San Francisco Bay Area Executive Coaching

Leading Innovation - The Innovator’s Paradox

The Innovator’s Paradox

When’s the best time to implement change?

Before you need to do so.

During the 2008–2009 financial crises, many organizations viewed innovation as a choice. Not so today. If you and your organization fail to innovate, you’re on the path to stagnation and obsolescence.

Start by asking three question sets proposed by consultant Scott D. Anthony in The Little Black Book of Innovation: How It Works, How to Do It (Harvard Business Review Press, 2011):

1. What do underlying trends suggest about possible future states? What would happen if some of these trends converged into a perfect storm?
2. Where is there a small, but growing, trend? Anything that has doubled in size is a potential disruptor, regardless of its small size today.
3. What can you learn from analogies and metaphors? What similar situations have companies faced in the past? What can you learn from others’ mistakes and history?

Innovation Is a Discipline

Innovation is not just about finding a new product or service. You must create solutions to customers’ problems—even the ones that aren’t yet articulated.

Break down the process into four distinct phases:

1. Discover opportunities.
2. Organize ideas into plans or pilot projects.
3. Assess, test and learn from ideas.
4. Execute.

Phase 1: Innovation Starts with the Customer

To innovate, companies focus on their customers and end-users. They devote resources, teams and processes to find out intimate details about customer experiences.

Regrettably, this challenging phase is often glossed over. It isn’t productive to simply survey customers about their needs or wants. Most customers will provide only cursory answers to this question.

Focus groups are often ineffective if you want to discover customers’ frustration points. Participants couch their answers to conform to group dynamics or erroneously assume others are on the same page. First-hand observation of product usage works better when trying to come up with innovation opportunities.

To fully understand what goes on in customers’ minds, ask them what they’re trying to accomplish with your product or service. Management guru Peter Drucker has been known to explain it like this:

“The customer rarely buys what the company thinks it sells him. One reason for this is, of course, that nobody pays for a ‘product.’ What is paid for is satisfaction.”

Ask customers several successive questions to determine how they wish to use your product or service to achieve satisfaction:

• “Why?”
• “Why not?”
• “What if…?”

Phase 2: From Idea to Plan

Some recently published books suggest that a strong idea is a good starting point for finding growth opportunities. In truth, your first idea is usually wrong in some meaningful way. Use it, instead, to develop the next idea, until you find what works.

Moving from good idea to growth requires a robust blueprint or full schematic of what your ideas will ultimately yield. Research how other leaders have solved similar problems.

Your idea doesn’t have to be perfect, but it does have to be good enough to deliver better solutions. Your plan also has to be realistic.

• How will you test the idea?
• What resources will you need (partners, customers, time, money)?
• What are possible revenues (short- and long-term)?
• What are the possible threats and barriers (short- and long-term)?
• What assumptions are you making?

Helpful tip: Look for innovation inspiration by searching online. A good place to start is the 20-minute video talks by experts at TED.

Phase 3: Assessing and Testing Ideas

Ideas are relatively easy; what’s hard is actually doing something with them.

You must be willing to accept failure and learn from mistakes. This requires resilience and persistence. Be alert to the signals of a disruptive solution, as opposed to a failure. How can you provide a simpler, more convenient or more affordable answer to your customers’ frustration points?

Tests are the best ways to learn about existing critical assumptions and to identify new ones. As valuable as research is, you’ll know whether your idea works only after actual implementation.

Phase 4: Putting Plans to Work

After completing the testing, learning and revising phases, put your plans to work. Start with a pilot project to minimize resources and maximize potential.

You’ll need to manage resources to improve potential. Determine what you’ll do yourself and what you’ll delegate. Involve partners where feasible.

If the project is part of a larger organizational mandate, prepare a presentation on your results for involved executives. Your presentation style and contents will influence your project’s acceptance or rejection, so be meticulous. You may love your baby, but how will you convince others to adopt it? Seek help from presentation experts, if necessary, to ensure success.

Acquiring Innovative Qualities

Business professors Jeff Dyer, Hal Gregersen and Clayton Christensen decoded what they call The Innovator’s DNA in their book of the same name (Harvard Business Review Press, 2011).  

