Listen up - Wellbeing focus
Posted on Monday, 20 May 2024 under Wellness
We want people to be able to raise any concerns they have about the workplace. This means we have to be open to listening and asking questions (without being dismissive or defensive).
Listening is a skill that we can learn and develop just like any other skill from playing tennis to driving a car, and the more we practice it, the better at it we get.
When people take the time to raise an issue with us, we owe it to them to listen fully. How do we do this?
Open questions (ones that you can't answer with ‘yes’ or ‘no’) are key to active listening.
Avoid responding like this:
Person A: I’m concerned about what’s happening in xxx.
Person B: Yeah, that happened to me once too.
Instead, try saying this:
Person A: I’m concerned about what’s happening in xxx.
Person B: Thanks for raising this with me. Tell me more about the situation/help me understand more about what happened and why it’s a concern to you.
WHAT IF THE TIME DOESN'T SUIT YOU TO HAVE A CONVERSATION?
We all have competing demands on our attention. If you need to, you can ask the person to set up a time that will work for both of you, BUT you must go through with the session.
You could say something like:
“I’m finding it hard to give you my full attention at the moment – but I really want to hear what you’re saying. Can you give me 10 minutes to finish this and then let’s catch-up”.
“I’m finding it hard to give you my full attention at the moment – but I really want to hear what you’re saying. Can you give me 10 minutes to finish this and then let’s catch-up”.
Then it's ideal if you can set the scene that you’re ready to listen e.g. put down your phone / turn off your computer screen.
