Listening requires practice and uses up energy. That’s why it’s a good idea to practice listening for five minutes every day. You’ll get more out of your practice if you choose beforehand which area of listening you’re going to be practicing, with whom and when.
Blog
Hanlon’s razor teaches us to interpret things better
People have a tendency to assume that anything unpleasant was done with malicious intent. However, Hanlon’s razor tells us, “Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by neglect.”
We fail at communication because we fear failing at communication
Because we fear that our communication might fail, we panic about our responses, we don’t admit that we don’t understand, we try to be too fast and always right. All of this takes the focus away from the situation and shifts it to ourselves. However, the answer can’t be found within us.
Build trust by giving yourself more precise deadlines
Dogged by imprecise promises, stretching schedules and constant hurry, clients aren’t used to someone making a clearly defined promise – let alone keeping it.
The four building blocks of trustworthiness in working with clients
Trustworthiness is the sum of credibility, reliability and intimacy, divided by self-orientation. This equation explains why it’s more important to care than to always be right.
Naming helps you check if you understood something correctly
Naming can be used to check even big assumptions because naming doesn’t claim that anything is true. “Sounds like” doesn’t argue that something is true, just that it seemed like that to the listener.
Knowledge doesn’t lead to action, so what can help us?
Feeling like the thing we’re doing is sufficiently important is key. It’s not enough to know it’s important; we must feel that it’s important. This is something that a good leader, trainer or therapist can help you with.
Negotiate better with the echo technique
Using an echo allows the listener to understand that you didn’t quite understand that one bit. However, the echo doesn’t claim that the other person’s explanation was somehow bad. It asks for clarification, but at the same time leaves it open what information, or how much, they should add.
Even Successful People Suffer from Imposter Syndrome
The co-founder and co-CEO of Atlassian Mike Cannon-Brookes tells us how Imposter Syndrome has been with him from the beginning of his career and has never eased.
How is the Impostor Syndrome Treated?
“The central task of psychotherapy with impostors is to lessen the client’s dependence on others’ positive evaluations for his or her self-esteem and to build a more internalized sense of self-worth.”