Successful innovators master associational thinking. They make connections among seemingly unconnected inputs.

Here are four time-tested approaches for gathering stimuli and making connections:

1. Questioning: An innovative mind makes a lot of “what if?” inquiries.
2. Networking: Innovators interact with people from diverse backgrounds to access new perspectives.
3. Observing: Innovators are always looking at the world with business radar to detect surprising solutions.
4. Experimenting: Innovators try new things, in new places, to expose themselves to new experiences.

You can develop these qualities by working with a professional coach. The investment is well worth the reward: your ability to influence the future, your career and your personal-development capabilities.

Are you working in a professional services firm or other organization where executive coaches provide leadership development to help leaders implement change? Does your organization provide executive coaching for leaders who need to learn how to ask inquiry-type questions? Enlightened leaders tap into their emotional intelligence and social intelligence skills to create a more fulfilling future.

One of the most powerful questions you can ask yourself is “When’s the best time to implement change?” Emotionally intelligent and socially intelligent organizations provide executive coaching to help leaders develop more effective teams.

John Lennon once said, “Life is something that happens to you when you’re busy making other plans.” Of course, you can listen to Woody Allen, who famously said: “Half of life is just showing up.”

Working with a seasoned executive coach and leadership consultant trained in emotional intelligence and incorporating assessments such as the Bar-On EQ-I, CPI 260 and Denison Culture Survey can help leaders nurture innovation. You can become a leader who models emotional intelligence and social intelligence, and who inspires people to become fully engaged with the vision, mission and strategy of your company or law firm.

Working Resources is a San Francisco Bay Area Executive Coaching Firm Helping Innovative Companies and Law Firms Assess, Select, Coach, Engage  and Retain Emotionally Intelligent Leaders; Executive Coaching; Leadership Development; Performance-Based Interviewing; Competency Modeling; Succession Management; Culture Change; Career Coaching and Leadership Retreats

...About Dr. Maynard Brusman

Dr. Maynard Brusman
Consulting Psychologist and Executive Coach
Trusted Advisor to Senior Leadership Teams

Dr. Maynard Brusman is a consulting psychologist and executive coach. He is the president of Working Resources, a leadership consulting and executive coaching firm. We specialize in helping San Francisco Bay Area companies select and develop emotionally intelligent leaders.  Maynard is a highly sought-after speaker and workshop leader. He facilitates leadership retreats in Northern California and Costa Rica. The Society for Advancement of Consulting (SAC) awarded Dr. Maynard Brusman "Board Approved" designations in the specialties of Executive Coaching and Leadership Development.

“Maynard Brusman is one of the foremost coaches in the United States. He utilizes a wide variety of assessments in his work with senior executives and upper level managers, and is adept at helping his clients both develop higher levels of emotional intelligence and achieve breakthrough business results. As a senior leader in the executive coaching field, Dr. Brusman brings an exceptional level of wisdom, energy, and creativity to his work.” — Jeffrey E. Auerbach, Ph.D., President, College of Executive Coaching

For more information, please go to http://www.workingresources.com, write to [email protected], or call 415-546-1252.

Subscribe to Working Resources Newsletter: http://www.workingresources.com
Visit Maynard's Blog: http://www.workingresourcesblog.com 
Connect with me on these Social Media sites.

http://twitter.com/drbrusman
http://www.facebook.com/maynardbrusman
http://www.linkedin.com/in/maynardbrusman
http://www.youtube.com/user/maynardbrusman

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

How to Be an Empathic Listener

"There comes a time in the spiritual journey when you start making choices from a very different place. . . And if a choice lines up so that it supports truth, health, happiness, wisdom, and love, it's the right choice." -- Angeles Arrien

I recently spoke with the HR Director of a San Francisco Bay Area company regarding providing executive coaching for the company CEO and other leaders. She asked some very insightful questions to determine fit. She wanted to know how I worked with different personality styles, and my methods for initiating change in thinking and behavior.

