Insurance Manager Tip – Listen to Listen
In many agencies we work with, we discover that there is a lot of pent up frustration. Sometimes this can become volcanic, problematic, and difficult to deal with.
“If you’re facing conflict, I encourage everybody to take a moment and listen to listen. Don’t listen to have an answer in that meeting, don’t listen to respond. Take notes, digest, breathe.”
If you’re a leader, we have an insurance manager tip for dealing with conflict: listen to listen.
What exactly does it mean to listen to listen? It means that we don’t rise up to defend ourselves, and we don’t correct others, but we simply listen during an interaction, in order to smooth over conflict. Here’s why listening to listen can be a helpful insurance manager tip, and be useful for dealing with conflict.
- Many people just want to be heard
When you listen to listen, you’re allowing the speaker to accomplish one of their main needs, which is getting their concern off of their chest. Many people just want to be heard, and getting conflict off of our chest can be very therapeutic.
- Listening gets us in the right direction
In order to resolve conflicts, we need to make sure the conversation is going in the right direction. If we rise to defend ourselves, or speak up and contradict what an employee is saying, we could be moving the conflict needle in the wrong direction. Sometimes, diffusing conflict requires us to be the bigger person. But if we’re focused on the bigger outcome, instead of winning, then we’ll understand why listening to listen is more important than defending ourselves.
- Time is on your side
When we listen to listen, we can also use time as our friend. Conflict didn’t arise overnight, and it likely won’t be solved overnight. But if we simply listen, and do things such as taking active mental notes, and hold our own response, we can allow employees to air their grievances. Then, we can return to the conflict at a later date, when everyone is cooled off and has a level head about the situation.
- We can say “tell me more”
When we’re listening to conflict, and someone does say something you really can’t stand, we have a response for you: “tell me more.” If an employee has an account of an incident that is very different from yours, for example, you can use this response. That’s because simply rejecting their version of events isn’t going to change their opinion, or solve the conflict. By saying “Tell me more,” we’re inviting the employee to walk us through their version of events.
When we’re focused on the outcome of a smoother working relationship and less stress, we can realize how much can be gained from listening to listening. Sometimes, it can also be helpful to listen to learn, which is when we stop and actually understand the opposite perspective. But by always dealing with conflict from the standpoint of listening to listen, we’ll be making sure our agency culture is healthy and positive, and that our agents have the proper environment to be Ridiculously Amazing in 2021.
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