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?
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.
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,
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.
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
Great tips and reminders!
Brilliant infographic Harriet Green. This turns out to be a really nice listening check before meetings.
Great share Harriet Green 👏🤗
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.
Company Director, Consultant, Trustee, Public Speaker - mostly animals and planet saving stuff 🌈
3yThis is really helpful - and so complex! Must try and use this more....