The HR Director and I spoke about my approach to coaching, and my belief that possessing a psychological understanding of human behavior based on neuroscience and business acumen are important competencies for coaching executives. We also spoke of the need for her organization to create a high involvement culture where innovation and creativity flourishes.

The HR Director is interested in collaborating with me to help senior executives improve their listening skills, and get the most out of their executive coaching programs. We further discussed how company leaders could benefit by working with an executive development expert, and emotional intelligence-based executive coach.

"If you just sit and observe, you will see how restless your mind is.  If you try to calm it, it only makes it worse, but over time it does calm, and when it does, there's room to hear more subtle things - that's when your intuition starts to blossom and you start to see things more clearly and be in the present more. Your mind just slows down, and you see a tremendous expanse in the moment. You see so much more than you could see before. It's a discipline; you have to practice it." - Steve Jobs

When I was working with a senior executive at a silicon Valley high tech company my client said to me, “I have been an emphatic talker my whole life and now it’s time for me to become an emphatic listener.” The term got me thinking. What does it mean to be an emphatic listener–to listen with mindfulness?

Active listening involves repeating what’s been said–as a way to assure the speaker that you’re listening and a way to process the information yourself. To my mind, emphatic listening is how you behave and think while the other person is speaking. It’s how you concentrate on what’s being said.

Here are 5 ways to be an emphatic listener:

1) Don’t judge what others are saying while they are saying it. When you’re having a casual conversation with a friend, it’s easy to slip into judging mode. While they explain something, your internal voice/judge is thinking: yep, nope, maybe, no, absolutely yes. If you’re judging, though, you’re not listening fully. You’re not listening emphatically.

2) Quiet your predictive impulses and stay attuned to the others’ words and meaning. People are prediction machines. Our minds race to the end of what others are saying before they can even complete their thoughts. As a result, we stop listening mid-thought, interrupt mid-sentence and finish the thought for them out loud, or simply finish it in our minds.

3) Find a connection. People are meaning-making machines. We want to understand and draw connections. When we don’t understand something, our brains race to make associations. If we can’t find one, we don’t retain what we’ve heard and become easily distracted. We stop listening. If you can’t find a connection, ask the speaker to pause and help you find one.

4) Set aside your objections. If what is being said makes you uncomfortable or goes against your beliefs or values, don’t stop listening. Listening doesn’t presume agreement. If you listen emphatically, others will listen to you. They will be in a better position to listen to your objections when they’re done speaking.

5) Stay emotionally grounded. Your emotions are like a fog horn over your ability to truly hear what another is saying. To be an emphatic listener, you must silence that emotional noise. Often the most important words are said faintly and they will go missed if your fog horn is sounding.

How are you doing at emphatic listening?

"In dealing with those who are undergoing great suffering, if you feel 'burnout' setting in, if you feel demoralized and exhausted, it is best, for the sake of everyone, to withdraw and restore yourself. The point is to have a long-term perspective."
– Dalai Lama

Are you working in a company where executive coaches provide leadership development to grow emotionally intelligent leaders? Does your organization provide executive coaching for leaders who need to improve their listening skills? Mindful leaders tap into their emotional intelligence and social intelligence skills to connect with their people.

One of the most powerful questions you can ask yourself is “Am I an empathetic listener?” Emotionally intelligent and socially intelligent organizations provide executive coaching as part of their transformational high performance leadership development program.

Working Resources is a San Francisco Bay Area Executive Coaching Firm Helping Innovative Companies and Law Firms Assess, Select, Coach, Engage  and Retain Emotionally Intelligent Leaders; Executive Coaching; Leadership Development; Performance-Based Interviewing; Competency Modeling; Succession Management; Culture Change; Career Coaching and Leadership Retreats

...About Dr. Maynard Brusman

Dr. Maynard Brusman
Consulting Psychologist and Executive Coach
Trusted Advisor to Senior Leadership Teams

Dr. Maynard Brusman is a consulting psychologist and executive coach. He is the president of Working Resources, a leadership consulting and executive coaching firm. We specialize in helping San Francisco Bay Area companies select and develop emotionally intelligent leaders.  Maynard is a highly sought-after speaker and workshop leader. He facilitates leadership retreats in Northern California and Costa Rica. The Society for Advancement of Consulting (SAC) awarded Dr. Maynard Brusman "Board Approved" designations in the specialties of Executive Coaching and Leadership Development.

