listening SUPERPOWER podcast

Listening is one skill that is hard to practice. It goes beyond hearing the person. Truly keeping quiet, having introspection within while connecting with the other person, nurturing that curiosity to wonder, and pondering the impact you make on another are key components. Rebecca Johns is a Personal and Professional Development Coach and Trainer. Her background includes 35 years of teaching in higher education, public education, consulting, facilitation, and coaching. She brings many gold nuggets full of wisdom and practicality that she has learned from her work with children and later in her profession with executives. In this episode, Rebecca shares stories about her experience helping leaders "go beyond the edge". She uses their strengths to explore the greater potential of what's possible as a leader. She touches on the importance of listening, being present, receptive and responsive as an intuitive leader to effectively make choices from a place of deeper inner knowing that can make a big difference in other people's lives. Enjoy listening in. "Listening is a skill and it takes a lot of practice. It begins with listening to ourselves." – Rebecca Johns For more ideas, tools, and resources that will help you master the art of listening, subscribe to listening ALCHEMY here. Timestamps: 00:14 – Rebecca's career background and the different sectors she has been serving in her capacity as a certified professional coach and when she first became aware of listening and its impact. 04:42 – Rebecca giving an example of what it really means to intentionally learn how to listen and the impact on others around you. 07:39 – Training and coaching are two different things according to Rebecca. She shares the reasons people come to her for help yet how it boils down listening. She describes one exercise that will help you intentionally listen and be aware in the moment. 15:33 – Getting into the action. Rebecca takes Raquel through a breathing exercise that helps a healthy adult brain to take in information and process it so as to formulate a meaningful response. 20:28 – Breaking the barriers of imposter syndrome and learning about intuition as a leadership skill to effectively make choices from a place of deeper inner knowing. 26:54 – It is in listening that we ask good questions that are life-changing and Rebecca explains where she believes good questions come from. 29:31 – Why do people not ask questions? What is holding us back from asking questions when it's the right thing to do? 32:17 – How structure in an organization can build trust for everyone to ask questions and share thoughts making meetings more meaningful and productive. And how the core values of family, community, relationships, and flexibility resonate into the whole idea of work-life balance. 39:47 – We are a species craving for connection – how do we truly connect with deeper meaning? 47:54 – Rebecca's suggestion: Slow down, don't be in a hurry to cover all the lessons at the expense of people not understanding them. Her 3 R's of teaching are uncovered here. 50:44 – A useful and meaningful tool you can use that can make a big difference in other people's lives. Key Takeaways: "I worked all the way up through high school and I would ask kids, 'If I could tell adults anything, what would you like them to know?' And almost without exception, these kids go,'Adults need to learn how to listen. They tell us to listen all the time, but they've never taught us how and they don't listen.'" – Rebecca Johns "I do less training and much more coaching because I want to stay and see the change happen. That's my commitment."- Rebecca Johns "I think if there is a cultural norm, at least here in the US, it is that we're busy, and we're all stressed out. So there's a lack of fulfillment, a lack of a sense of purpose. Which means that it's a culture of disconnection. We have cultures where people really aren't that connected to each other." – Rebecca Johns "Listening is the skill that makes the biggest difference in an environment. But most of the environments that we work in, and for some of us that we even live in, don't support deep listening. And it takes a lot of self-awareness and a lot of willingness to try something different and to do things differently." – Rebecca Johns "There's no professional development without personal development. You can't grow as a professional without growing as a person and you can't grow as a person without having that impact in your professional life."- Rebecca Johns Connect with Rebecca Johns LinkedIn Facebook www.rebeccajohnscoaching.com Connect with Raquel Ark www.listeningalchemy.com Mobile: + 491732340722 contact@listeningalchemy.com LinkedIn

