The first step to creating a coaching culture in your workplace is to improve everyone’s listening skills. Better listening within teams encourages members to take more responsibility, find solutions for themselves, be more engaged with the team and collaborate better.
You may think you are a good listener but do you listen with the intention of replying with a fix your opinion? Do you find at times you interrupt before the person has even finished getting their point across?
Although you may think you are helping in fact you are doing your team members or colleagues a disservice. Real listening means creating a space that allows people to speak freely and openly without judgement or ridicule. Demonstrating that you are listening without interrupting allows the person to hear what’s in their heads and lets them work out solutions based on how they see the problem.
Moving from surface level listening to active listening is a skill that needs practice. As a trainer of coaches, I often see how difficult it is for students to let go of jumping to conclusions and offering their opinion straight after the client has spoken. After enough times catching themselves doing this and they finally start to listen better, students report how astonished they are at the richness of the conversations and the amazing empowering effect that being heard can bring to another human being.
So to empower your team to
• be more engaged,
• take more responsibility,
• find solutions,
• collaborate better,
STAY QUIET AND START LISTENING!
To improve your listening skills as a leader or within your team, contact [email protected] and I promise I will listen!