“Maynard Brusman is one of the foremost coaches in the United States. He utilizes a wide variety of assessments in his work with senior executives and upper level managers, and is adept at helping his clients both develop higher levels of emotional intelligence and achieve breakthrough business results. As a senior leader in the executive coaching field, Dr. Brusman brings an exceptional level of wisdom, energy, and creativity to his work.” — Jeffrey E. Auerbach, Ph.D., President, College of Executive Coaching

For more information, please go to http://www.workingresources.com, write to [email protected], or call 415-546-1252.

Subscribe to Working Resources Newsletter: http://www.workingresources.com
Visit Maynard's Blog: http://www.workingresourcesblog.com 
Connect with me on these Social Media sites.

http://twitter.com/drbrusman
http://www.facebook.com/maynardbrusman
http://www.linkedin.com/in/maynardbrusman
http://www.youtube.com/user/maynardbrusman

 

Better Listening for Mindful Leaders

"In dealing with those who are undergoing great suffering, if you feel 'burnout' setting in, if you feel demoralized and exhausted, it is best, for the sake of everyone, to withdraw and restore yourself. The point is to have a long-term perspective."

  - Dalai Lama

I recently spoke with the HR Director of a San Francisco Bay Area company regarding providing executive coaching for the company CEO and other leaders. She asked some very insightful questions to determine fit. She wanted to know how I worked with different personality styles, and my methods for initiating change in thinking and behavior.

The HR Director and I spoke about my approach to coaching, and my belief that possessing a psychological understanding of human behavior based on neuroscience and self-awareness are important competencies for coaching executives. We also spoke of the need for her organization to create a high involvement culture where innovation and creativity flourishes.

The HR Director is interested in collaborating with me to help senior executives improve their listening skills, and get the most out of their executive coaching programs. We further discussed how company leaders could benefit by working with an executive development expert, and emotional intelligence and mindfulness-based executive coach.

"If you just sit and observe, you will see how restless your mind is.  If you try to calm it, it only makes it worse, but over time it does calm, and when it does, there's room to hear more subtle things - that's when your intuition starts to blossom and you start to see things more clearly and be in the present more. Your mind just slows down, and you see a tremendous expanse in the moment. You see so much more than you could see before. It's a discipline; you have to practice it." - Steve Jobs

The Three Levels of Awareness

Mindful leaders are focused and attentive to other people. Their rapt attention allows them to be fully engaged in a conversation without the mind wandering. It takes mindful presence.

• Level One Awareness has an internal focus on oneself. You may only half hear and see what is happening around you as your internal train of thought monopolizes your attention
• Level Two Awareness has an external focus on the person or people you are with. You are fully open and receptive to colleagues. You are not distracted by internal thoughts, and are in the here-and-now rather than speculating on what will happen next.
• Level Three Awareness is directed towards the person or people you are with, but goes beyond this. You don’t just pick up what they are doing or saying; you pick up on all sorts of other things - body language, inflections in the voice, pauses and hesitations, dynamics. You have a sixth sense and an increased sense of presence.

Listening Inquiry Questions

The following are some questions you might ask in an attentive and mindful workplace conversation. Of course, you need a trusting relationship.

1. I am getting the perception you are not listening.  If I am off, let me know.  If I am on, let me know.
2. If the person says “yes…you are right…I am not listening….I am distracted”, then say “How does your not listening during our conversation also show up in your work and personal life?”
3. Name the emotion you feel when someone is not listening.
4. Paint the scenario for me.  When someone is truly listening, how do you know it?
5. What great listeners are your role models?  How can you pick up on some of their listening traits?
6. What would be the perfect environment that would allow you to listen deeply to others?
7. What habits do you need to change in order to strengthen your listening skills?
8. If you do have a lack of focus, have you spoken to your physician about this?  If not, when will you?
9. What would be possible for your team/your relationships at home/your company if you were listening to the greatest level possible?
10. What one skill could you improve, starting today, that would improve your listening?
11. When someone comes to you with a complaint, if you get defensive, what is your plan to sit calmly and listen?  (Do you need to take a break to the bathroom to gather yourself together, etc.?)
12. What gifts and assets do you have which can help you with your listening skills?
13. What do you believe about listening?   What is your philosophy on the topic of listening?
14. What is the dollar amount you may lose if you don’t improve your listening skills?

