LISTENING PAYS OFF Marcia Martin is an executive coach. One of her clients, a senior vice president at a major bank, asked her if she could help him make his team meetings more powerful. He complained that his direct team wasnt really operating the way he wanted it to in their meetings. They didnt bring the right things to the meeting, they werent focused on the right things, and they didnt present properly. When Marcia asked him what he did in his meetings and what the problems were, he said he always started off his meetings by telling them what the purpose of the meeting was, what he felt their breakdowns were, and what he wanted them to do. By the time he finished describing his meetings, she could tell the whole meeting was him just spitting out instructions to his team members. Marcia told him, I would advise you to start your meeting with just one sentence: The purpose of this meeting is for me to find out from you what you feel is going on in each of you departments, what you feel the breakdowns are, and what you need from me/ And then you should be quiet and just let them talk and talk and talk until they have totally talked themselves out. If they stop talking, just say, Well, what else? and let them talk some more. She explained that his people probably hadnthad a chance to really empty out their feelings, their viewpoints, their suggestions, or their questions. He was packing them with too much information and all of his opinions, and he wasnt really listening. She told him to allow 2 hours for the meeting and not to say anything during that whole time. He was just to listen, write down notes, and nod his head—be present and be interested, but not speak. Three days later, he pulled Marcia aside to tell her that he had had the most fantastic, powerful meeting hed ever had in his life. He had done exactly what she had asked him to do —he had listened in a way that he had never listened before. As a result his team members had talked and talked and talked, and he had learned more about what his people were going through, what his people needed, and what to do for them in that one meeting than he had in all of his previous executive experience. By motivation
Posted on: Tue, 18 Mar 2014 16:41:10 +0000
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