Niels Van Quaquebeke is an organizational psychologist based in Hamburg, Germany. He is recognized as one of the Top100 German-speaking business scholars under 40 (Handelsblatt). He is the recipient of multiple awards for his teaching and frequently featured in public media. He has a book on the psychology of leadership (currently only in German). Often leaders are in solution-finding mode and are frustrated at the lack of engagement and follow-through. During his research on leadership, over time he discovered, "Questions are just the spark. What is needed is listening afterwards." Niels shares research and gives examples and tips from his executive training which give insight into the power of respectful inquiry, asking questions and listening. He also looks into the future of leadership in the digital era. Enjoy listening in. "We started to realize one of the simplest things. Questions are just the spark. What it is listening needed afterward. If you ask the question but don't listen, you might as well have not asked the question. Even worse, it's almost like an insult being asked a question and not being listened to." – Niels Van Quaquebeke For more ideas, tools, and resources that will help you master the art of listening, subscribe to listening ALCHEMY here. Timestamps: 02:13 – Niels tells his story about how he started researching questions, what he discovered to be the key to questions having impact and how this led to "Respectful Inquiry". 05:40 – Asking to reply, not to understand better understood. 07:13 – Respectful Inquiry explained 12:05 – What Niels has learned most from his research on listening: a most powerful communication technique 13:00 – Niels shares was surprises managers in executive education and a more effective alternative to providing solutions. 15:01 – Raquel and Niels discover a new word called reverse listening 16:59 – Niels' thoughts on collective listening 17:52 – Niels talks about current experimental research on questions and listening dynamics in teams 19:09 – Common concerns executives express in executive training 20:56 – Asking questions in an alpha – environment: What big cultural change needs to happen when it comes to question-asking and listening and what can be first steps 21:43 – Can question-asking and listening be a defensive form of communication? 26:42 – Effective questioning techniques 30:10 – When Niels first really noticed the impact of listening 32:12 – A recommended feedforward tool leaders can use with their employees or at home with their partner 37:00 – The truth about leadership in this digital age 39:32 – Niels talks about his book on leadership and psychology Key Takeaways: "By asking questions and listening to the other party to actually satisfy them, that's when people feel like they can really flourish at work. And that's when they're going to put in their best effort. And you don't have to constantly guide and control them. After all … as a leader, you want a proactive workforce." – Niels Van Quaquebeke "Managers do not need to fix things for the other person, they just need to listen and help the other person with their attention so that the other one feels confident so explore for themselves. " – Niels Van Quaquebeke "If I actually listened to you, and provide you space for your answer, then you start to listen to yourself as well." – Niels Van Quaquebeke "I think once we started listening to ourselves more, we feel what parts of our answers ring true and what parts are wrong." – Niels Van Quaquebeke "As a leader, you shouldn't always tell visions and have strong opinions. But there are times when you should because other people need to see what you stand for, what you want to achieve, how you want to achieve it." – Niels Van Quaquebeke "Listening is powerful for relationships and finding solutions." – Niels Van Quaquebeke "Give a little room for open questions and the magic will happen." – Niels Van Quaquebeke "It comes down to your intention. Why do you want to ask a question? Do you want to reply and control the conversation or do you ask questions because you want to understand the other party, not judge them?" – Niels Van Quaquebeke Connect with Niels Van Quaquebeke LinkedIn Twitter Book: Psychologie der Führung: https://shop.zeit.de/akademie/3950/psychologie-der-fuehrung-seminar Connect with Raquel Ark www.listeningalchemy.com Mobile: + 491732340722 contact@listeningalchemy.com LinkedIn

Are the leadership and listening skills needed in life or death situations that different than those needed for organizational agility and success? And what about leaving your legacy and having an impact beyond your immediate environment, often not really knowing the ripple effect our actions of created. Parker Frawley is a 24+ year combat veteran and decorated officer in the United States Army. During his career, he has lead soldiers in combat situations, flown Apache helicopters and has been a strategic advisor for very senior leaders in very challenging situations. He is currently an instructor at the Army War College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania and the Director of National Security Studies, where he is responsible for developing strategic leaders across the military branches Parker has led formations anywhere from 40 soldiers up to his last command position where he commanded a battalion task force in Afghanistan of about 870 soldiers and 62 aircraft. Along this leadership journey, he has also served in senior leadership positions in organizations up to around 4,000 soldiers. He has extensive experience in the Balkans, Afghanistan, and Iraq, as well as foreign postings in Korea, Russia, Germany, and Belgium. In this podcast, he shares challenging stories showing the interplay of leaders taking time to listen to themselves, the