Activities to Enhance Listening

Self-Observation: Ask the person to observe himself listening without judgment and to write, blog or podcast about his view.

Busy City: Ask the person to sit in a busy city or busy restaurant, and when something is spoken that “perks him up”, ask him to jot down what the subject was about.

Non Interruption, Pause, Question: For one week, ask the person to not interrupt the speaker, to pause for 3 seconds after the speaker finishes talking and then to stay in question mode.

Clarification/Repeating Exercise: Ask the person to practice with a trusted family member or colleague.  Ask the person to listen to a story without interruption, and then repeat back what he heard. Ask for feedback from the speaker.

Assessments for Better Listening

Time Mastery Profile: Download a Sample Time Mastery Profile

Personal Listening Profile: Download a Sample Listening Profile

The Listening Oral Interview 360 Degree Feedback:  Download a Sample Listening 360

Additional Resources

Look Like You’re Listening by Marshall Goldsmith

Are You Listening to Me? by Richard Bierck

The Art of Listening by Eric Frohmm

Are You Really Listening by by Paul J., Ph.D. Donoghue and Mary E. Siegel

Listening is Critical in Today’s Multicultural Workplace by Roger O. Crockett

Are you working in a company where executive coaches provide leadership development to grow emotionally intelligent leaders? Does your organization provide executive coaching for leaders who need to become better listeners? Mindful leaders tap into their emotional intelligence and social intelligence skills to create a more fulfilling future.

One of the most powerful questions you can ask yourself is “Am I an attentive listener who stays focused in the moment?” Emotionally intelligent and socially intelligent organizations provide executive coaching as part of their transformational high performance leadership development program.

Working Resources is a San Francisco Bay Area Executive Coaching Firm Helping Innovative Companies and Law Firms Assess, Select, Coach, Engage  and Retain Emotionally Intelligent Leaders; Executive Coaching; Leadership Development; Performance-Based Interviewing; Competency Modeling; Succession Management; Culture Change; Career Coaching and Leadership Retreats

...About Dr. Maynard Brusman

Dr. Maynard Brusman
Consulting Psychologist and Executive Coach
Trusted Advisor to Senior Leadership Teams

Dr. Maynard Brusman is a consulting psychologist and executive coach. He is the president of Working Resources, a leadership consulting and executive coaching firm. We specialize in helping San Francisco Bay Area companies select and develop emotionally intelligent leaders.  Maynard is a highly sought-after speaker and workshop leader. He facilitates leadership retreats in Northern California and Costa Rica. The Society for Advancement of Consulting (SAC) awarded Dr. Maynard Brusman "Board Approved" designations in the specialties of Executive Coaching and Leadership Development.

“Maynard Brusman is one of the foremost coaches in the United States. He utilizes a wide variety of assessments in his work with senior executives and upper level managers, and is adept at helping his clients both develop higher levels of emotional intelligence and achieve breakthrough business results. As a senior leader in the executive coaching field, Dr. Brusman brings an exceptional level of wisdom, energy, and creativity to his work.” — Jeffrey E. Auerbach, Ph.D., President, College of Executive Coaching

For more information, please go to http://www.workingresources.com, write to [email protected], or call 415-546-1252.

