Stephen H Baum Leadership

What Do the CEO Coach and the CEO Have In Common?

BACKGROUND

Exceptional leaders are good at active listening: extracting the essence of someone else’s predicament or point of view or proposal. The coach must be even a more active listener to get at the root cause of whatever the client is confronting.

In recent sessions, some of my clients have reported using some of the same frameworks as I do.

FRAMEWORKS FOR ACTIVE LISTENING

1. The first has to do with sorting: is what they are hearing situational? Pattern? Or Condition?

Situational – a specific conflict or problem or choice that needs attention or a solution and is likely a one-off.

Pattern – a conflict or problem or choice that crops up repetitively and must, therefore, be driven by a factor that needs to be changed (e.g., behavior driven awry by wrong-headed incentives)

Condition – a level of frustration and associated behavior that crops up repetitively because of participants’ mindset (beliefs, fears) and personality traits.

Confusing one with another leads to misguided analysis, miscommunication and wasted time and effort. And often a repeat of the same conversation later, Determining which bucket is the right classification is crucial to a successful outcome.

2. The second has to do with a sense of time and timing.

Does this situation require a choice:

• On the spot?
• Before this meeting is over?
• At a later time or date? Can the topic be deconstructed into something now and something later?

Confusing one of these time requirements with another can lead to unnecessary pressure and conflict in the situation, a premature or wrong decision. Getting it right allows a more informed and thoughtful resolution. And individual egos may be the factor that drives to a poor choice (More on that another time).

These two frameworks for active listening frequently save energy, time and emotional energy.

In my role as Chair of a CEO Peer Advisory Board in the Vistage International CEO membership organization, I have come to learn and adapt tools that help resolve many types of situations. In a later post, I will address one or more of the most useful. Meanwhile, there is much to learn from the Vistage site:

 http://VISTAGE.COM

That’s just my view. What’s Yours?