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5 Powerful Changes That Instantly Gets Your Team Listening To You · Enhance.training

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: Why isn't my team listening to me?
• 0:02
  SPEAKER_00: It is frustrating, painful and insulting when a team or team members don't listen to what you tell them or ask them.
• 0:10
  SPEAKER_00: A pattern of not listening is a clear sign of disrespect, an active snub, and is guaranteed to make your life a lot more difficult as a manager.
• 0:19
  SPEAKER_00: Teams and people don't listen to job titles.
• 0:22
  SPEAKER_00: They listen to a leader they know, like, trust, and want to follow.
• 0:27
  SPEAKER_00: I'm sharing five powerful changes that instantly get your team listening to you.
• 0:32
  SPEAKER_00: These are not theory but tried and tested approaches used consistently and effectively in many top companies in a 20-plus year management career.
• 0:41
  SPEAKER_00: I've taken over multiple underperforming teams, often the worst team in a business.
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_00: To get quick improvement in team performance, I had to get individuals and whole teams listening and having confidence in what I was saying and asking for.
• 0:56
  SPEAKER_00: These five powerful changes work so effectively because they play to human behaviour and group dynamics rather than rely on limited authority that you get with a job title.
• 1:07
  SPEAKER_00: The first powerful change to get staff listening to you is to start listening more.
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_00: Every leader delivers value through others.
• 1:15
  SPEAKER_00: Managers do less direct work than workers, yet they can deliver many times their value.
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_00: To create this leverage effect, leaders and managers must get people to listen at work.
• 1:27
  SPEAKER_00: If staff don't listen, managers can't delegate, struggle to set direction, fail to coordinate activities, won't build positive relationships.
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_00: In short, managers won't be able to do their jobs very well.
• 1:39
  SPEAKER_00: If you start asking why staff don't listen to you or team members only pay lip service to what you are saying, stop talking and start listening.
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_00: I was in a meeting with a chief financial officer of a listed company.
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_00: He asked me to give him an update.
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_00: He then pulled out his phone and started checking his emails.
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_00: I stopped talking, waiting for him to make eye contact.
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_00: He looked up, said he was listening, and then went straight back to his phone.
• 2:07
  SPEAKER_00: His message was clear.
• 2:09
  SPEAKER_00: I don't value you or what you're saying.
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_00: Guess what?
• 2:13
  SPEAKER_00: I stopped listening to him as a result.
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_00: My opinion of him went through the floor.
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_00: Listening to others is a basic courtesy.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_00: Extend that courtesy to your team consistently and they will start listening to you.
• 2:27
  SPEAKER_00: By listening, you are communicating to them you are important and I want to hear what you're saying.
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_00: They will feel obliged to listen when you speak because you always listen to them.
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_00: I found in my career the more I listened as a manager or leader, the more authority I gained, the stronger my relationships, the higher the team members' trust in me, and the higher I could drive team performance.
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_00: Change how much you listen to your team if you want them to listen to you.
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_00: My name is Jess Coles.
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_00: If you're new to this podcast, enhance.training provides resources, courses, and coaching for you to build management expertise and confidence to lead any team to their best performance.
• 3:11
  SPEAKER_00: For senior managers and business leaders that would like to improve their communication skills and dramatically improve how they manage teams and businesses, I invite you to visit us at enhance.training and select the coaching options.
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_00: I specialise in helping leaders increase team and business performance.
• 3:29
  SPEAKER_00: The second powerful change to get teams to listen is to make your communication clearer, more direct, and showing clear purpose.
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_00: A team or team member hearing the words you speak is not enough.
• 3:43
  SPEAKER_00: They need to hear, take in and understand, and then hopefully take some action.
• 3:49
  SPEAKER_00: The clearer and more direct your communication, the easier it is for team members to take these steps.
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_00: Make barriers to understanding as small as possible.
• 3:59
  SPEAKER_00: I coach a lot of leaders on communicating clearly.
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_00: I often ask leaders to tell me what their top two to three goals of their team are.
• 4:07
  SPEAKER_00: Some come back with really clear bullet point almost like answers, and others go on for two to three minutes, leaving me not much wiser.