Subscribe to Working Resources Newsletter: http://www.workingresources.com
Visit Maynard's Blog: http://www.workingresourcesblog.com 
Connect with me on these Social Media sites.

http://twitter.com/drbrusman
http://www.facebook.com/maynardbrusman
http://www.linkedin.com/in/maynardbrusman
http://www.youtube.com/user/maynardbrusman

 

 

© Copyright 2013 Dr. Maynard Brusman

 

Listening Skills for Mindful Leaders

"In dealing with those who are undergoing great suffering, if you feel 'burnout' setting in, if you feel demoralized and exhausted, it is best, for the sake of everyone, to withdraw and restore yourself. The point is to have a long-term perspective."
 - Dalai Lama

I recently spoke with the HR Director of a San Francisco Bay Area company regarding providing executive coaching for the company CEO and other leaders. She asked some very insightful questions to determine fit. She wanted to know how I worked with different personality styles, and my methods for initiating change in thinking and behavior.

The HR Director and I spoke about my approach to coaching, and my belief that possessing a psychological understanding of human behavior based on neuroscience and mindfulness are important competencies for coaching executives. We also spoke of the need for her organization to create a high involvement culture where innovation and creativity flourishes.

The HR Director is interested in collaborating with me to help senior executives develop focus, and improve their listening skills to get the most out of their executive coaching programs. We further discussed how company leaders could benefit by working with an emotional intelligence and mindfulness-based executive coach.

"If you just sit and observe, you will see how restless your mind is.  If you try to calm it, it only makes it worse, but over time it does calm, and when it does, there's room to hear more subtle things - that's when your intuition starts to blossom and you start to see things more clearly and be in the present more. Your mind just slows down, and you see a tremendous expanse in the moment. You see so much more than you could see before. It's a discipline; you have to practice it." - Steve Jobs

The Four Levels of Listening:

Level 1: The person somewhat hears the words but is off in la-la land

Level 2: The person is listening, but he sees no connection in the speaker and himself.

Level 3: Active Listening: The person is listening, being compassionate, starting to “walk in the speaker’s shoes” and is starting to see some connections in his own life.

Level 4: Global Listening: The person is 100% connected, engaged and is seeing how the speaker’s story is affecting his greater world.

The 5 Listening Styles:

• Appreciative: Listens in a relaxed manner, seeks enjoyment, entertainment, or inspiration.
• Empathic: Listens without judging, is supportive of the speaker, and learns from the experiences of others.
• Comprehensive: Listens to organize and make sense of information by understanding relationships among ideas.
• Discerning: Listens to get complete information, understand the main message, and determine important details.
• Evaluative: Listens in order to make a decision based on information provided and may accept or reject messages based on personal beliefs.

Coaching Questions to Ask if You Feel a Person is Not Listening

1. I am getting the perception you are not listening.  If I am off, let me know.  If I am on, let me know.
2. If the person says “yes…you are right…I am not listening….I am distracted”, then say “How does your not listening during the coaching conversation also show up in your work and personal life?”
3. Name the emotion you feel when someone is not listening.
4. Paint the scenario for me.  When someone is truly listening, how do you know it?
5. What great listeners are your role models?  How can you pick up on some of their listening traits?
6. What would be the perfect environment that would allow you to listen deeply to others?
7. What habits do you need to change in order to strengthen your listening skills?
8. If you do have a lack of focus, have you spoken to your physician about this?  If not, when will you?
9. What would be possible for your team/your relationships at home/your company if you were listening to the greatest level possible?
10. What one skill could you improve, starting today, that would improve your listening?
11. When someone comes to you with a complaint, if you get defensive, what is your plan to sit calmly and listen?  (Do you need to take a break to the bathroom to gather yourself together, etc.?)
12. What gifts and assets do you have which can help you with your listening skills?
13. What do you believe about listening?   What is your philosophy on the topic of listening?
14. What is the dollar amount you may lose if you don’t improve your listening skills

"The happiness we discover in life ... is the discovery of the capacity to have a loving, free and wise relationship with all of life." - Jack Kornfield, A Path With Heart

Are you working in a professional services firm or other organization where executive coaches provide leadership development to grow emotionally intelligent leaders? Does your organization provide executive coaching for leaders who need to grow their listening skills? Mindful leaders tap into their emotional intelligence and social intelligence skills to create a more fulfilling future.

One of the most powerful questions you can ask yourself is “How do I get the most out of executive coaching to focus, and grow my listening capability?” Emotionally intelligent and socially intelligent organizations provide executive coaching as part of their emotional intelligence-focused leadership development program.

