The Executive Coach

If listening is the key to getting business, why are so many people not good at this skill?

Selling a product, service or yourself in a job interview, is not about focusing on the selling process. You need to reframe your thinking and focus on the buying process.

Who is your prospective client or employer? What are there needs, concerns and future directions? All of the secondary research that you may conduct will provide a basic overview of your client. To understand them and their buying process, you need to ask relevant and significant questions with the intent of listening to: what is said, how it is said, in what order, with what tone and with what body language.

A key to effective listening is active listening, where the receiver clarifies what has been said by summarizing with a statement that begins with, “What I hear you saying is …”

Putting It Into Action:

The next time you have a meeting, try the following:
1) Don’t develop opinions before listening
2) Don’t have conclusions before listening
3) Listen with the intent of truly understanding and getting to the heart of the matter
4) Ask probing questions
5) Focus only on the speaker and what is being said
6) Only once all of the above are done, listen with the intent to respond

The key is to practice, practice and then practice. Ask mentors or coaches to provide you with feedback on your listening progress. Look for patterns of interruption, focusing on what you will say or tuning out. Take actions to continuously reduce your non-listening actions.

With you along the path towards success,
Joseph

Which side of your brain is in overdrive?

The left side of your brain is the logical, sequential, process driven and analytical side of your thinking. The right side of your brain provides context, empathy, synthesis and innovation. Both sides are necessary in business, but the left side is no longer sufficient and the right side is increasing in importance.

Most of the routine (left brain) work is being outsourced to the world’s lowest cost and sufficiently capable centers. This type of work is no longer a core competency or strategic imperative for most organizations. Accenture, the Information Technology Consulting giant, has 30,000 employees in the US and over 35,000 in India. Routine and sequential process work is increasingly performed easily by software and web applications. Don’t be frightened. You should feel liberated that your brain and your firm’s resources can be freed up to dream of new applications, new products and services and new uses for existing products and services.

Putting It Into Action:
Break down what you and your staff do and how much time you spend doing each task by keeping a diary for the week. Decide which of those activities are not strategic in nature. Next determine which of those non strategic activities can be better performed by an outsource partner or software application. Thereafter, determine what you can do instead of those tasks that have been off loaded. Put a dollar and intrinsic value on this new innovative work. Finally, if necessary, get buy in from your superiors and share your results to others in the organization.

With you along the path towards success,
Joseph

This is my first blog entry for The Executive Coach. I will add a new entry every week. My entries will consist of leadership observations, best practices, challenges and tips.

I feel honoured to be able to share my weekly thoughts with you. My perspective comes from the following:
 I currently lead a global team of 25 career counseling and coaching professionals
 I have 25+ years of corporate and non-profit experience; 10 of those years as leader, 8 as a manager
 I am an Executive Coach registered with the International Coaching Federation and coach for both one of the world’s greatest business schools and one of North America’s largest corporate training firms
 I sit on several high profile boards and have regular access to current and emerging senior executives
 I am certified in Emotional Intelligence and career interest assessment
 I am a professional Accountant and a recent MBA

My promises to you are as follows, I will:
 Try not to rant or preach
 Be honest and forthcoming
 Continue to share as long as I feel I am adding value
 Continue to contribute as long as I am having fun
 Feature a call to action

I hope you find my weekly blog helpful or at least thought provoking.

With you along the path towards success,
Joseph