In this episode of The Art of the Suit in which I am going to be unpacking how you can improve a skill that you, most likely, take for granted – the art of listening.

As a coach, listening is one of the core skill competencies that we are trained to develop and required to constantly refine. The ability to listen may seem to be a no-brainer but it is just the opposite.

We all have biases, many of which are unconscious. Add to this your personal experiences of life, and preconceived ideas and you will soon realise that what you hear and how you typically respond is highly influenced by your own perceptions and may be far removed from what was actually said.

Not sure? Well, How often has it happened that you feel completely misunderstood? How often have you been told “You aren’t listening to me” or “That’s not what I meant, not what I asked, not what I said”?

The impact of poor listening skills takes its toll on personal relationships, in the workplace, and in media. In fact in every aspect of our lives.

This was the subject matter of a session that I had with one of my own coaches, Mark Kahn, around Corrective Listening. As an aside, yes, coaches have coaches. In fact, this is an equally important expectation of professional coaches. Anyway, back to the discussion about Corrective Listening.

I avoid labeling people, particularly those as talented as Mark, but to help frame who you will be listening to: he holds a Master's degree in Clinical Psychology, has a BCom degree, and is an executive coach and management consultant. Mark works with a diverse range of therapies – far too many to try and do them justice in this intro.

One of his great passions is helping people develop self-esteem – a topic that led him to write a book called Love Yourself for no reason. He is a treasure trove of knowledge and insight and why I find my sessions with him to be equally supportive, challenging, enlightening, and motivating. If you are interested in making contact with Mark you can WhatsApp him on +27824549564.

So listen in and learn to pick up a few tips on how to improve this skill.

#leadership, #coaching, #selfdevelopment, #listeningskills, #empathy, #holdingspace, #safespace, #collaboration, #skills, #dogood, #bemore, #relationships, #parenting, #collaboration, #podcast