What are some effective ways to encourage active listening in your team?

Encouraging active listening on teams starts with defining what it means to not only listen, but also make someone feel heard. Active listening involves three important components: giving undivided attention, showing curiosity in the message, and communicating comprehension. When team members provide attention to the message, ask thoughtful and clarifying follow up questions, and summarize back what they've heard before interjecting, they recognize the critical importance of making someone feel heard. When we seek to understand and validate before we intervene, we open a window of receptivity to new ideas.

With technology and social media ruling our lives, we are becoming less opportunistic in developing our active listening skills, and less socially aware of its effect on business as a competitive advantage. As you develop professional relationships, leverage active listening by being able to understand what's happening on the other side of the fence. This is a key differentiator of great leaders -- listening to understand. It's also fast becoming a rare and forgotten leadership skill. The listening has one overarching goal: to find ways to connect with and help the other person succeed. Having your employees' best interests in mind gives leaders the edge in building trust when it matters most.

I believe in going back to basics. Removing distractions and being present yields outcomes. Here are some creative ideas to encourage effective listening in your group: Doodle or Sketch Sessions: During meetings or brainstorming sessions, allow team members to doodle or sketch while listening to presentations. Listening Challenges: Create listening challenges or games, such as "Chinese Whispers" or "Two Truths and a Lie," to improve listening and interpretation skills. Storyline Creation: Have each team member contribute a sentence or phrase to a story or scenario. The catch is that they can only add to the story after actively listening to the previous contribution to the construction of coherent narratives.

To demonstrate and role model active listening ??you need to practice curiosity. Leaning in to other’s experiences and perspectives is critical. Think of it like a muscle that needs to be activated and strengthened through practice. Consider a self measure for you right now and commit to one change you’re going to practice that works that active listening muscle ??

One of the best pieces of advice I’ve received is to talk less and listen more. I learnt about listening through the curriculum for life landmark worldwide and personally like second and fourth group, as quoted below: To master the art of listening the following are the recommended spaces your mind must occupy: First Group: Compassion; Enrolling; Acknowledgement; Appreciation; Respect; Honor Second Group: Listening for another’s Commitment; Listening for the Possibility in what they are saying; Listening to another as Cause; Listening for the Gold; Listening to learn Third Group: Intentionality; Bold; Intrusive; Ruthless Compassion Fourth: Nothing is wrong Actually, they’re all great. Let me know what resonates for you.

one way that I placed emphasis on feedback & listening was a weekly review meeting with the team, that included every member had to present on a topic and another would have to give feedback the pairing was all written down on a 3x5 card and distributed but not viewed until after the meeting every member would have to present and give feedback, It was conducted as a lunch & learn and was transformed into a weekly team building meeting.

Having a shared document to use when attending a meeting can provide a space to pop comment and questions into without interrupting the speaker, it is also then availble for the speaker to contact key people in the organisation later who may have additional information or connections that would be of interest.

As a leader, building up your active listening skills and that of your team members is crucial for solving problems and developing trust. Here are two things you can do to develop people’s active listening skills. One useful technique is to “park your thoughts” when others are speaking. Your time will come to reflect back what you heard or to state their point. But first, demonstrate patience and focus on the speaker without forming an opinion in your head. Another active listening strategy is to practice empathy. Ask the person for his or her help to clarify what's being spoken. Here’s an example: "I'd like to understand your problem better. Will you help me out?" This is about showing empathy to increase your understanding.

Ask your teams to address issues that are confusing, or contrary to their mindset with the phrase “help me to understand” and then sit back and listen to the response.

Working with your direct reports on their listening skills by bringing up listening in your 1:1s is an important way to put this important skill front and center. As the manager, anything you give life to will be noticed. Modeling, discussing and giving feedback on any skill set is an effective way to provide valuable development to your team members.

encouraging deep listening by posing questions related to what the team have heard. "I would be keen to hear your perspectives on what you heard," "was there something that resonated with you?"

Using prompts to begin with as a team, "I think I heard you say...." "could you elaborate on the point you made about ...." "I was interested in your position on..." QUalitative data rather than Quantitative would be useful here, did the speaker feel listened to, was their message clear, were they able to get thier point across.

If you'd like to actively enhance communication skills in your team like active listening – paraphrasing, asking clarifying questions, or resisting the reflex of crafting solutions: In my experience, teams can improve quickly in a dedicated workshop setting with an external facilitator. Here, they engage in real-life conversations, experiment, fail, laugh, provide constructive feedback, and collaboratively improve.

I've found Edward De Bono's Six Thinking Hats technique to be a great tool that not only improves decision-making and meeting effectiveness but also significantly improves communication and, within that, active listening. If you're not familiar with it, I encourage you to give it a try. This technique is simple yet powerful and, most importantly, a lot of fun. By trying on different 'hats' for various thinking perspectives, it encourages all team members to actively listen and participate in unpacking the different viewpoints, fostering a deeper understanding and more productive conversations. It's a wonderful way to enhance not only decision-making but also the art of active listening within a team.

When you are starting to encourage active listening in the work enviroment it can help to provide phrases that can be used during online meetings, these can be seen by the listener and can support positive interactions that seem less forced that they might be in a face to face encounter.

Make your choice: "You are not serious to have enough resources in the yard. We cannot afford to not run to capacity. I see trucks leaving to the field at half past seven. They should be out at sunrise...!" OR "Mr. Transporter, how do you organize the resource transport lately?" Mr. Transporter: "Thank you for asking, sir. Yes, one, two, three, four and five and six in place. All to plan, sir." "Thank you. Feal free to ask for any assistance when needed" What is so difficult in asking the right questions? Do you associate with this situation?