Never in our recent times have we been so digitally distracted, and so unable to engage unless it is through a social media platform, that we have forgotten how to listen. Modern life is frenetic, chaotic and noisy so what has happened is that we have learned to tune out rather than tune in. The implications of this on service excellence is huge as listening requires you to let people have their say, to share their opinion.
The profound words of the later Stephen Covey ‘see to understand before being understood’ is, in my view, more important today than at any time in the last 70 years.
People speak at about 140-180 words a minute but on average a listener can comprehend up to 4x that amount of words, So in normal conversation only part of the brain is being taxed leaving excess processing power for lurking predators – other thoughts, day dreams or on what you are going to say next. So, listening can be tough – not only for all the distractions around us but for the way we are wired.
‘Active listening’ is beyond hearing just the words, it is about hearing the thoughts, feelings, tones and personal meaning. Amazingly words only comprise of 7% of what we say, a whopping 58% is in non-verbal language and 35% in use of voice such as pitch, loudness and tone. So if we are not attentive in our listening there is a loss or richness and nuance.
There are other interesting ‘hot-wired’ aspects to our brain, such as the left ear differential – but that is for another blog! Key to these statistics is that active listening is a skill that you can learn. According to Forbes less than 2% of all professionals have had formal education or learning to understand and improve listening skills and techniques. Which is where we come in!
Why is active listening so relevant in today’s Volatile, Uncertain, Complex, Ambiguous (VUCA) world? In short it is imperative that an organisation brings about
– diversity of thought and conversation to the table
– provoke brilliant debate and provides safe haven for creativity
You cannot do this if you are not listening actively or attentively. By listening to what is being said, how it is being said and what is not being said you are demonstrating attentiveness and respect for another person’s point of view or effort and your understanding of what is being said.
Why does this matter? because of customers, employees, shareholders, investors and profits. Evidence is mounting that high quality companies who remain relevant to customers, improve employee engagement and stay on the right side of governments and regulators return solid financial performance.
What can you control? The organisation vision and purpose, learning, the communication and collaboration. The benefits of listening culture are as important as a speaking-up culture. Communication is two-way, both transmitting and receiving.
So how do you go about listening well to really uplift your service from an action to an experience: hear; evaluate; interpret
Read on for our top 6 tips
1. Paying attention – the goal of active listening and being an effective listener is to set a comfortable tone that give the others an opportunity to think and speak
2. Withholding judgement – active listening require an open mind and being skilled at asking open and honest questions. Listening is not about having a hidden agenda of fixing, saving, advising or correcting.
3. Reflect – on what is being said and why. This is one of the most powerful tools in the arsenal of active listening as it reaffirms to the other person that they matter, you are being attentive and you café about their opinion and views.
4. Clarify – to be sure that you have understood correctly. As the listener you are seeking to understand further, delve more deeply into particular problems, inconsistencies or lack of information.
5. Summarise – it is possible for employees, colleagues and customers to get caught up in the story so summarising is a polite way of providing clarity and brevity to then move onto action.
6. Share – with compassion! Learn to listen to others, listening begets listening, support the conversation don’t shift it.
How many of the 6 tips above do you already do? Next time you are in a team meeting, reflect afterwards how many of the 6 tips you are incorporating.
If you are interested in developing stronger listening skills in your teams then book a 30 minute free consultation here.
