with your mouth closed. :)

Developing listening skills will require practice. More than that, ask yourself what might be compelling you to speak when listening would be better. - Do you feel the pressure to say something? - Do you feel that you know better than the rest? - Do you lack patience? - Are you afraid you'll forget if you wait for others to speak? Sometimes we need to overcome the need to talk.

Afterwards, you could try some active listening exercises, follow this checklist to help assess the quality of your listening skills: Did I still the chatter in my head? Did I let the other person speak without interruption? Did I try to see things from the other person’s point of view? Did I convey interest in what the person was saying? Did I “listen between the lines” to notice connotations and implicit meanings? Did I resist the temptation to jump in with evaluative or disparaging comments? Did I rephrase what the other person said so as to better understand it? When I responded, did I speak clearly? Was I honest? Did I show empathy? Did I treat the other person with respect? Always listen to understand not to reply.