Listen, Ask, Lead: Upleveling Executive Communication

Two essential components of executive communication — active listening and strategic questioning — are commonly underdeveloped, underleveraged and overlooked. Having these critical skills as part of your communication repertoire is critical for effectively managing resistance and conflict, building empathy and consensus, and ultimately influencing change and action. This is especially true when navigating across boundaries of difference — a capability that is of increasing importance across all industries.

As levels of leadership responsibility and exposure increase, so does the need to glean insights from and build relationships with an even wider array of stakeholders. Active listening and strategic questioning are two of the most versatile tools one can leverage to explore unfamiliar territory, influence and engage diverse stakeholders, and build the trust required to successfully lead.

This executive course will introduce a set of practical, pressure-tested techniques to develop your listening prowess more fully, so you can amplify your impact in today’s fast-paced, information-rich, often polarized and highly unpredictable business environment. It will include a combination of interactive and independent exercises, personal and partner-based activities, and dynamic case examples.

Course Outline

Unit 1: Listening With Purpose

• Neurology and the Five Stages of Listening
• The “3As” of Effective Listening
• Application and Discussion
• Case Study Activity

Unit 2: Question With Intention

• Inquirer Objectives
• Respondent Sensory Modes
• Danger and Caution Zones
• Application and Discussion

Unit 3: Leading With Curiosity

• The “ABC” Incurious Tendencies
• Cross-boundary Leadership Communication
• Case Study Activity (Revisited)
• Closing Debrief and Final Takeaways