Listening is a magical tool that is essential for our hectic, crazy, stressed world. Listening offers a pathway for others to breathe. So many come to us in distress – so much stress that it creates a cry for help that looks like they need an emergency exit from the pain or pressure and are too stressed to be either rational or reachable. You show up as a committed listener and just let them exhale. Only exhaling allows people to experience and express their feelings – like draining a wound – in a way that doesn’t attack others or themselves. Often, we as coach leaders just “witness the struggle.” In doing so you build a bridge between you and another – and on that bridge communication begins.

Once open and safe communication begins, as coach leaders you have the tools to hear them, support them, influence them and energize them to take the actions they want, for the results they want.

John Hattie was asked about one clear “low hanging” fruit to support teachers to improve their instruction and feedback in the classroom. His response: “In a study of about 12,000 classrooms in the United Kingdom, we found, on average, teachers talked about 89 percent of the time; that’s not a lot of listening. What we want teachers to do is to interview students about, ‘What don’t you understand about what I said when I made these comments?’—so we start to focus on how the teacher’s comments are being received. I do think the power of teaching is in the art of listening.”

So how about, let’s just do it! Let’s make a goal with ourselves to just listen to others. Our opportunity will come to speak – to demonstrate that we are fully present; that we heard and we are hearing what they want to be are the best teachers or educators they can be – our kids lives and futures matter!

References: Stephanie Vozza, Fast Company; Cash Nickerson, Samurai Listener; CBS Sunday Morning, Results Coaching: Next Steps; Mark Goulson, Just Listen.