Listening － The Superpower of Leaders with Raquel Ark

How can leaders can create more impact through listening? We interview Raquel Ark, founder of Listening Alchemy and host of the Listening Superpower Podcast.7:40: Recent statistics show that a key skill that’s needed for leaders is listening. However, listening is normally nothing we learn in school. Research shows that there is a lot of power in listening. Listening is a prestige power It's the type of power where people want to follow you, where people are inspired by you. It's more of an inclusive to-come-with-me type of power.8:27: When you listen as a leader, your autocratic dominant power goes down, you will lose that type of power. If you have a leadership style that's dominant and autocratic, you do have power. But it's the type of power where you are forcing people to do things, to follow you. In contrast, if you listen, you create a prestige power where you inspire people and they want to follow you. So that's a difference that the empirical research is showing in terms of power.10:58: There are a lot of different ways in which power can show up. Listening is an inclusive type of power. It can invite all of us to stand up and work better together, not just focused around one person (the leader).13:30: Listening helps the speaker become clear, more creative,  come up with their own solutions,  be more motivated and engaged. And this is what the research is showing that when a speaker has a high quality listener, (listening with no judgment, with openness, care, really trying to understand their perspective) then that speaker will relax and  feel safe. And when they feel safe, instead of persuading people, they will start to express themselves.28:49: Teaching active listening is often reduced to a “mechanical” skill: keep eye contact, paraphrase… This is useless if presence or the interest in the other person is not there.31:37 Just by not interrupting people and being genuinely interested, you will have a huge impact and be perceived as a great listener. You’ll be perceived in a positive way and have impact on that person. And as others are speaking, they actually gain more insight about themselves and their own thoughts. So they change themselves. You're not changing them.33:56 Paradox: your communication becomes more impactful when you speak less and listen more.Reflection Questions for Leaders:Think of a person who listened to you and it helped you have an aha-moment or solve a problem. Or you came up with an idea, you realised what was really important. Reflect back on that experience.What was it about that listening that helped you? Then you take that and put that into practice with others yourself.What can I do to practice my listening? Listening to this podcast or reading about listening will not help you become a better listener just by knowing it. So, what can I do to experiment and play with it? If I tend to have a strong opinion, what if that moment I reset and become curious like my, six year old child that's asking why questions? What if I were to become curious and then change my presence in this moment? What are the conditions that I need to be a good listener?How can I get honest, candid feedback on how well I'm listening ?Connect with us on LinkedIn:Raquel Ark Martin AldergårdGerrit PelzerMore info:secondcrackleadership.com