Chapter Three Listening, Team Communication, and Difficult Conversations McGraw-Hill/Irwin Copyright © 2014 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

3-2 Learning Objectives LO3.1 Describe and evaluate the process of active listening. LO3.2 Explain and evaluate barriers to effective listening an common types of non- listening behaviors. LO3.3 Describe the elements of questions that enhance listening and learning.

3-3 Learning Objectives (cont.) LO3.4 Explain the principles of team communication in high-performing teams. LO3.5 Describe and demonstrate approaches to planning, running, and following up on meetings. LO3.6 Explain basic principles for handling difficult conversations.

3-4 Engaging in Active Listening  Active listening  “a person’s willingness and ability to hear and understand.”

3-5 Holding Judgment  Learner statements,  show your commitment to hearing people out  Judger statements,  show you are closed off to hearing people out, shut down honest conversations

3-6 Judger Statements vs. Learner Statements Table 3.2

3-7 Summarizing and Sharing  The goal of summarizing is to restate major themes so that you can make sense of the big issues from the perspective of the other person  Active listening also involves expressing your own perspectives and feelings.

3-8 Defensive and Non-defensive Replies Figure 3.2

3-9 Asking the Right Questions  A crucial skill is the ability to ask the right questions  Good questions reflect the learner mind-set, and poor questions reflect a judger mind-set Table 3.6

3-10 Types of Effective Questions Table 3.7

3-11 Stages of Development in High-Performance Teams  Forming stage  team members focus on gaining acceptance and avoiding conflict  Storming stage  team members open up with their competing ideas about how the team should approach work

3-12 Stages of Development in High-Performance Teams  Norming stage  the team arrives at a work plan, including the roles, goals, and accountabilities  Performing stage  teams operate efficiently toward accomplishing their goals

3-13 Planning for Meetings: Essential Questions  What is the purpose of the meeting? What outcomes do I expect?  Who should attend?  When should the meeting be scheduled?  What roles and responsibilities should people at the meeting have?

3-14 Following Up After Meetings  Follow up by distributing the minutes of the meeting  Memo, , team blog

3-15 Principles of Difficult Conversations  Embrace difficult conversations.  Assume the best in others.  Adopt a learning stance.  Stay calm/overcome noise.  Find common ground.  Disagree diplomatically.  Avoid exaggeration and either/or approaches.