10 tips for being a good listener
When you’re doing Part 3, Gathering Software Requirements, it’s important to do it well, or you may miss a critical element for your business software. Learning the requirements means being a good information gatherer. Listening skills are a big part of that.
1. Prepare for your conversation. The prep doesn’t have to take long, but it should be serious. Consider the person, and their role. Think about things like:
- Is this going to be a big deal, or not? Why?
- Will they use the software directly? How? When? To do what?
- Or will they be given some result, something that comes out of the software?
- What’s going to be important to them?
- Do you think they will be generally excited and welcoming of the change, or no?
2. Arrange for the time to be “dedicated,” i.e. agree in advance that this will be time that is set aside for this specific purpose; no multi-tasking. Set a clear start and end time, and then stick to it.
“It is the listener’s responsibility to make sure that he or she understands the other party’s purpose and that their mutual purposes are aligned.” Enhance your listening skills and your management success
3. Set up in a quiet place. Go away from work, if needed, but if simply closing the door works, that’s ideal. If you have someone who screens calls, let them know you won’t be taking any for the duration of the meeting.
4. This is almost “3b”, but is worth breaking out: Avoid interruptions, like cell phone calls, or when someone sticks their head in the door and says, “This will just take a second, I promise.”
5. Keep your mouth closed, most of the time. They are the person who should do most of the talking, they should be providing most of the content for the meeting. If you know that you are a talkative person, put a reminder at the top of the pad where you’ll be taking notes. I’m not kidding.
6. Ask good, genuine questions. There’s a good chance the person you talking with has knowledge you don’t have – see if you can find it. And be careful that your predispositions don’t filter your list of questions, or bias what you think you’re hearing.
7. Keep your body language open, and interested. Don’t sit with your arms crossed and a scowl on your face. Do sit up (not stiff) and a little forward, don’t slouch. Don’t be yawning, or constantly looking at your watch.
8. Take good notes. Don’t be afraid to pause the conversation, and make simple diagrams, if they help.
9. Be sure you understand the points they want to make. If you’re not sure, ask. Say:
- “Just to be sure I’m getting this right…”
- “I think I hear you saying _____, is that about right?”
- “An example of that would be…”
- “Could you say that in a different way?”
- “So, is it safe to say that you see this as ________?”
10. Check your attitude regularly. When you want genuine, valuable opinions, you sometimes get told things that aren’t all that easy to hear.
These 10 tips for good listening skills won’t take long to review, and they’re not hard to use. Running your small business means optimizing time… and that’s probably a large part of why you’re looking for software, so use these tips when you ask people about their requirements.
