Learning to listen
The art of listening – really listening – is something many professionals would acknowledge they haven’t fully mastered. And you can count me in that camp. Knowing what or who to listen to in today’s multi-touch point, “your-mailbox-is-over-the-size-limit†world can be challenging.
So it came as no surprise when someone recently asked me this: How are you able to truly listen and know what counsel to take when making important business decisions?
I wouldn’t begin to claim to have this figured out. It’s something I continue to work on. And for me, it starts with these questions:
Who is at the table? Personally, I think it’s healthy to take stock of who is at your table every so often. I am fortunate to be working with an incredibly capable group of subject matter experts – people who know more about their respective areas than I do. So when they’re giving me counsel, I listen.
Am I actively seeking diverse perspectives? I believe there’s a risk in surrounding yourself only with people who think like you do or who have the same experiences you have. You’re simply not going to learn as much from those who are largely reflections of yourself. It’s one reason I’m a big fan of “listening tours†– opportunities to seek fresh insights from a broad spectrum of stakeholders.
Am I checking my answers at the door? I used to come to meetings with semi-developed solutions in my head. Increasingly, I’ve been trying to bring not answers, but questions… and an openness to others’ candid observations. I have an HR partner who is very good about telling me when I’m completely off track on something, or when I’m just not picking up on a nuanced undercurrent.
What’s my signal-to-noise ratio? As with many other leaders, my door is always open, and I welcome input. At the same time, I’m always working to determine the “signal-to-noise†ratio – the inflection point where I’m encouraging as much feedback as I can get, but not so much that I can’t see the truly exceptional stuff among all the other well-intentioned ideas.
There are other important considerations for me in this fact-gathering and decision-making process:
- What is the agenda of those providing input?
- What knowledge limitations or expertise about the problem does each of them have?
- What boundaries on potential decisions exist because of time, resources, rules, or other reasons?
- What’s the cost of being wrong in each of the different ways I can be wrong versus being right in each case?
Just some of the things I try to “listen†for in evaluating input and driving to a decision.
In today’s collaborative, open workplace, we’re often the beneficiaries of valuable input from various sources. It’s a gift. In return, we can learn to become gifted listeners – and like everyone else, that’s something I’m continuing to learn.
AWS Community Builder, multi cloud certified professional
5 å¹´Most people do not listen with the intent to understand; they listen with the intent to reply. We all need to make habit of intent to understand others. Great article!
Director, Product Marketing at Stackline
6 å¹´As the adage goes, "We have 2 ears and 1 mouth for a reason". Love everything 'Renewed' is doing for WF and how you're going about vocalizing it. This same thought process can easily be applied to listening to customer #customerlove?:-)
Professional Sales Consultant/Relationship Builder
6 å¹´John, well said.? I also like the statement:? "The more you listen to the other person the better you look."? Thank you.? Don Sieling, BDO, San Jose BBG
Instructional Design | Learning and Development | Project Management
6 å¹´My Motto:? we have 2 ears and 1 mouth.? We should listen twice as much as we talk.?
Value Evangelist | Lecturer | Behavioral Based Customer Valuation | Business-IT Alignment | MBA | Patent Holder - Data Driven Roadmapping
6 年Excellent reminder and well said. Simple self-assessment: Check how often during a conversation we have a teed-up response we can hardly wait to deliver instead of actually listening to what some else is saying. I’m guilty as charged.