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Harriet Green OBE Harriet Green OBE is an Influencer

Founder | Philanthropist | Innovator | Chair | LinkedIn Top Voice | Former Chair & CEO IBM Asia Pacific | Committed to Tikkun Olam

During my first period of working in Japan 1988, I received feedback from my new colleagues that I perhaps wasn’t listening as effectively, or respectfully, as I could. Plus I was filling silences way too fast! The gift of feedback and an opportunity to learn and grow - so off I embarked on an 'active listening” program! As well as actually and factually listening better (there were tests of course!) I was taught and encouraged to demonstrate that I was listening with extraordinary levels of concentration (not least out of respect that almost everyone I was listening to was speaking English as a second language). Many of the elements in this brilliant sketchnote were beautifully covered in that course, but one new skill and practice that I have found deeply valuable in lockdown is ‘physical intonation’. It's absolutely critical I feel for our new way of communicating via online video calls and when face-to-face but 1m+ apart. Nodding, encouraging with your face and hands, using your eyes not only for contact but for deeper meaning and expression. Research on active listening suggests these practices build empathy and increase wellbeing, which is so deeply key at this time. Give it a go, one can have instant impact! Do you practice active listening?

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Sharon Redrobe OBE

Company Director, Consultant, Trustee, Public Speaker - mostly animals and planet saving stuff 🌈

3y

This is really helpful - and so complex! Must try and use this more....

Pauline A.

Strategic Business Consultancy and Transformation l Strategic Partnership I Product and Content Innovation l Digital Transformation |Change Management | AI | Design Thinking | Capability Development |MBA

3y

Harriet Green visuals definitely catch more attention than texts and this diagram said it all. Thanks for sharing the importance of listening and if I may add, reading as well. In today’s context, emails, messages and slides without audio and visual are key communication tools. Just yesterday, I missed reading an email and a liner on a PowerPoint slide and it triggered some negative energies in a group because of miscommunication.

Yeshwant Kulkarni

Founder and MD, GWRPL, India's largest In-Situ Bioremediation, SSF as innovative technology by Ministry Of Jalshakti JJM

3y

Dear Harriet, Greetings!!! thanks a lot for sharing such a valuable and key to success. Levels of listening is really worth remembering. Understood now why God has given us two ears...to listen carefully.. with warm regards, Yeshwant Kulkarni,

Natalia Eddy

Assistant Manager | Project Management, Administrator, Education

3y

Love the sketch.. thanks for sharing this. Silence may sometimes feel awkward, yet it is a good opportunity for organising thoughts or look for suitable words to better express themselves.

Sonja Aboulez

Executive VP @ Austrian Post | Parcel Business Leader | Business Advisor | Former Zalando, Salesforce and IBM Executive

3y

Spot on. Thanks for sharing Harriet Green. Love the sponge and trampoline metaphor! Conversational listening is a powerful technique but beyond that it’s a question of basic courtesy by providing particularly for non-native speakers the space to think and to properly articulate their point of view. Karim Souidi Keith McCabe Sarah Dolan Johanna Mattsson Jonas Espvall Sjoerd Bak Dymphy Boegem Jordi Storken Wouter Siebelink Elaine Smith Judith Ludwigs Alan Thomas

Pratyush Raizada

Engineering Manager | Data Platform | SRE | GCP | Automation

3y

Brilliant infographic Harriet Green. This turns out to be a really nice listening check before meetings.

Daniel Mash ☁

Executive Director at JPMorgan Chase | ex-IBM | ex-Deutsche Bank | ex-Nestle | ex-John Lewis | All my own views

3y

Great share Harriet Green 👏🤗

Christine Smith

Certified MuleSoft Developer | 7x Certified Salesforce Application Architect | Associate Manager at Accenture

3y

If we practiced this in everyday life, there would be less division in our country. To listen and to feel understood solves so many problems...In business, in marriage, in relationships and in society. But instead, we have social media that encourages people to shout their opinions and shout down dissent and debate. I wish it were possible to actively listen in social media but it’s not...the negativity, group think, and lack of respect could drive one insane if they actually tried. Instead, good people give up and are silenced.

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