New Idea To Be A Better Listener

As a leader (and a human), what does it take to actually listen? I'm not referring to hearing the words or reading what's typed by a team member. But, actually listening -- what does that take? On top of what it means to put forth the energy into being a great listener, what's the return that we've seen in research and our own work? We can sit back and look back on recent convos we've all had -- in some instances, maybe we've listened to connect. And, others, maybe we listened to solve. Depending on the scenario, this can be our default programming. At Raise The Bar, we shift out of our conditioning to break that barrier, which can cap our ability to lead to our utmost potential. So, here's something we've been pondering on... When entering a conversation, let's listen to be surprised. What does that mean exactly? Enter that conversation with whomever -- a team member, a friend, your partner... enter the conversation with the intention of being surprised by what they say. Even if it's not the most 'surprising news,' when we enter into a conversation with the intention of being surprised, we're all ears. We're not looking to respond, solve, connect... we're simply listening. Listening for the element to be WOW'd! Let us know your thoughts on this and if you're interested in learning how to level up your team's listening, join us here.