The Art of Listening

"Listening is critical to success-whether as a team member or corporate leader.  It's a core skill for every successful executive, manager and employee. Listening is often the best and fastest way to learn more about a project, issue or situation. The ability to listen is also key to developing and maintaining relationships, making good decisions and solving problems."

• Recognize that listening is to your personal advantage. You don't listen just to be nice to others. Listening to executives, managers, co-workers, customers and clients gets you information you need to be more successful in your job.

• Want to listen better. See listening as a small investment of time and energy that produces an enormous ROI. Commit to improve your listening. If you aren't already a good listener, you're unlikely to reform without a total commitment.

• Prepare to listen. Set goals for what you hope to learn. Identify your biggest obstacle to listening, such as lack of time. Identify how to overcome obstacles. For instance, if you can't give another manager or customer your undivided attention, reschedule the conversation.

• Work hard at listening. Don't let your mind wander. Think intently about what is being said. Stand or sit upright and look the speaker in the eyes. Stop worrying about what you're going to say next. You'll have plenty of time to form a response once the speaker is finished.

• Limit your talking. You can't talk and listen at the same time. Monitor your listening-talking ratio. You shouldn't dominate the conversation.

• Don't prejudge. Most people listen only to those they consider worth listening to and, when they listen, they only hear what they expect the other person to say. Too often, they wrongly hear only confirmation of their viewpoints. Listen with an open mind.

• Focus as much on feelings as words. Both are critical to truly hearing and understanding the person. A person's nonverbal behavior is one way to assess his or her feelings. Also, be aware of your own nonverbal actions-for example, do you look receptive?

• Overcome distractions. Ignore noisy surroundings. And, don't let the speaker's mannerisms distract. If someone rambles, summarize more frequently. This will communicate that you understand and help the person clarify his or her thoughts.

• Ask questions. If you don't understand what is being said, question the speaker to get a clearer idea. Ask something like, "Are you saying that…?" Or, "How does that relate to what you said before about…?"

• Summarize. Tell the speaker what you heard. Communication has to be two-way to be successful. Paraphrase what others say to check and communicate that you understand.

PASS

• Consult your target market. Alex wisely recognized that his team was "a bunch of white kids" who didn't know very much about the community they were asked to market to. Alex showed astute leadership by electing to create his own neighborhood focus group to help create their mural. Acknowledging his team's weakness and figuring our how to compensate for that weakness, he smartly asked a group of local guys on the street for their opinion on the mural and the game. The result was that they were given good ideas that the team could easily incorporate into the mural that reflected both their target audience and the game. Pretty street smart -- for a bunch of academics.
   

• Vendor criteria. Net Worth, under John's direction, identified three criteria for selecting the graffiti artist: "a) they had played the game, b) had a great book (of art) and c) could work really fast." Savvy business professionals establish clear criteria before selecting vendors. In this case, the result was a quick, painless process of choosing the team's graffiti artist. Unfortunately, this was where the smooth sailing stopped for Net Worth. John remains my odds-on favorite to win this competition; it is difficult for me to understand why the other team leaders don't heed his business sense more often.
   

• Does the promotion make them want to buy the product? This was the difference between the win and loss this week. The winning team, Magna, understood clearly that they needed to create a mural that sold the product effectively. The other team, Net Worth, delivered a "statement of social consciousness" that made great community art but did not sell the product.

FAIL

• You can't learn if you aren't listening. Tara was questioned multiple times about whether her marketing concept addressed the needs of both the target market and her customer (Sony). John questioned her direction early on, "We're talking about a video game here -- are we trying to make a statement of social consciousness?" Trump's lieutenant, Jill Cremer, said, "This is great for the neighborhood but what is Sony looking for?" In both cases Tara was so busy defending her idea as the best that she completely missed the message both people were trying to deliver. Not hearing or heeding this advice was precisely what lost her the game. An effective leader would have facilitated an initial session to gain an understanding of potential pitfalls for the concept. She not only failed to ask; she failed to listen when offered the information.
   

• Who made you the boss? At one point, Tara assigned Craig the responsibility to oversee the actual painting of the mural -- her mistake was she did not communicate this power shift to the rest of the team. Craig and Audrey banged heads almost immediately as a result. Self-motivated and confident individuals like Audrey often resent being bossed around. They need a clear understanding of where authority comes from. Leaders who delegate authority to certain team members but fail to communicate this shift to others are putting together a surefire recipe for fireworks.
   

• Not understanding leadership. Tara, in her exit taxi cab interview, said, "It wasn't my sole responsibility to completely lead and direct my team. I shouldn't have to give them specific instructions." I cannot disagree more. It is a basic, fundamental responsibility of a leader to make sure that a team is clear about what is expected of them, what their roles are in relation to the task and to understand the boundaries within which the team is expected to perform. It is ultimately up to the leader to set up clear structure, order and direction for the team. Tara failed to do this effectively.
   

• No "I" in team. Tara took entire credit for the mural concept to the Sony executives -- right up to the point that she realized it was a failure. She never used the word "we," instead choosing to use the dreaded "I" word repeatedly. Effective leaders give their teams credit for the wins and do not steal the glory.
   

• Bad grammar doesn't fit in the boardroom. Craig said, "I don't need to deal with no children." Craig may need to polish up his language skills if he is going to communicate with high-powered executives.

The Report Card

Net Worth: Effort -- Performance -- Creativity --   C D C+	WEEK SIX BOOK SMARTS Magna STREET SMARTS Net Worth
Magna: Effort -- Performance -- Creativity --   B B B