Oscar Trimboli on how to listen deeply (Part 2)

Changing Academic Life

English - September 15, 2022 07:49 - 50 minutes - 40.7 MB - ★★★★ - 7 ratings
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Previous Episode: Oscar Trimboli on being better listeners (Part 1)

Next Episode: Julie Kientz on making her way from small town geeky outcast to uni professor (Part 1)

Oscar Trimboli is an author, host of the Apple award-winning podcast Deep Listening and a sought-after keynote speaker. Along with the Deep Listening Ambassador Community, he is on a quest to create 100 million deep listeners in the workplace. Oscar has experienced first-hand the transformational impact leaders can have when they listen beyond words. He believes that when leadership teams focus their attention and listening, they will build organizations that create powerful legacies for the people they serve. Oscar is a marketing and technology industry veteran working for Microsoft, PeopleSoft, Polycom, and Vodafone. He consults with organizations including American Express, AstraZeneca, Cisco, Google, HSBC, IAG, Montblanc, PwC, Salesforce, Sanofi, SAP, and Siemens.

In the previous podcast, Part 1 of this conversation, Oscar motivated why deep listening is important. In this Part 2, we get practical and he unpacks his 5 levels of listening with some actionable strategies for how we can be better listeners. We also touch on listening in group contexts and cultural issues around listening. And he briefly introduces the four listening villains that can get in the way of good listening.

Not enough of us communicate how we communicate.

At the beginning of the meeting, simply ask what would make this a great meeting for you?

It’s not your job as the listener to always make sense of what they say, it’s your job to help them make sense of what they think.

It’s the simplest thing that make us better listeners and you’ll never be perfect.

Overview (times approximate):

02:50 The five levels of listening: 1. listening to yourself, 2. to the content, 3. for the context, 4. for unsaid, 5. for meaning

04:08 Level 1: being present to the moment by managing distractions, being well hydrated, taking three deep breaths – simple rituals, difficult to practice.

12:40 Level 2: what you see, hear, sense – emotion as a signal about what matters; listening to body language including on zoom

17:50 Level 3: the backstory, their backstory; asking the backstory to help them, e.g., asking ‘how long have you thought about this for?’

21:30 Level 4: listening for the unsaid, the first thing people say is top of mind so exploring the unsaid with phrases like ‘tell me more’, ‘what else’, and silence. 28:25 Level 4 plays out in one-on-one as well as groups. The importance of listening to all present, listening for difference, and for perspectives not in the room.

35:32 Level 5: not imposing your own assumptions re meaning

40:20 The four villains of listening – the dramatic, interrupting, lost/distracted, shrewd villains.

43:28 One thing to try now – listen for what’s not said. Just be comfortable in knowing it’s the simplest things that make us better listeners.

45:34 Cultural differences and listening

48:02 Wrap up

50:45 End

You can download a full transcript of the conversation here.