people & teams around them, as well as the priorities of the organization. And how this can influence your legacy without you realizing your impact on others. He also shares stories focusing on managing up, dealing with setbacks even later in your career, and key characteristics that can help lead with agility. He also talks about what you can do to help your leadership reputation as well as help the organization prioritizes what it needs for success. At the end of the podcast, Parker shares his personal three mantras he has to help him focus on organizational success. Parker has great tips for both junior and senior leaders, so get ready to take notes. Also, listen to Raquel and Parker's story of how listening has forged their friendship since childhood. "(Leadership) required me to be listening about 70% of the time and talking or making noises come out of my mouth about 30%...If it's not critical, if it's not life or death, if it's not mission failure or success at that moment, I'm probably going to give them a couple more tools that they can put in their kit bag that can help them to solve that challenge on their own." - Parker Frawley For more ideas, tools, and resources that will help you master the art of listening, subscribe to listening ALCHEMY here. Timestamps 02:13 - Sharing challenges in listening and leadership both in the military and in the corporate setup 04:00 - How listening impacts leaders interface with both their subordinates as well as with their superiors. 06:14 -What are the qualities of agile leaders 08:18 - How to become intellectually curious as leaders 13:27 - One way of thinking amidst a diverse background 16:27 - Diversity in thought 20:23 - What is "mission command" and what does it try to accomplish 22:30 - Parker's post as battalion commander being a huge learning curve for him in ways that people may not consider. 28:05 - Raquel's question 'Did something shift in Parker's approach as a leader?' 28:22 - How to choose your battles and how to manage up 34:33 - How Parker manages to overcome challenges especially on conflicting ideas with those higher in the organizational structure. 53:27 - Why leaders taking full responsibility for mistakes prevents waste of others time in the future 56:22 - How much time does Parker spend listening versus speaking as a leader 58:33 - Parker's personal three mantras, focused on organizational success. 01:02:05 - The Island Girl and the Military guy, Parker describing his long and successful friendship with Raquel. How they kept the friendship strong despite being two completely being different people 01:04:45- Diversity of our experience also helps us to be more open to other people's perspectives. Key Takeaways "When I was more junior, perhaps and less mature in the job, I did not see the similarities in leadership in the civilian world and military world. And these days, I see that much more often, I see a lot of things that intersect." - Parker Frawley "It requires a competent team to help those leaders navigate through these very difficult waters, and this environment and the speed of change."- Parker Frawley "Intellectual curiosity - it's about people who want to know things simply to know things."- Parker Frawley "The military is a very strictly hierarchical organization. And so the requirement is that as a leader, you're not simply listening to people, but you're actually hearing what they're saying.."- Parker Frawley Connect with Parker Frawley LinkedIn Connect with Raquel Ark www.listeningalchemy.com Mobile: + 491732340722 contact@listeningalchemy.com LinkedIn "The views expressed in this podcast are those of the participants and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the Department of the Army, the Department of Defense or the U.S. Government. None of those agencies promote, support or endorse Listening Alchemy"

Can you imagine a job where all you have to do is listen? Corine Jansen has been Chief Listening Officer for different organizations in the Netherlands and this is what she did--she listened. She listened to customers, she listened to patients, she listened to doctors...she listened. And the value of listening even surprised management. Corine Jansen is a Certified Listening Professional and Certified Practitioner of ECHO Listening Intelligence. She is specialized in opening conversations with people who have a broad, non-directive invitation to speak. She is currently the founder and Chief Listening Officer of JoConnect, and the co-initiator of Nederland Luistert (Netherland Listens). In this episode, Corine shares her personal story about how listening for survival as a young person changed to listening for transformation in organizations. She also shares the value of listening to customer's stories and organizations that can transform both their relationships with their customers or patients in the health care system. "What is very powerful in the skill of listening is that you don't need to have or give advice and that you don't need to have an opinion." – Corine Jansen Show notes: 00:19 – Corine talks about her listening journey – when she started to notice its impact and what she learned as a young child about listening 09:57 – The turning point when she switched from survival