This question will be asked of someone at a manager level and above and, most often, a senior leadership candidate. Treat it seriously and honestly. It will reflect on your leadership.
I'm Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter. I'm a career coach. I used to work in search. Now I work with individuals around the world, helping you perform better in your job search and in your career. I love this question-- How do you improve your listening skills? You know, when I think of managers and above, it's hard to listen. After all, for many of you, you got to where you are by being the best doer on the planet, and your organization recognizing you for your action items, rather than your listening skills. You got things done. But as you become more senior, the importance of listening from people who are showing cpourage in coming to you to voice a different opinion is really important. So in answering this question, I start off with number 1: Am I in a place where I can receive. And I would encourage people on interviews to say, "You know, when someone comes to see me with a problem, I want to be able to hear it. And sometimes people are summoning up all their courage, and I can't hear it. I'll just ask them to pause for a second and let me get grounded so that I can hear what they have to say. I don't want to pretend. I want to actually hear them. And then at the end of what they presented to me, I'll repeat a couple of key points back to them to make sure that I heard it correctly. And I'll ask them to correct me if that's possible. It doesn't mean I have to listen to everything or not listen, but act on everything they say. But I want to hear and have a chance to think about it. And afterwards, I'll tell them, "I'd like to consider what you've had to say and circle back to you with my thoughts about it. Is that okay?" By taking that moment to ground myself and to actually listen, to repeat back to them what I heard, and commit to coming back to them, I have an action item to work with, that allows them to believe that it's okay to come to me. And when they do come back to me for the review of my thoughts. I'll make the point of complimenting them on their courage, and what I liked about their idea and what it needs a little bit more work on. But the idea is I have to be able to hear it because it's it's critical that in my role that when people have the guts to come to me, they know that they're listened to. I hope you found this helpful. I'm Jeff Altman and my website is TheBigGameHunter.us Go there and go exploring in the blog. There's a lot there to help you, as well as on YouTube pn the job search. . . go to JobSearchTV.com is easiest way to get to my channel. You can also watch me on Amazon, Roku, and a variety of other places on your TV. It's the Job Search TV app that you download for Amazon and Roku on Apple TV and maybe 90 other smart sets. Look for bingenetworks.tv and watch me there. Lastly, connect with me on linkedin at linkedin.com/in/TheBigGameHunter. Mention that you saw this video. I like knowing I'm helping some folks and I'd love to help you. I'd love to coach you. Reach out to me. Have a terrific day and be great!
