Systematize Success #10 - Mindfulness & Executive Listening
Mindfulness & Executive Listening
Hi Friends,
Happy Monday!
This week I want to share a trio around mindfulness published in the Harvard Business Review - grouping them is personal:
A Simple Way to Reduce Cognitive Bias (5min)
Can 10 Minutes of Meditation Make You More Creative? (6min)
Mindfulness mediation works to enhance creativity and innovation.
10 to 12 minutes are enough to boost creativity.
Calming Your Brain During Conflict (6min)
1. Practicing Mindfulness in Conflict
2. Stay present.
3. Let go of the story.
4. Focus on the body.
5. Finally, breathe.
Let’s conclude with a beautiful essay on listening as an executive skill, published by McKinsey:
The executive’s guide to better listening (13min)
Listening is the front end of decision making. It’s the surest, most efficient route to informing the judgments we need to make, yet many of us have heard, at one point or other in our careers, that we could be better listeners. Indeed, many executives take listening skills for granted and focus instead on learning how to articulate and present their own views more effectively.
Principles for better listening:
Show respect
One of the best listeners I have ever observed was the chief operating officer (COO) of a large medical institution. He once told me that he couldn’t run an operation as complex as a hospital without seeking input from people at all levels of the staff—from the chief of surgery to the custodial crew.
I was amused when John McLaughlin, the former deputy director of the US Central Intelligence Agency, told me that when he had to make tough decisions he often ended his conversations with colleagues by asking, “Is there anything left that you haven’t told me . . . because I don’t want you to leave this room and go down the hall to your buddy’s office and tell him that I just didn’t get it.”
Keep quiet
I have developed my own variation on the 80/20 rule as it relates to listening. My guideline is that a conversation partner should be speaking 80 percent of the time, while I speak only 20 percent of the time.
Challenge assumptions
Good listeners seek to understand—and challenge—the assumptions that lie below the surface of every conversation.
A technique I find helpful in certain situations: he will deliberately alter a single fact or assumption to see how that changes his team’s approach to a problem.
Descriptions of six of the more common archetypes of bad listeners:
The Opinionator
The Opinionator listens to others primarily to determine whether or not their ideas conform to what he or she already believes to be true.
The Grouch
Grouches are poor listeners who are blocked by a feeling of certainty that your idea is wrong.
The Preambler
Preamblers use questioning to steer the discussion, send warnings, or generate a desired answer.
The Perseverator
Perseverators use the thoughts of their conversation partners to support their own prejudices, biases, or ideas. When talking to one, you may feel that the two of you are having completely different conversations.
The Answer Man
Answer Man is desperately eager to please and impress. You know you are speaking to Answer Man if your conversation partner can’t stop providing solutions and has ready answers for any flaws you point out, as well as quick rejoinders to all the points you raise.
The Pretender
Pretenders feign engagement and even agreement but either aren’t interested in what you’re saying or have already made up their minds.
Please don’t forget to share if you think this type of insights can help others:
Thanks for reading, and have a mindful week!
V