listening to listening that transformations 15:45 – Sharing her experience as Chief Listening Officer from the Oncology Department and what she learned listening to patients 21:02 – How patient perspectives made listening valuable 23:56 – How the hospital integrated patients' concerns and questions for better medical treatment 25:43 – Corine's role in bridging patients with the doctors and nurses 30:03 – The effects of listening on patients and on physicians, and how that changed the hospital's policy Key Takeaways: "The only thing I was doing was attentive listening: asking questions for clarification and giving attention...and people often ask me, 'Why did doctors allow you to do this with their patients?' And that was because I didn't give any advice. I didn't give any opinions. I was listening to their story. And I finished every conversation when a person said I am finished saying what I wanted to say and what I needed to share." – Corine Jansen "…And when he found out how powerful the listening was for him as a human being in the role of a physician, it changed the man." – Corine Jansen "[The hospital was able to provide] much better treatment...not [only] medical treatment but human treatment...than we could ever offer before because they [patients] shared so much and it was not in our protocol. It was not in our system to listen to these kinds of stories, so they enriched the relationship between patients and their physicians." – Corine Jansen Connect with Corine Jansen corinejansen.com LinkedIn Connect with Raquel Ark www.listeningalchemy.com Mobile: + 491732340722 contact@listeningalchemy.com LinkedIn

Corine Jansen has been Chief Listening Officer for different organizations in the Netherlands and has experienced the value of listening. She says, "We often make the mistake that we think listening costs a lot of time. But listening is creating an encounter and that encounter is made in a few seconds." Corine Jansen is a Certified Listening Professional and Certified Practitioner of ECHO Listening Intelligence. She is specialized in opening conversations with people who have a broad, non-directive invitation to speak. She is currently the founder and Chief Listening Officer of JoConnect, and the co-initiator of Nederland Luistert (Netherland Listens). This is part two of the interview. Corine shares very practical ideas on how leaders and doctors can listen with impact in just a short period of time. And even better, how there were lasting effects on business outcomes. If you haven't listened to part one yet, check it out and be inspired by Corine's personal story. She shares about how listening for survival as a young person changed to listening for transformation in organizations. Enjoy listening in. "Listening is creating an encounter. And creating an encounter is sometimes not just holding hands or making eye contact. It's a matter of interest and respect for the person in front of you." – Corine Jansen Shownotes: 00:00 – How the secondary purpose of listening of Corine made more impact 02:43 – Great advice on listening in the healthcare field 07:28 – What physicians need to know when talking to patients during appointments 11:17 – Corine tells a lovely story depicting narrative medicine and how it can be helpful to change the way we treat patients 14:59 – How narrative medicine helps in the healing 17:03 – She explains how she works with medical teams and how listening can also be fun and light 25:38 – A golden nugget of advice from Corine – "Listening in dialogue is listening more to meanings than to words." Key Takeaways: "We can all experience what listening means to us and what it will bring us. It makes people feel valued and respected." – Corine Jansen "Don't interrupt after 12 or 18 seconds, instead let them talk for two minutes because in those two minutes you will hear much more...." – Corine Jansen "Listening is about being there, being present for the other. It will become very difficult being present with another person if you don't want to change YOUR perspective on things." – Corine Jansen "Listening in dialogue is listening more to meanings than to words." – Corine Jansen Resources Mentioned: Narrative Medicine: Honoring the Stories of Illness by Rita Charon Look for research journals on Listening here What Patients Say, What Doctors Hear by Danielle Ofri Connect with Corine Jansen corinejansen.com LinkedIn Connect with Raquel Ark www.listeningalchemy.com Mobile: + 491732340722 contact@listeningalchemy.com LinkedIn

