There are two things that you can do to have more meaningful conversations in your career or for your business. These aren’t complex by any means. The 2 steps are listening attentively and engaging when appropriate.
I will talk more extensively tomorrow about listening but for today I will just talk about the simple act of listening attentively. Listening attentively means looking at the person while they are talking to you and making sure that you are actively participating where appropriate. I am sure we have all experienced the person who just can’t seem to pull themselves away from their phone to stop texting while you are speaking with them. They don’t listen to your conversation and then ask a question that you already answered but they didn’t hear it because they weren’t listening. This drives me crazy and I avoid talking with these people as much as possible because I hate wasting my time.
The second step is to engage the person that you are talking with appropriately. Ask questions that drive the conversation that you are having to deeper levels of understanding. This lets the person that you are talking to know that you care about what they are saying. When you engage people to further the conversation, you also learn more about the person.
Listening and engaging are important tools to getting to know the people around you at a deeper level. When we engage people beyond the surface level of conversations, we are able to know more about those people. The more we know about them, the more we are able to build resources to have great relationships and have a group of people put together that can further our careers or assist us in our businesses. All it takes is a little practice and the ability to care. It’s really that easy.
PS Podcast time. Click the button below to listen.
It seems that good listening is also connected to the character trait of humility. I probably won’t be a good listener if I’m only thinking about myself, or feel my positions are always correct. Also, if I see myself as being superior to others, I won’t take an interest in their opinions. Good post!
Glenn,
You are absolutely right. You do have to keep yourself on the same level as the people that you are talking to. Many times we fail to build relationships when we prejudge them. Great point and thanks for commenting.