• 4:15
  SPEAKER_00: If you make it hard for people to understand what you're communicating, they will stop listening.
• 4:21
  SPEAKER_00: One of the best actions you can take to get team members listening to you is to make your communication clearer.
• 4:28
  SPEAKER_00: Important communication clarity tips include firstly, use a simple structure.
• 4:35
  SPEAKER_00: For example, the key point or summary first, then the context and then the action you want them to take.
• 4:41
  SPEAKER_00: Secondly, be as direct as possible.
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_00: That is saying your message in as few words as possible while still being clear.
• 4:49
  SPEAKER_00: Third, make it very clear what you want from the other person or group.
• 4:53
  SPEAKER_00: Remove wiggle room.
• 4:55
  SPEAKER_00: Fourth, be consistent in your messaging.
• 4:58
  SPEAKER_00: You may have to repeat your message multiple times, so keep the same themes or if practical the same words and structures.
• 5:06
  SPEAKER_00: Fifth, manage your nonverbal communication.
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_00: You know that's your voice and your facial expressions, to align your message as closely as possible.
• 5:14
  SPEAKER_00: This reduces confusion and distraction, thus making it easier to listen and understand.
• 5:20
  SPEAKER_00: Choose the words and nonverbal communication to try to keep their emotional reactions to a minimum.
• 5:26
  SPEAKER_00: The less emotions they have, the more their rational brain will be engaged and the more likely they will take in what you are telling them or asking them to do.
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_00: Being diplomatic and careful in how you communicate makes it much more likely the other party will listen to you.
• 5:42
  SPEAKER_00: Work on making your communication more direct, concise and clear while keeping it diplomatic and empathetic.
• 5:51
  SPEAKER_00: The third powerful change to get employees listening to you is to ask for a summary or for input.
• 5:58
  SPEAKER_00: This change is very easy to make and is a very powerful way to get staff listening to you.
• 6:04
  SPEAKER_00: Ask for a summary of what you have told them or asked from them.
• 6:08
  SPEAKER_00: By having to think through and structure their response, they are more likely to remember the information or what you want.
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_00: Secondly, by giving you a summary, you know instantly if they have listened, taken in and understood what you have said.
• 6:22
  SPEAKER_00: And thirdly, when you regularly ask for a summary, your employees will expect the question and thus listen more carefully in preparation to give you the expected summary at the end.
• 6:34
  SPEAKER_00: Asking for input, you know where appropriate is another great way to get the other party involved, thinking and interacting.
• 6:41
  SPEAKER_00: This means they're more likely to listen and more likely to take ownership of their actions following the conversation.
• 6:48
  SPEAKER_00: Make this change today.
• 6:50
  SPEAKER_00: Regularly ask for a summary to check they have listened to you properly.
• 6:55
  SPEAKER_00: Fourth, and to get people to listen at work, highlight the why of your communication and the personal impact.
• 7:03
  SPEAKER_00: When you tell team members or the whole team why you are asking them to do a task or achieve a result, they firstly gain a greater understanding of the situation and context, which motivates them and creates more ownership of the information or request.
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_00: Secondly, better understanding of the context usually speeds up their work or action.
• 7:24
  SPEAKER_00: They have less hesitation, less confusion, and are more able to make the little decisions without reference to you.
• 7:31
  SPEAKER_00: Third, they can also check that the information or request makes sense and fits into the bigger picture.
• 7:37
  SPEAKER_00: This is really useful to you.
• 7:39
  SPEAKER_00: We all check what we're being told or asked makes sense.
• 7:43
  SPEAKER_00: Explaining the why reduces delays in action and resistance.
• 7:47
  SPEAKER_00: Fourth, you get a lot less questions and challenges because you explain the why.
• 7:53
  SPEAKER_00: Whenever you can, make the time to explain the why and the context of your communication or request.
• 8:00
  SPEAKER_00: Do your best to frame the information that you are communicating or the action you want from them in terms of how it helps them.
• 8:08
  SPEAKER_00: We are all much more likely to do something that helps us directly or indirectly.
