Great Leaders Listen More Than They Speak
Build better relationships, enable others and improve your effectiveness
Do you know someone who talks a lot? Someone who likes to hear himself speak? Or someone who speaks just for the sake of speaking?
Giving this person the benefit of the doubt, he or she most likely hasn’t learned the value of listening.
That person could be me. In the past, I have often caught myself thinking it was important to share my knowledge and advise others even though they did not ask.
After visiting a coaching workshop, the way I communicated utterly changed. A simple exercise blew my mind and kicked off the journey of learning how to listen.
The partner exercise revolving about a personal challenge had three stages. In each step, one was the coach and the other the coachee, and after some time, we switched.
Stage 1 — Advising: the other person tells you about their challenge, and you advise.
Stage 2 — Listening: the other person tells you about their challenge, and you listen — no speaking at all. (Obviously, this was the hardest one for me.)
Stage 3 — Active Listening: the other person tells you about a challenge, and you are only allowed to ask questions.
