Detailed Description of Topics

Leadership and Teams

Listening skills are critical to effective leadership, but not all leaders possess the effective listening skills they need. At least this is what authors, academics, and pundits have been saying for decades, ranging from Daniel Goleman (Primal Leadership, 2002), Stephen Covey ("Seven Habits of Highly Effective People", 1997, and other "Highly Effective" books), and Peter Drucker (for example, The Effective Executive, 1966). While their formulas and reasoning vary, each emphasizes the foundational importance of listening to understand others and listening to oneself (self-awareness).

Don't Hate Meetings, Make Them More Effective. Meetings can be looked forward to or dreaded. Now the choice is yours with three listening-based tools that give meetings simple and highly efficient structure, from business coach Bruce Wilson with the help of executive/observational coach Donna Karlin. Start with a subtly enhanced agenda plan (download a sample) then add either an internal or external facilitator as needed to make meetings events rather than black holes sucking down time and energy. More...

Shadow coaching is an extraordinarily valuable tool for helping business people improve self-awareness and get personal performance feedback. Bruce Wilson interviewed executive/observational coach Donna Karlin of Ottawa, Canada to find out more about her work "shadow coaching" executive-level leaders to help them improve their effectiveness by making them aware of, or correcting their assumptions about, important parts of their days, their behavior and habits. With that information, executives identify choices between what they want and what they are currently doing. More...

Highly efficient, simply structured brainstorming is how the extreme product design gurus at IDEO float good ideas, like cream, to the top. At IDEO, listening to one another's ideas, along with a few simple "dos" and "don'ts", fuels rapid development of innovative solutions and builds team trust, awareness, and motivation. More...

Calculate the benefits of listening when performing a cost-benefit analysis of business processes. A focus on listening on both individual and organizational levels can lead to better teamwork and productivity, fewer conflicts and errors, innovation, recruiting/retention advantages, and more. More...

Customer Relationships and Marketing

Successful marketing and customer satisfaction depend upon listening effectively to understand current customer needs, to demonstrate to customers that you understand, and to anticipate future needs. A listening-centered approach to selling can make business development fun, rich in learning, and extraordinarily rewarding.

I'm Not A Salesman, But I Sell Anyway: A Non-Sales Professional's Approach To Sales. In a positive departure from stereotypes about sales and selling, Coach for business professionals, executives and entrepreneurs Bruce Wilson explains how professionals are more likely to make a sale when they listen to facilitate potential customers' buying decisions instead of applying pressure. More....

In Part Two, Four Stages Of Sales Through Building Customer Rapport Bruce offers four basic assumptions and simple, intuitive actions which enable professionals to facilitate sales using their own "non-sales" professional expertise. More....

The Central Role of Listening in Selling For Service Providers. Performance consultant and leadership coach Tanja Parsley lays out a simple, effective framework for a service provider's first meeting with a potential client that encompasses getting to know each other, uncovering the explicit needs of the client, and mutually determining if there is a fit. More....

One-step-ahead product development at IDEO. The highly innovative, award winning product design firm IDEO, designers of the original Apple mouse and other revolutionary products, uses empathic listening to understand markets (they even call one of their people an "empath"), brainstorm ideas, and prototype products. More....

Six Sigma and Customer Listening. One of the more recent approaches to quality control, and perhaps the most powerful, is the process called "Six Sigma" which begins with listening to customers to determine the biggest quality issues that can be remedied to reduce costs and improve profits. More....

Conflict Resolution and Negotiation.

This segment of businessLISTENING.com was written by Bruce Wilson based in part on a series of conversations with professional mediator-facilitators Heidi and Dan Chay.

Part I, Conflict Resolution Basics for Business covers the what, why, and how of conflict resolution. More....

Part II, A Simple Process for Resolving Business Conflicts presents a step-by-step guide to simple conflict resolution. More....

Part III, Q&A With Mediator-Facilitators Dan and Heidi Chay explores in greater depth why an exchange of listening between parties in conflict reduces conflict and builds relationships. More....

An appendix offers Recommended Reading For Conflict Resolution in Business for those who want to learn more. More....

Listening Skills and Strategy

Your skill as a listener can make or break your success in leadership, teams, customer relationships, and negotiation. This topic, taking a fresh look at how you can become more effective as a listener, was written by businessLISTENING.com editor Bruce Wilson, a business coach for executives, professionals, and entrepreneurs.

Part I, Strategies for Business Listeners sets out a simple model explaining how an effective listening style changes ordinary conversations. The central premise is that you will get more out of conversations by first knowing your conversation goals, then narrowing your focus to 3 choices: talk or listen; focus or clarify; and listen attentively or not. More....

Part II, How to Listen (Attentive Listening Skills) provides the nuts-and-bolts tactical complement to the listening strategy proposed in Part I. Subjects include: "Get Over Yourself, Give Them A Solo", which speaks to the power of not interrupting in any one of a multitude of ways; "Stop Multi-tasking", about the importance of focus; and finally, "Recap Regularly", "Use Supportive Words", and "Use Body Language" which show how to establish a tangible connection between yourself and the person you talking to. More....

Part III, Asking Questions / Listening Self-Study covers the art of asking non-leading questions which contribute to, rather than morph, what a speaker is saying. Part Three also provides exercises and resources you can use to sharpen your listening skills. More....

Technology consultant and author Paul Glen shares the tried and true path to becoming an ordinary IT professional in his contribution, 5 Steps to Poor Listening: The IT Professional's Guide. More....

Help For Those Who Talk Too Much: Seven Points To Help You Stop Yourself, and Others, From Rambling At Work. How often have you wished for a tried and true cure for an all-too-common business malady variously known as "an inability to simplify," "a lack of organization," or (less politely) "running off at the mouth"? Find the uncomplicated solution from Bruce Wilson here. More....

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