Listening is the key to success Associate Professor Grace McCarthy Dean Sydney Business School University of Wollongong 

Key Themes Today . The benefits of listening For execu@ves, boards, individuals and organisa@ons How to listen Tips for listening well Next Steps Over to you 

Benefits of Listening Ø Checks your understanding Ø Brings ideas, needs and wants to the surface Ø Collabora@vely develops way forward Ø Improves quality and implementa@on of strategy Ø Get feedback on your own performance For Execu@ves 

Benefits of Listening Ø Enables you to act as a sounding board for the CEO Ø Get a feel for the culture For Board Members 

Benefits of Listening – heart and mind Ø The other person feels valued to have your undivided aOen@on and to have their ideas heard. Ø Helps the other person clarify their thinking. For the individual being listened to If someone comes to us with a problem, and we listen to them, by the 7me they finish telling us about their problem, they may already have a solu7on. ‘All’ we have done is listen, we have not provided any advice, we have not asked any clever ques7ons, yet our listening has helped the other person find their own way forward. 

Benefits of Listening Ø  AOract, engage and retain employees Ø  Enhance customer service Ø  Meet community expecta@ons Ø  Foster innova@on For Organisa@ons 

On the Board Ø What is happening in the organisa@on and its environment at the strategic level Ø The possibili@es Ø The consequences Ø The risks Ø Listening is how we learn We need to understand 

How to Listen Ø  Let the other person speak Ø  Listen to understand their point of view not to convince them of yours Ø  Show you are listening Ø  body language, tone of voice Ø  Repeat and paraphrase Ø  Use their words Ø  Build on their ideas 

Allow Silence Ø  In this busy world, silence is a giR Ø  People may need to process what is happening Ø  Or process their thoughts 

Listening with Empathy Ø  Empathy establishes rapport Ø  Listening is not just about facts Ø  Listen for how things are said Ø  Listen for what is not said Ø  Imagine yourself in the other person’s posi@on Ø  Show your empathy in words – use similar words or imagery Ø  Be careful not to hijack the conversa@on – it’s not about you! Ø  “We judge ourselves by our inten7ons and others by their ac7ons” (Pronin 2008) 

Now let’s think about ques@ons Ø  Establish a rela@onship Ø  Establish facts – separate from interpreta@on Ø  Clarify/check understanding Ø  Probing from different perspec@ves Ø  Framing/reframing Ø  Surface differences and develop shared understanding Ø  Encourage op@ons Ø  Consider consequences and quan@fy risks Ø  Visualise outcome and encourage commitment Ø  Challenge assump@ons Ø  Confront Purpose of Ques@ons 

Open, Closed and Leading QuesFons Ø  Open ques@ons allow possibili@es Ø  Closed ques@ons usually require a yes or no answer Ø  can be used to @e down a goal or ac@on Ø  to help a person be more specific Ø  or to confirm your understanding of what the other person has said Ø  Leading ques@ons try to get the other person to think your way Ø  Tone of voice and body language maOer! 

Visualisa@on Ø Used to engage and win commitment Ø Examples include miracle/magic ques@ons: Ø If you woke up in the morning and x had happened, how would you know/feel? Ø What would other people no@ce? Ø Match the language to the context, e.g. how might you ask a ques@on for a strategic planning day? What if? 

Excep@on Ques@ons Ø  Our board mee7ngs are always chao7c. ‾  Are there 7mes when your board mee7ngs work effec7vely? ‾  Tell me about one of those 7mes Used to challenge generalisa@ons Ø May need further promp@ng to enable the board member to gain an insight into what makes the board effec@ve Ø Much more powerful than telling people ‘You should do x y or z’ 

Scaling Ques@ons Ø  What is it about x that makes it not a 0 (or not a minus)? Ø  If it were 2 points higher, what would it look like?/ what would you be doing differently?/what would the Board no@ce? Ø  If person decides to take specific ac@ons to achieve this, change to goal sebng On a scale of 1 to 10, how would you rate x? 

The Problem with ‘Why’ Ø  A total of 225 par@cipants were randomly assigned to either a problem-focused or solu@on-focused coaching session. All par@cipants described a real-life problem they wanted to solve Ø  The solu@on-focused group generated significantly more ac@ons steps to help them reach their goal. Grant (2012) Ø  When people explain why they do things a par@cular way, they can get more and more aOached to doing things that way and harder to shiR Ø  ask ‘how ‘or ‘tell me more’ to help reach a beOer understanding of the underlying issue People make less progress if you focus on why 

Values and Ethics Ø  How does this decision relate to our values? Ø  How does this policy reflect our values? Ø  I do not feel comfortable about this – let me just talk it out so I can explain what’s making me uncomfortable Ø  I read about x in the media – could anything like that happen here? Ø  In some organisa@ons that I am familiar with, the board does x. Might that be appropriate here? Challenging the small things before they become big things 

Ques@ons about Making a Difference Ø  What are our long term priori@es? Ø  What will make this our best year yet? Ø  What is the biggest challenge for this board? Ø  What do we want to be known for/ to leave behind? Ø  When I look back on my @me as CEO or Chair of the Board, what do I want my legacy to be? Ø  As a board, how can we add value? Looking forward and looking back 

The Challenge Ø We are used to solving people’s problems Ø We are good at it Ø People keep coming back to us because we solve their problem for them Ø That makes us feel useful Ø It seems quicker at the @me Ø But … people keep coming back Ø Some of those asking for our help may not want to think it through themselves Ø How do we get the best from everyone? 

Next steps Ø Being present and listening to the other person is more important than thinking up clever ques@ons. Ø Make a conscious effort to listen and not just to ‘wait your turn’ Ø Ask people for feedback on how well you listen to them – do they feel heard? Ø If there is room for improvement, decide what you are going to improve and how you will know if you have improved Ø Enjoy and listen well!