Leadership and Listening - Top 10 Tips
Tuesday, 13 October 2020
Christine Lagarde, the President of the European Central Bank and former chair and managing director of the International Monetary Fund, when asked what was the most important thing that she had learnt during her long and illustrious career, she answered:
Active Listening, “Being a good listener”
This is more than just sitting back and listening. The best listeners take active steps to do so. They practice active listening. This is more than just listening. An analysis of 3500 managers found that the best active listening involves:
- Looking like you are listening, be aware of your body language, which is over 80% of any communication. You are transmitting even when you are not talking.
- Face the speaker, lean forward and if appropriate use mirroring techniques
- Never interrupt and do not look for a gap into which you can inject your ideas
- It is best not to offer any ideas at this point
- Make listening noises such as “ahah”, “uhuh”, “yes”, “I see” and nod a lot
- Maintain good eye contact
- Show you value their comments by focusing on them and give them the courtesy of time
- Allow pauses for them to think, do not fill the gaps and do not hurry or stress them
- Do not think you know what they are going to say
- Summarise their key points by repeating them back to the speaker
- Ask follow-up questions
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