Kathrin O'Sullivan is an experienced organization development consultant, facilitator, executive coach and speaker with twenty years of experience in the tech industry. She is based in Silicon Valley and works internationally. Kathrin believes that in service of creating a world where everyone can thrive, we need smart leaders who are curious, grounded, open, and passionate about what they do. In times where command and control approaches do more harm than good, effective leadership requires presence, deep listening, truth-telling, and compassionate, wise action. Despite the "always on" pressure of their daily reality, the most powerful and effective leaders cultivate time for silence and introspection in order to sharpen their intellect and access their intuition. This allows authentic and effective leadership which inspires everyone to give their best, even in times of uncertainty and constant change. In this episode, Kathrin provides lots of insightful information on listening. As she uncovers the different levels and ways of listening, she will also reveal the power of listening with value and understanding the emotions that go with it. Furthermore, Kathrin will give us different perspectives on how listening impacts critical discussions and yields optimal results in the solution process, people engagement and key relationship building. "We can choose to listen in different ways. When we choose consciously how we want to do that, then, we're already present." - Kathrin O'Sullivan Get your chance for an Exclusive Virtual Listening Party Join our Podcast Giveaway: Click Here to Join Timestamps: 02:04 – Kathrin details how working in sales made her realize the importance of listening 03:34 – Different levels of listening that the training she attended focused on 05:05 – How listening intently with another person will lead to a meaningful discussion results to a practical solution thinking 07:00 – Defining who are you as a listener that may prevent from listening well and keeping an open mind 08:12 – Other ways of listening and how these impacts the engagement to other people 16:32 – The benefits of doing the five-minute guided breathing exercise in listening 18:12 – The critical attention a problem needs if it keeps resurfacing 20:02 – Talking about assumptions and how to take these into a different perspective 24:38 – The power of listening to the value and emotions 29:51 - Building a relationship when people feel heard and valued 31:15 – Getting to the conflict stage when not listening 32:23 – The vulnerability that requires to listen 40:19 - Using internal tools in human technology 45:58 - Kathrin's plans in the future Connect with Kathrin O'Sullivan www.kathrinosullivan.com LinkedIn Connect with Raquel Ark www.listeningalchemy.com Mobile: + 491732340722 contact@listeningalchemy.com LinkedIn If you enjoyed today's podcast, please leave a review on iTunes and share with the people you think might find this helpful. Thanks so much for supporting more high-quality, effective listening beyond what we typically consider! Enjoy listening!

Oscar Trimboli is an experienced coach and mentor to senior executives. He has worked with executives at CEO and CFO level and with senior divisional and functional executives in a range of industries. He is the author of Deep Listening: Impact Beyond Words, a professional speaker and mentor, as well. This episode focuses on listening in organizations and to customers that lead to action beyond what we typically consider. How did Microsoft miss out because of not listening? And what can young professionals do so that they are heard by the upper management? And Oscar Trimboli's quest to create 100 million deep listeners by 2030. He gives great examples to inspire you to join this quest in unexpected ways. "From a listening perspective, good leaders probably allocate about a third of their time... externally, Great leaders do about half of their time externally to listen to the marketplace." - Oscar Trimboli Get your chance for an Exclusive Virtual Listening Party Join our Podcast Giveaway: Click Here to Join Timestamps: 01:50 - The difference between a good listener and a great listener 03:54 - How listening can be effective in half the time while at the same time doubling your impact 05:41 - The value of multi-generational leadership to young professionals 08:24 - How the dialogue and listening can be truthful and compelling among employees and leaders in an organization 10:35 - Digging deeper into a model of listening: the context and unsaid 18:19 - Listening is action, how to make conversations as human as possible to break barriers of communication in organizations 22:09 - How not listening to customers and marketplace will cost you your business 24:50 - Discussing the five levels of listening: listen to yourself, listen to the content, listen to the context, listen to what's unsaid and listen to the meaning 32:06 - Actionable step for young start-ups: Know what problem you are solving and make use of surveys 33:19 - How to make customers an integral part of your organization's internal processes and success Connect with Oscar Trimboli www.oscartrimboli.com LinkedIn Deep Listening: Impact Beyond Words Connect with Raquel Ark www.listeningalchemy.com Mobile: + 491732340722 contact@listeningalchemy.com LinkedIn I want to thank my podcast team who helped me get Listening IN launched! Betsy Marie: An amazing visual communicator who designed a meaningful graphic design solution perfect for Listen IN betsymarie.com Ivo Thiemann: A talented musician who took great care in creating music that we hope inspires curiosity for this podcast. Cecilia Mercado: With persistence, this podcast launch expert has helped me navigate these waters while I learn the ropes If you enjoyed today's podcast, please leave a review on iTunes and share with the people you think might find this helpful. Thanks so much for supporting more high-quality, effective listening beyond what we typically consider! Enjoy listening!