‘Everybody we meet is fighting a battle we cannot see.’
Three minutes is all it takes.
I am privileged to lead sessions in ‘active’ listening skills at work. It’s a natural evolution from the work I do as a mediator, and follows my passion for everyone to bet able to ‘tell it like it is’ and get heard with compassion. Once we get truly heard, the pressure may lift and things might start to feel more manageable, solutions arise and conflicts are resolved. It is empowering to us when we receive the gift of being truly seen, heard and understood.
People with great listening skills will help prevent: staff disputes, mistakes, stress related absence, high staff turnover, complaints… the list goes on.
Here is a conversation with Andy Wallerius of Commerzbank UK, post training: (4m 30s)
Book a call to discuss how we might work together…
Good listeners create: others who feel empowered to lead, trust they are valued, are confident to speak more, support each other, stay loyal to the organisation, do better business. We know that a happy organisation is based on good relationships.
In these workshops the focus is on: what gets in the way of listening well, the traps we all fall into and what we can do instantly to listen through a new lens, helping to build authentic connection. People gain insight and lots practical experience of how empathy with others (and ourselves) works to benefit everyone.
With one in six of us is currently coping with a mental health challenge of some degree: this work addresses a real need, for people to be heard as they are. With experience we come know that to listen without an agenda of our own, is a true discipline: its simple but not easy and it is a genuine gift to others.
Feedback from individuals at I trained at Commerzbank UK:
- “Good mixture of discussion and breakout sessions to discuss and practice situations; Excellent presenter and really enjoyed the session. Good length; has really made me think about how to be in lots of situations when I am listening to others.”
- “Great to work with the Maggie and the team (teambuilding); extremely useful to have learnt about listening and – practical – with helpful advice that is relevant to MHFA and other scenarios; session was highly complementary to MHFA training.”
- “Overall presentation skills – I never attended a meeting where presenter was so calm… made me feel very relaxed too.”
Better listening between your people will:
- Build meaningful skills that contribute to real (not superficial) communication between staff and with customers.
- Contribute life skills that support them to grow, lead and develop each other. People will know each other more authentically by the end of an experiential day.
- Look after mental health: people are empowered to find solutions by being heard by each other; they will stay where they feel valued. Business benefits.
Once learned, these are skills for life, which leaders model for those they manage.
- “We often take for granted that listening is an easy thing to do, but it’s not. Going into the basics of listening not only helps me be a better listener but also helps me understand how I can communicate in a way that will also help the other person conversing with me listen better. I thought it was a brilliant workshop! “
Book a call to discuss how we might work together.
- “A well structured, well thought through session that really helped me let go of concerns around ‘how to give an answer’ and highlighted the value of ‘just’ listening.”