S1 E12 Creating a Culture of Active Listening and Curiosity

Summary   In this conversation, Dr. Marc Reynolds discusses the importance of active listening and curiosity in fostering a positive workplace culture. He provides three practical tips that business leaders can implement today to enhance these skills in themselves and their teams. The tips include organizing active listening workshops, implementing listening and curiosity challenges, and conducting feedback and reflection sessions. By investing in these strategies, leaders can create meaningful interactions, impact people's lives, and improve overall work effectiveness.   Takeaways

• Active listening is crucial for fostering a positive workplace culture and enhancing team effectiveness.
• Curiosity helps individuals feel seen, heard, valued, and loved in their interactions.
• Three practical tips to foster active listening and curiosity are: organizing workshops, implementing challenges, and conducting feedback sessions.
• These strategies can lead to meaningful interactions, improved communication, and overall work effectiveness.

Chapters   00:00 Introduction and Problem Statement 01:31 The Importance of Active Listening and Curiosity 02:19 Tip 1: Organize Active Listening Workshops 03:11 Tip 2: Implement Listening and Curiosity Challenges 04:03 Tip 3: Conduct Feedback and Reflection Sessions 04:32 Conclusion and Call to Action   Keywords   active listening, curiosity, workplace culture, team effectiveness, strategic objectives, workshops, challenges, feedback, reflection

Episode Transcript

(00:14):
If you are a business leaderlooking to foster a positive workplace
culture, enhance team effectiveness,and navigate challenges effectively while
focusing on strategic objectives, orif you just want to make work work better,
then join us for a mini workshop wherewe share three things you can do today
to foster active listeningand curiosity in yourself and your team.

(00:36):
I'm your host, Dr.
Marc Reynolds, and the problem you mightbe experiencing is something like this.
All of us have to do lists and agendas.
We have deadlines, quotas, incentives,and other exterior pressures
that make us ultra awareof the expectations others have of us.
We have a need to be heardand seen on top of that.
So the instinct is to speak firstand listen later.

(00:57):
This is a mistake.
The fastest way to our objectiveis to be a good, active listener.
To be curious about the presentwith the person in front of you,
and help whoever you arewith feel seen, heard and valued.
It's counterintuitive,and it takes patience and practice.
If you will invest in building
these skills though,not only will work work better for you,
but you will have meaningful interactionsand impact

(01:19):
people's lives and have your life enrichedall at the same time.
On top of that,they will listen to you more completely
if you've listened to themcompletely first.
By how you listen to them,you will train them on
how you want them to listen to you.
There are three thingsyou can implement today to do this.

(01:40):
First bring us or someone else in,
or even internally have an activelistening training workshop.
Organize workshopsfocused on developing active listening
skills and fostering curiosity.
This is one that I love to do.
I love to come in and work with people
on how to actively listen and listenso deeply

(02:03):
to body language, to their words,to everything that's being communicated,
so that each person you interactwith feels seen,
heard, valued, and yes, loved.
These workshops can include interactiveexercises, role playing
scenarios, discussions on techniquessuch as reflective listening,

(02:25):
asking open ended questions,and avoiding interruptions,
as well as conflict resolution techniques.
By participating in these workshops,
both the executive and employees can learnpractical strategies
to enhance their listening skillsand cultivate a more inquisitive mindset.
Second is to implementlistening and curiosity challenges.
Implement challenges or initiativesthat encourage employees to practice

(02:49):
active listening and curiosityin their daily interactions.
For example, create a curiosity challengewhere employees are rewarded for asking
thoughtful questions
and exploring new perspectivesduring meetings or conversations.
Similarly, you might set up a listeningchallenge or employees are recognized
for demonstrating exceptional listeningskills, such as summarizing

(03:09):
key points from discussionsor following up on feedback.
The executives should actively engageand promote these challenges.
To set an example.
Introduce regular feedback and reflectionsessions, where employees
and leaders discuss their listeningand communication practices.
Discuss and ask employees
or internally evaluate yourselfwhere you feel

(03:32):
seen, heard, valued, and cared for.
Ask your employees where they're feeling
that or where they're feeling neglected,unheard and unseen.
During these sessions, participantscan share experiences, offer
constructive feedback,and identify areas for improvement.
Encourage a culture of opennessby having the executives

(03:55):
share their own reflections and learnings.
Invite employeesto contribute their insights
on how active listening and curiosityhave impacted their work.
This approach not only reinforcesthe importance of these skills,
but also provides actionable stepsfor continuous improvement.
Active listening workshopslet us can work with you.
Listening and curiosity challenges.

(04:15):
It's a way to gamify learning theseimportant, crucial skills and abilities.
Three Feedback and Reflection sessions.
As we've talked in other mini workshops,these are key to continuous growth.
If you'll implement these three tipsthat we talked about today, you'll foster
active listening and curiosity in yourselfand your team today.

(04:37):
Don't forget to click like and subscribe.
Follow. Share your comments.
Give us your feedback.We'll see you next time.
But in the meantime,keep making work work better.