Try Better Tuesday: Active Listening
Active listening is the topic of this week’s Try Better Tuesday. What’s the sound of listening? Silence. As simple as it sounds, managers often find listening difficult and their verbal and nonverbal behavior can close people off and leave them feeling unseen and… truly unheard.
Listening requires your FULL AND COMPLETE ATTENTION. There’s no sneaking a peek at your many computer screens while on a video call. There’s no picking up your phone to check on emails, read a text, or even worse, respond to a text. There’s no tapping or clicking your pen which signals a need for someone to speed it up.
Listening attentively requires that you DO NOT INTERRUPT. I’ve been guilty of this and had to work hard to overcome my urge to jump in when space truly didn’t afford me that opportunity. It’s disrespectful to the person speaking and communicates that what you have to say is far more important than what they have to say. When you interrupt, you can sometimes even see a physical reaction that makes the transgression even worse.
While someone is talking it’s very easy to start thinking about your response. You know what I mean. You’re already forming your rebuttal, opinion, redirect, recommendation, etc. which takes your mind away from what’s being said. If you need to JOT NOTES so you don’t forget what you want to say, do that, and keep your attention where it should be – on the person who is with you.
When you don’t listen fully and completely, you run the risk of missing important information. You know those times when you say, “WHAT did you say?” as a nugget of information nearly passed you by because you were distracted.
If you find yourself following one of these tracks, catch yourself, stop yourself, focus and center the person in front of you. And if there is a better way to keep your attention the next time, gently let folx know, so that the engagement experience improves for both of you. Active listening builds trust. Trust makes things better.
Give better a try. We’re counting on you.