Working Resources is a San Francisco Bay Area Executive Coaching Firm Helping Innovative Companies and Law Firms Assess, Select, Coach, Engage  and Retain Emotionally Intelligent Leaders; Executive Coaching; Leadership Development; Performance-Based Interviewing; Competency Modeling; Succession Management; Culture Change; Career Coaching and Leadership Retreats

...About Dr. Maynard Brusman

Dr. Maynard Brusman
Consulting Psychologist and Executive Coach
Trusted Advisor to Senior Leadership Teams

Dr. Maynard Brusman is a consulting psychologist and executive coach. He is the president of Working Resources, a leadership consulting and executive coaching firm. We specialize in helping San Francisco Bay Area companies select and develop emotionally intelligent leaders.  Maynard is a highly sought-after speaker and workshop leader. He facilitates leadership retreats in Northern California and Costa Rica. The Society for Advancement of Consulting (SAC) awarded Dr. Maynard Brusman "Board Approved" designations in the specialties of Executive Coaching and Leadership Development.

“Maynard Brusman is one of the foremost coaches in the United States. He utilizes a wide variety of assessments in his work with senior executives and upper level managers, and is adept at helping his clients both develop higher levels of emotional intelligence and achieve breakthrough business results. As a senior leader in the executive coaching field, Dr. Brusman brings an exceptional level of wisdom, energy, and creativity to his work.” — Jeffrey E. Auerbach, Ph.D., President, College of Executive Coaching

For more information, please go to http://www.workingresources.com, write to [email protected], or call 415-546-1252.

Subscribe to Working Resources Newsletter: http://www.workingresources.com
Visit Maynard's Blog: http://www.workingresourcesblog.com 
Connect with me on these Social Media sites.

http://twitter.com/drbrusman
http://www.facebook.com/maynardbrusman
http://www.linkedin.com/in/maynardbrusman
http://www.youtube.com/user/maynardbrusman

 

Mindful Listening for Emotionally Intelligent Leaders

I recently spoke with the HR Director of a San Francisco Bay Area company regarding providing executive coaching for the company CEO and other leaders. She asked some very insightful questions to determine fit. She wanted to know how I worked with different personality styles, and my methods for initiating change in thinking and behavior.

The HR Director and I spoke about my approach to coaching, and my belief that possessing a psychological understanding of human behavior based on neuroscience and business acumen are important competencies for coaching executives. We also spoke of the need for her organization to create a high involvement culture where innovation and creativity flourishes.

The HR Director is interested in collaborating with me to help senior executives improve their listening skills, and get the most out of their executive coaching programs. We further discussed how company leaders could benefit by working with an executive development expert, and emotional intelligence-based executive coach.

Mindful Listening skills

World renowned psychologist Carl Rogers was famous for his emphasis on listening to people with positive self-regard. Most people want to feel that someone truly listens to them and seeks to understand.

"Let me move on to a second learning that I would like to share with you. I like to be heard. A number of times in my life I have felt myself bursting with insoluble problems, or going round and round in tormented circles or, during one period, overcome by feelings of worthlessness and despair.

I think I have been more fortunate than most in finding, at these times, individuals who have been able to hear me and thus to rescue me from the chaos of my feelings, individuals who have been able to hear my meanings a little more deeply than I have known them. These persons have heard me without judging me, diagnosing me, appraising me, evaluating me. They have just listened and clarified and responded to me at all the levels at which I was communicating. 

I can testify that when you are in psychological distress and someone really hears you without passing judgment on you, without trying to take responsibility for you, without trying to mold you, it feels damn good! At these times it has relaxed the tension in me. It has permitted me to bring out the frightening feelings, the guilts, the despair, the confusions that have been a part of my experience. When I have been listened to and when I have been heard,

I am able to re-perceive my world in a new way and to go on. It is astonishing how elements that seem insoluble become soluble when someone listens, how confusions that seem irremediable turn into relatively clear flowing streams when one is heard. I have deeply appreciated the times that I have experienced this sensitive, empathic, concentrated listening."  Carl Rogers Experiences in Communication http://j.mp/V88gdn 

The Listening Process

It has been my executive coaching and consulting experience that a leader or manager invests 80% of her day in the listening process. As an executive coach, I have also observed that many leaders shy away or back down from engaging in tough conversations with their people. These conversations are often extremely critical to the success or lack of success in interpersonal relationships. My purpose is to hold you as highly capable of overcoming some of your greatest fears by becoming a better listener.

