Susan Britton MCC explains why active listening matters for coaches and everyone else. Practice with someone you know well, like your spouse, by asking curious questions to discover something new. Listen to learn, not to plan your response.
Listening skills are probably one of the most important skills that any coach possesses. That's ICF number 6, listens actively. And I ask myself on a regular basis, am I improving the way that I'm listening to my clients, to my team, to my husband, to the people that I live, love, laugh, and work with? And so one of the things that I, I do frequently is I practice my listening skills in the easiest place possible, which is usually with my husband. So if you think to yourself, the most familiar person that you have, the the person that you think that you know the best and know how they think. Can you listen to them in a way that makes you curious about what exactly are they thinking? And if you can't ask questions of them in those little serendipitous moments that find out something new about them, then you're probably not listening to the degree that you could. So just a fun little tip to think about: how do I improve my listening skills? Listen for curiosity, listen to learn as opposed to be able to respond, and find out something new about somebody that you think you know really well.
Susan’s ICF Educator Award | The Heart Behind the Impact Katy Montgomery, PCC
