
Consider theses scenarios.
You are in a lecture and one of the students constantly interrupts the lecturer to contest what they are saying. Their motivation can be twofold: they are making a verbal pose. They are demonstrating their intelligence by asking what they consider to be sophisticated questions. Or they are negative in their thinking construct and contending the lecturer’s argument or facts.
With either scenario the student learns little from the lecture and can be a disruptive influence on their colleagues. Their poor listening skills means they place what they hear in the category of right or wrong. They superimpose a judgemental mentality on what they hear.
The good listener assimilates the content of the lecture, endeavours to validate and contextualise what is purported. Their flexible mindset is not just to assimilate what is right or wrong but rather it allows them to gain and absorb knowledge and thereby develop their mind and skills for intelligent debate.
‘ That's interesting and why do you think…?’ rather than ‘ I disagree. I think….’
When I am coaching MBA students on their dissertation I encourage them to adopt a discursive, debating mentatity. It should show balance and diverse perspectives rather than a one sided opinionated discourse.
This approach is good preparation for developing strong leadership skills where flexibility and adaptability are essential qualities.
Strong communication skills are vital to developing a successful leadership profile and is the mentality all successful chief executives must adopt when managing board meetings to achieve a censorial outcome.
Here the CEO will conduct and guide the discussion so that the agenda is adhered to and all opinions are voiced. This can be challenging as boards will be composed of a divergence of personalities including the domineering type who needs to curtailed and the passive type who needs to be encouraged. This skill is the personification of the ideal management and successful leadership profile.
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