The following delineates the emotionally intelligent listening process. Mindful leaders are good listeners.

Active Listening

• The leader is actively listening
• The leader is engaged
• The leader is asking relevant questions to the topic being discussed
• The leader is still, quiet and calm
• The leader is patient with questions and suggestions
• The leader can accurately restate or clarify the discussion

NOT listening

• The leader cuts people off
• The leader interrupts constantly
• The leader finishes sentences for others
• The leader cannot clarify or repeat the conversation
• The leader is multi-tasking
• You can observe or hear pencil tapping, computer keyboard tapping, chair squeaking
• The leader completely misses the point of the conversation
• The leader switches subjects out of nowhere
• The leader listens to some people and ignores others

Poor listening skills causes

• ADD/ADHD
• Arrogance
• Narcissism
• Leader is a selective listener (only listens to people who and subjects which interest him)
• Depression/anxiety
• Leader is defensive
• Lack of patience (trying to fast forward the conversation)
• Overcommitted
• Insensitive to others and their “stories”
• The leader really just does not know how to listen

Impact on the company

• Important facts are completely missed
• Communication breaks down
• Employees feel they are not being “heard”, which can lead to attrition
• Clients leave the company, because they feel leadership does not listen to their concerns

Modeling listening

• Be patient, quiet and calm
• Remove all distractions (close your email, turn off cell phones)
• Don’t finish others’ sentences
• Don’t interrupt (unless someone is taking you down a rabbit hole and then warn him by saying “I am going to interrupt you”)
• Clarify by saying “Let me see if I have this straight”…then, rephrase what was said to make sure you heard what the person said

Are you working in a company where executive coaches provide leadership development to grow emotionally intelligent leaders? Does your organization provide executive coaching for leaders who need to become better listeners? Mindful leaders tap into their emotional intelligence and social intelligence skills to create a more fulfilling future.

One of the most powerful questions you can ask yourself is “Do I focus on listening to others?” Emotionally intelligent and socially intelligent organizations provide executive coaching as part of their transformational high performance leadership development program.

Working Resources is a San Francisco Bay Area Executive Coaching Firm Helping Innovative Companies and Law Firms Assess, Select, Coach, Engage  and Retain Emotionally Intelligent Leaders; Executive Coaching; Leadership Development; Performance-Based Interviewing; Competency Modeling; Succession Management; Culture Change; Career Coaching and Leadership Retreats

...About Dr. Maynard Brusman

Dr. Maynard Brusman
Consulting Psychologist and Executive Coach
Trusted Advisor to Senior Leadership Teams

Dr. Maynard Brusman is a consulting psychologist and executive coach. He is the president of Working Resources, a leadership consulting and executive coaching firm. We specialize in helping San Francisco Bay Area companies select and develop emotionally intelligent leaders.  Maynard is a highly sought-after speaker and workshop leader. He facilitates leadership retreats in Northern California and Costa Rica. The Society for Advancement of Consulting (SAC) awarded Dr. Maynard Brusman "Board Approved" designations in the specialties of Executive Coaching and Leadership Development.

“Maynard Brusman is one of the foremost coaches in the United States. He utilizes a wide variety of assessments in his work with senior executives and upper level managers, and is adept at helping his clients both develop higher levels of emotional intelligence and achieve breakthrough business results. As a senior leader in the executive coaching field, Dr. Brusman brings an exceptional level of wisdom, energy, and creativity to his work.” — Jeffrey E. Auerbach, Ph.D., President, College of Executive Coaching

For more information, please go to http://www.workingresources.com, write to [email protected], or call 415-546-1252.

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