Hearing or Listening

Hearing – you noticed a sound.

Listening – you made an effort to understand that sound and find its meaning.

 There is a distinction and it’s important.  Pay attention because many conversations go wrong because of this distinction. 

In some circles, listening properly, as I would call it, is referred to as active listening.  In the simplest terms, it means you have understood the message and have retained it, and if you are in a one-to-one conversation, the speaker feels that she or he has been heard and acknowledged.

A few suggestions to improve listening skills:

• Consciously tell yourself that you are switching on and listening
• Reduce or eliminate distractions such as mobile phones and background noise from TVs, radios etc.
• Refrain from jumping to solutions, suggestions or rebuttals
• Observe the speaker’s body language
• Re-state what you think you have heard in your own words

While our ears are switched on all the time, our listening skills are not.  It takes practice.  If you want to improve communication, reduce conflict and frustration, and then start by practicing your listening skills.

Abide by the “two ears, one mouth” rule – listen more and talk less!

1. Remove All Distractions
   Don’t check your email or your phone, turn off TV or Radio. Maybe close your door to ensure you stay distraction free.
2. Be Present
   Are you present when you’re around other people? Or are you lost in your own thoughts?
   To be a good listener, you have to be present.
3. Wait for the Person to Finish Speaking (in the start)
   It’s good etiquette to let the other party finish what he/she wants to say, before you butt in with your comments. I know there are times you feel you get what the person is trying to say and you can’t wait to share your comments, but hold it off in the beginning of the conversation. Because the person may have other things to share but can’t because you are speaking.
4. Don’t Assume Anything
   An important part of listening is not to assume. When you assume, you automatically layer over what the person says with your presumptions, which makes it near impossible to have any meaningful conversation.
5. Clarify to ensure you got what the person is saying
   At every stage of the conversation; clarify to ensure you got the message right. This can be done by simply paraphrasing what he/she just said, in your own words. Sometimes we may take away one message when it’s really something else, and it’s not good to assume without clarifying first.

1. Ask Questions
   Questions are highly important in any conversation. First, there are things which the person does not share (either because he/she thinks you already know them or because he/she thinks they are irrelevant) that you can only uncover by asking questions. Secondly, questions lets you get more information about specific areas you are unclear about, such that you get a better picture of what the person is saying.

Remember that listening is one part of what it takes to build meaningful connections with others.

Jimmy Francis is a business coach with YouProfit Business Coaching 651-321-8348

Finding Good People.

Often I coach my clients on their desire to “find good people”.  This always starts with me asking them “do you know what you want”? YouProfit Business Coaching has a great system for recruiting, but it only works if you know what you want.  I think it was Lou Holtz that said “Most people fail because they fail to understand what they are trying to do”.

You can find good people anywhere. Good people that won’t steal from you, they show up on time, they don’t bring their problems to work. These are good people to hire yes, but if they don’t know how to weld, they would not make a good fit at your welding company. You must understand what you are looking for before you go looking.

My clients usually start out the process of finding good people by making a list of all the tasks they need this new person to complete. Then they start to create a profile of what or who this person is, their experience, their salary range, etc. This way they get it out on paper and this information can be used in the job posting as well as the job outline.  Usually I recommend they ask others in their company leadership team to look over their list to ensure they are thinking of everything.

After they understand what it is they are really looking for in a new hire and they have a solid outline or job description they can start looking. The YouProfit Recruitment System make the next steps very easy but it takes time and energy to follow the system so I recommend they attach a timeline to the process so they can stay focused and hire with enough time to find the right fit.  I like to remind my clients that “the perfect fit might not fit perfectly” so be open and ready for anything.

To find good people these days, you should have lengthy conversations. Above all, seek drive and passion for the job, even if their resumes are loaded with more experience than a job requires. Don’t be afraid of people who are overqualified because they could bring some new resources to your company.

Don’t ignore Red Flags that come out of the conversations you have with potential employees and trust your gut. If they have all the qualifications and say all the right things, but your gut doesn’t like something, trust your gut! On the flip side of that, if you meet someone in another context that you think might be a good person to work for you, leave them your business card or get theirs, you never know.

Finding Good People is not easy because if it were, you would have already found them.

And knowing what you want makes finding them much easier.

Jimmy Francis is a Business Coach with YouProfit Business Coaching
651-321-8348

Positive = Attitude

I had a customer tell me last week “today is crappy” and I said in reply “why do you think that is?” He then went on and on about all the “problems” he had in business. Employees not doing what they should and when they do they have a bad attitude. After I let him vent I asked “would you like my outside take on this?” He said yes and I pointed out that the problem with a bad attitude is it spreads and it starts with you”.  There was silence on the phone.

You see a lot of what happens in business is based on attitude. If you, the business owner, start your day with a grumpy attitude it spreads to all around you in the office.  The front desk person starts to answer the phone without a smile, the guy in shipping grumbles about his job and the fact there are so many outgoing orders he needs to ship. Sales people start to cop an attitude with customers that wont buy or cancel an order and it all started with the Boss walking in with a bad attitude.

I encouraged him to change his attitude but not make a big deal about it with the staff. I said come in a different door than you normally do, come in the back and greet the guys with a happy greeting.  I encouraged him to make a point of telling all his staff how happy he was that they were there and maybe point out a positive thing about the work they do.  I gave him a week to try it.

Well he called me today and thanked me for sending him a CD – Zig Ziglar’s “How to be a Winner” and told me (on a snowy April day) that “It’s a great day”. He understood how I kept a positive attitude every time he saw or spoke to me. But the best thing he said was his staff is also understanding they get to control their attitude and being positive impacts other people.  He shared stories about the front desk lady and the shipping guy making other peoples day better just by being positive with their short interaction.  He said the sales people don’t slam the phone down as much because they changed their attitudes about why the customers canceled orders.  But best of all he took ownership that his attitude was what started it all and that taking some action to change his was so simple but did so much.

So remember a positive attitude is something everyone should try to wear most of the time and people tend to take notice of it.