How active listening can make you more productive & save you time!
Abigail Barnes
? Fractional CMO | Productivity Transformation Coach | Global Speaker | Author | Podcast Host | Reminding you that It’s Your Time (use it or lose it)
Did you know that if a person feels heard by you, you'll build trust faster and connect with them on a much deeper level.
What is Active Listening?
Active Listening is a technique that requires the listener to use all their senses, to hear what a person is saying (verbal cues) as well as what they are not saying (nonverbal cues).
The listener will not interrupt the speaker, will ask clarifying questions and summaries what they hear to confirm understanding.
Active Listening is a skill I was taught as a trainee coach in 2013 and it's a powerful tool for building rapport.
Are you a good listener poll results from last week.
How can active listening make you more productive & save you time!
There are lots of different ways that active listening can make you more productive and save you time, here's 3 to get you started.
1. Avoid misunderstandings & time wasting errors
How many times have you thought you understood what someone wanted or was asking you for only to deliver it and find out that you'd misunderstood what they'd said, you'd assumed what they meant or you'd totally got the wrong end of the stick?
TIP: Try using clarifying questions & summarise back to them your understanding of what you are being asked to do.
2. Improve problem-solving
Every problem has a stakeholder, and every stakeholder has a different perspective. In order to improve how you solve problems in your Organisation you'll need to develop a process for gathering and resolving them as quickly as possible.
TIP: Ask each stakeholder to tell you more about what the ideal outcome would look like for them.
3. Team work & Collaboration
Diverse teams can make for industry leading innovation and provide access to world class skill sets, on the flip side time zones, work culture, education and learning/working preferences can make for friction.
TIP: Use a combination of the tips above to better understand the preferences of your stakeholders and colleagues by clarifying and summarising your understanding of how you can most productively work together and find a win:win.
In summary, active listening can increase your productivity and save you time by avoiding misunderstandings, reducing time wasting errors, improving problem solving and developing collaborative team work.
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?? Tell me more about your listening skills in the comments below:
Have you ever totally misunderstood what someone was asking for and completely got the WRONG end of the stick, what happened?
See you next week
Abigail
Training to support your next steps.
Abigail Barnes is the Author of Time Management for Entrepreneurs & Professionals
"Abigail’s book is a mindset changer. I read the book cover to cover in one day and have implemented so many changes to my life and mindset. Time management is the key to getting more done. Abigail’s book is thought provoking and challenging, throughly recommend it to anyone who wants to be successful in more than one area of their life."?Kev Orkian
?? 5-step guide to turn your time into productivity & reclaim an hour a day.?CLICK HERE ?
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"The longer I've been in business the more I've come to realise just how valuable my time is and this book showed me how to get even more out of what I have. Mastering my time helps me to maintain a high level of integrity managing my personal and work commitments in this ever complex world.” Haig Armaghanian
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Principal Management Consultant (MBA) | Corporate Finance, Change Management & Process Improvement | Advocate for Empathetic Leadership
1 年Listening is such an important skill. Thanks, ? Abigail Barnes - Time Management , for sharing!! ??
Empowering African Creatives to build thriving businesses || Founder & Lead Creative at Gazmadu Media Group || Top 100 Most Inspiring Women
1 年Really profound Abigail. Active listening has helped me connect better with my clients, understanding their needs and solving those problems to the best of my ability. I love that highlighted that listening involves listening to verbal and non-verbal cues??....non-verbal cues are just as important. As a leader I have learnt that actively listening to my team makes them know that they are valued and their input matters to me. That goes a long way to build trust. Thank you so much for sharing this
CEO, Sohcahtoa Innovative Ltd| Founder, My CEO tribe', BAME Entrepreneurs Network, Sohcahtoa Foundation
1 年This is profound, Abigail; I couldn't agree more. As a leader, listening has connected me to my team and stakeholders in a way that makes them feel understood and valued. And, when you go beyond simply listening to active listening, like you've shared, it takes a step higher, and how you highlighted its benefit to productivity is totally brilliant. Thank you for sharing.
Founder & Managing Director at 3Hats... | Empowering Executives to Lead with Compassion, Courage, and Curiosity | Top-Rated Executive & Career Coach | Unearth Your Gifts, Unleash Your Potential
1 年Great post Abigail and couldn’t agree more. I’m an Executive & Leadership career progression coach at @3 Hats and active listening is one of the main tools ??? in my coaching box for engaging on a deeper level with my clients. I had a first session with a client today that really started to get underneath one of their main blockers to being a more effective leader but this only happened as I played back some of their narrative and helped them notice the inconsistencies between their thoughts and experiences. If anyone really wants to understand more about the power of active listening you should read Nancy Kline’s work.
Next Trend Realty LLC./wwwHar.com/Chester-Swanson/agent_cbswan
1 年Thanks for Sharing.