The_Essential_Manager_s_Handbook

284 / COMMUNICATING WITH YOUR TEAM

Listening to your team

Learning when to listen

Listening is a skill you acquire

naturally, but can improve upon if

you’re motivated to do so. The first

step toward becoming a better

listener is, surprisingly, to stop: you

need to stop talking, stop trying to

carry on more than one conversation,

and stop interrupting. Let the other

person speak. As others are talking,

allow yourself to respond cognitively

and emotionally, taking in the factual

information and the tone of their

remarks, without responding. Then

ask carefully thought-out questions

that will clarify what they have said

and reassure you of its basis in fact.

Studies show that adults now spend more than half of their daily

communication time listening to someone else speak. As a manager,

being able to listen effectively and understand others is at the heart

of creating a team that performs to the best of its ability.

BEWARE WISHFUL

THINKING

Just because you want to

hear something doesn’t

mean it is what the speaker

is actually saying. It is all

too easy to fall into the trap

of selective hearing, so

make sure that you listen to

everything that the speaker

is telling you.

Tip

of what you say to others is

not absorbed or remembered

by them. How can you be sure

that they are receiving the

most important parts of

your message?

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