Retail Observer

RETAILOBSERVER.COM FEBRUARY 2016 44 Libby Wagner Culture Coach L ast month we talked about the five elements for Thoughtful Change, including "Let Go." This month, we examine the second element: Listen Deeply. There is power in silence and listening deeply. It's both a practice and an investment that can make a big difference. How can you do this? IDEA 1: LISTEN DEEPLY TO YOURSELF It's inefficient to spend your 90,000 hours* at work out of congruence or integrity with your own goals and values. You must be willing to listen closely to your own voice emerging in how you show up to conversations, meetings, interactions and practices that are related to your work and livelihood. When you can align yourself with what's happening at work, you're more engaged, happier and satisfied. This also affects your performance and relationships with others. Listen Deeply to what you want, what's calling you and the changes you need to make in order to show up wholeheartedly to your work. My rule: 85% of the time you should feel pretty great about your work. If you're hovering about 60/40, then you need to take a look at what's not working and listen deeply to what is emerging for you. IDEA 2: LISTEN DEEPLY TO YOUR CUSTOMERS OR CLIENTS Sometimes we have formal ways of surveying our clients and customers. This is usually a good idea and a way to track and measure our performance and our customer delight and satisfaction, but listening deeply means that we listen for and to the human elements behind what they are saying, sharing or asking for. This isn't about the principle that "the customer is always right," because they might not be, but rather the idea that you might learn something very important about what you can do if you're paying close attention, noticing what is really being shared or communicated by listening deeply. There may be hidden ideas for products or services, or there might be a simple solution to something that's been plaguing your organization for a while, but only if you listen openly and with awareness. IDEA 3: LISTEN DEEPLY TO YOUR CO-WORKERS OR PEERS Since the workplace is typically Shakespeare writ large, there's plenty of drama and characters hanging around the lunchroom, showroom, or water cooler. Often, after a while, we think we've got everyone figured out and we know their stories. We can predict how they might react, what they're going to suggest or what they are going to bring up time and again. But what might happen if you released the stories you've created about your co-workers or peers (or employees!) and you showed up to the next encounter both listening deeply and presuming good intent? You might notice something entirely different, you might connect on a deeper, more trusting level, or you even might hear the solution for something that's been not working for a long time. With each person, you've got a 'bank account' of trust you've been building (or not) for the length of your working relationship. Every day you're making deposits and withdrawals. Listening deeply to another person is one of the most significant and high-trust investments that you can make. It's worth it! IDEA 4: LISTEN DEEPLY TO YOUR COMMUNITY AND THE WORLD What is happening in your community, your market or industry, and the greater world that impacts your work, your company or your customer? What sorts of things do you need to pay attention to because they matter (or will matter) in the big picture of the horizon for Thoughtful Change? Listening deeply doesn't mean that you jump on the first popular idea or bandwagon. It means that you look carefully at opportunities, potentiality and risk. You create a thoughtful and purposeful way to listen to what's going on outside the confines of your business and how it does or doesn't inform what you want to create inside. LISTEN DEEPLY: WHAT IS NEEDED FOR REAL CHANGE RO RO Libby Wagner, author of The Influencing Option: The Art of Building a Profit Culture in Business, works with clients to help them create and sustain Profit Cultures. www.libbywagner.com

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