• 8:13
  SPEAKER_00: Explicitly frame what you say in terms of how it helps them.
• 8:18
  SPEAKER_00: They will be ten times more likely to listen as a result.
• 8:22
  SPEAKER_00: Fifth and finally, to get teams to listen, create accountability and clear consequences for not listening.
• 8:29
  SPEAKER_00: There is nothing worse than investing a ton of time in listening to staff, structuring your messages, changing your communication style, etc., and then still not having staff listen to you.
• 8:41
  SPEAKER_00: Creating accountability and consequences is the other side of the coin.
• 8:46
  SPEAKER_00: Taking these steps adds another incentive for staff to listen.
• 8:50
  SPEAKER_00: Most people respond to carrots or positive incentives.
• 8:53
  SPEAKER_00: Some people need a stick or negative consequences to motivate them.
• 8:58
  SPEAKER_00: To get teams to really listen, create accountability and consequences.
• 9:03
  SPEAKER_00: To create consistent accountability, take these five key actions.
• 9:08
  SPEAKER_00: Always communicate clear goals and expectations to your team.
• 9:12
  SPEAKER_00: Secondly, build capability in your team so they can actually do what you ask of them.
• 9:17
  SPEAKER_00: Third, create visibility of progress towards the goals or expectations that you have set out.
• 9:22
  SPEAKER_00: Fourth, follow up and give plenty of honest feedback about their progress.
• 9:27
  SPEAKER_00: And fifth, implement clear consequences of beating or missing goals.
• 9:33
  SPEAKER_00: These steps, when done well, create accountability even in the most responsibility shy individuals.
• 9:40
  SPEAKER_00: There is a whole list of negative consequences that you could create for those that don't listen to you.
• 9:45
  SPEAKER_00: Here are eight.
• 9:47
  SPEAKER_00: Firstly, give them less interesting tasks, activities and projects.
• 9:52
  SPEAKER_00: Secondly, you spend less time developing their skills and expertise.
• 9:56
  SPEAKER_00: Third, give them less public and private praise.
• 9:59
  SPEAKER_00: Fourth, give them a lower profile with your bosses and peers.
• 10:02
  SPEAKER_00: Don't talk about them as much or don't praise them as much to other people.
• 10:06
  SPEAKER_00: Fifth, a lower bonus.
• 10:08
  SPEAKER_00: Sixth, much slower promotion prospects.
• 10:11
  SPEAKER_00: And seventh, performance improvement plans, and eighth, losing their jobs.
• 10:15
  SPEAKER_00: When using negative consequences, it's really important to flag the consequences and the why or the threshold of which the consequences come into effect.
• 10:25
  SPEAKER_00: The most important action when employing consequences is to consistently put them into action.
• 10:31
  SPEAKER_00: Never communicate anything that you can't or won't put into action when a threshold is crossed.
• 10:37
  SPEAKER_00: It is better to focus on more positive upsides for team members that listen and action what you ask.
• 10:44
  SPEAKER_00: Positive reinforcement works much better than threats over the longer term.
• 10:49
  SPEAKER_00: Create clear and actionable consequences to ensure team members do listen to you and take action.
• 10:56
  SPEAKER_00: So, in summary, there is a lot that goes into getting your team listening to you.
• 11:01
  SPEAKER_00: You don't need that much time to get the whole team listening very carefully and consistently.
• 11:06
  SPEAKER_00: A few weeks for a skilled leader.
• 11:09
  SPEAKER_00: Using powerful social and group focused actions to get individuals and teams listening to you will be a lot more effective in the short term and the long term than relying on the authority of your permission or threats.
• 11:22
  SPEAKER_00: For senior managers and business leaders that would like to improve their communication skills and dramatically improve how they manage teams and businesses, I invite you to visit me at enhanced.training and select the coaching options.
• 11:36
  SPEAKER_00: I specialise in helping leaders increase team and business performance.
• 11:40
  SPEAKER_00: If you have any questions on five powerful changes that instantly get your team listening to you, please email me at support at enhanced.training and I will get back to you.
• 11:51
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks very much for listening, and I look forward to speaking to you again soon.