Get Heard, Get Results by Simon Dowling

Get Heard, Get Results by Simon Dowling

Author:Simon Dowling
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Wiley
Published: 2020-03-13T16:00:00+00:00


While it’s not my intention to delve into too much detail in this book, I do want to draw a distinction between two key forms of listening — clinical listening and engaged listening — and offer you some key tips for becoming a truly engaged listener.

Clinical listening

Clinical listening is a skill you use when you want to get to a solution — often, quickly. It’s the sort of listening you might expect from your doctor. Does it hurt here? How long have you been experiencing that? Any other symptoms? What kind of sleep have you been getting?

When we’re in clinical listening mode we’re trying to control the conversation. We want to get from A to B in the way we see fit, often within a limited timeframe. As a result, we tend to filter out everything that seems extraneous or irrelevant to that pathway, and our listening reflects our desire to keep things on track. Follow-up questions are often used to steer the conversation in the preferred direction. What happened then? Did you speak to Bob? Who told you to do that?

Clinical listening has an important role to play when our sole purpose is to solve a problem. Say, for example, a team member comes to you and asks you to identify whether they’ve left anything out in preparing a report to the Board. A few precise questions — such as, Did you reconcile this data with Steve’s set? or Are you planning to include this information as an appendix to the full report? — might enable you to get to the nub of any issues and provide a clear answer quickly.

But we very easily default to clinical listening even though the situation may call for a greater level of connection with the other person. This is especially relevant in the context of building buy-in, which requires us to build the kind of relationship in which others feel heard and understood.



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