Stack the Listening Environment in Your Favor

• 00:04 Let me go ahead and give you a couple of quick wins when it comes to helping you
• 00:08 listen more effectively anytime you're in business.
• 00:11 For starters, you're talking to a boss, a customer, a colleague.
• 00:15 Forget just putting your phone down, forget putting it on silent,
• 00:19 turn the phone off.
• 00:20 Better yet, put it someplace else, put it so you can't even see it.
• 00:26 Next, if you're like me and you have a smartwatch,
• 00:30 hit it on the theater mode so you're not tempted to have even a flash.
• 00:36 That's very distracting to people.
• 00:38 They're talking to you and
• 00:40 all of a sudden your smartwatch lights up and your eyes go down it.
• 00:45 Final really, really quick tip.
• 00:47 If you're listening to someone over the phone, turn away from your screen.
• 00:53 If you're like me and most people, you're talking to someone on the phone,
• 00:58 you can't resist multitasking, checking out the email,
• 01:01 checking out Facebook, what's new on Twitter.
• 01:04 Don't do it, your mind can really just focus on one thing at a time.
• 01:09 If you want to listen to what that customer, colleague,
• 01:13 boss is saying, turn your chair around, turn your computer off.
• 01:18 Just listen, try to stare at a blank wall, better yet
• 01:22 even close your eyes if you're not taking notes on a piece of paper or
• 01:26 some other computer screen that has nothing but a blank sheet.
• 01:31 Quick wins, a lot more to come, please listen.
• 01:36 The first step in really being successful at listening in business,
• 01:41 you got to stack the deck in your favor.
• 01:43 That means eliminating needless distractions.
• 01:46 Every workplace is filled with distractions.
• 01:49 Now you could have workplace at home and your distraction, kids,
• 01:53 dogs, telephones in another part of the house.
• 01:57 You could be in a big office place and have an open space and
• 02:00 there's all sorts of people around you.
• 02:03 So you've got to do what ever it takes to minimize other sounds.
• 02:08 So if that means going to another part of the house, if that means going
• 02:12 to a private conference room if you're listening to someone over the phone.
• 02:16 If it's a face-to-face meeting, going to a quiet place,
• 02:21 anything you can do, to minimize any sound, other than that
• 02:26 person's voice, is going to enhance your chances of listening,
• 02:31 and understanding, and remembering.
• 02:34 That's really what it's all about.
• 02:36 Some obvious things.
• 02:38 Everybody's guilty of this occasionally, I know I'm guilty of this occasionally.
• 02:42 But it's not enough to just put your phone down and take it out of your hand,
• 02:47 which is torture for some people.
• 02:49 By the way, never listened to a customer or client, colleague or
• 02:53 boss if they can see you and you have a phone in your hand.
• 02:57 That's sending a clear-cut message, you're not very important,
• 03:01 I'm not really listening to you.
• 03:02 I'm waiting for something better.
• 03:05 So, of course, the phone has to be out of your hand.
• 03:08 It's not enough to turn the ringer off.
• 03:11 My recommendation, turn the whole phone off.
• 03:15 That way you're not going to be getting beeps, vibrations, lights flashing.
• 03:22 It's just human nature, you're talking to someone,
• 03:24 they can be telling you something incredibly important, the phone beeps and
• 03:28 it's something might be more exciting there.
• 03:31 So put the phones away.
• 03:34 Now, this is even more important when it is your boss or
• 03:37 a highly important prospect or client.
• 03:41 People can't stand it when they feel someone isn't listening to them,
• 03:47 especially if they are paying that person.
• 03:50 So if it's a relationship where it's your boss, a client, a prospect,
• 03:55 rightly or wrongly, they feel like they own your time, they own your attention.
• 04:02 So if they feel like you're not giving them complete undivided attention,
• 04:07 they're going to resent it.
• 04:09 They're going to resent you and they may be looking for some form of payback.
• 04:14 Now this may be at a subconscious level.
• 04:18 They might not be actively thinking that way, but believe me,
• 04:22 they are thinking that way.
• 04:24 That's why you need to eliminate distractions.
• 04:28 A lot of people like to work with music on in their office.
• 04:33 That's great, but somebody important calls you during the work day,
• 04:38 I'd recommend turn the music off.
• 04:41 Somebody walks into your office, your cubicle, your space, turn the music off.
• 04:46 The fewer distractions, the better.
• 04:49 All the research shows that human beings are actually horrible at multitasking.
• 04:55 We all think we're great, we're horrible.
• 04:57 If you doubt me, look at the statistics of teenagers and
• 05:01 other people texting while driving.
• 05:04 So if you want to increase the odds of listening effectively
• 05:10 to everything you can to eliminate lights, sounds,
• 05:14 flashes coming up from phones, music, other noises,
• 05:19 so you can just listen to what that person says.
• 05:23 Especially if they're not there in the room and
• 05:27 you're listening to them over the phone,
• 05:31 over a teleconference, a speaker, eliminate distractions.

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