Welcome back to another Monday Effective Virtual Conversations tip. This week’s tip focuses into the skill of listening.
As both leaders and team members listening is a critical skill, particularly in the virtual space. It is important for all of us - leaders, entrepreneurs, individual contributors and team members.
Keys to listening in the virtual and remote space are to ensure that we are:
- Focusing – Focusing 100% of our attention on the person who is speaking – not using other devices or focusing on other things.
- Listening to the tone as well as the words. If you are streaming, what do you notice about the body language?
- Listening for the pause points – What does their speed and rate of pitch say? How quickly or slowly are they speaking.
Finally, do you fall into one of the biggest pitfalls of listening today? We want to make sure that we are listening for what is really being said, rather than listening to respond. One of the greatest challenges for most professionals today is that they are so focused on figuring out what they plan to say, that they really are not listening to what is being said. What are you listening for?
I recently came across a great article by Ben Gross on the importance of listening. Here's a link to this article on listening.
It is often said that employees leave managers, not companies. What can you do to boost your listening skills? What did you notice about your last conversation?
End of Teams365 #1981 blog post
While I wrote this more than a year ago, it’s as relevant today as it was then.
Here are some more additional questions to be exploring:
- What’s important to note about your listening?
- What’s getting you distracted?
- What’s helping you focus?
- What assumptions are you making and maybe need to check out?
Enjoy your conversations,
Jennifer
Potentials Realized | Coaching Team Leaders
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