[3] Resolving Conflicts

STEP 5. Listen actively and with empathy

There is, perhaps, no greater recognition that one person can pay to another than to listen to them. 

Active listening entails:

• looking directly at the person
• making eye-to-eye contact
• nodding occasionally (to indicate comprehension and agreement)
• sitting quietly
• speaking only for clarification
• summarizing their key points (to demonstrate comprehension)

As a person tells their story and perceives they are being heard, tension tends to decrease and real dialogue begins. Sometimes just the act of being heard is all that is necessary to defuse a conflict. 

One way to improve your listening skills is to watch a good listener and begin to notice their actions. Then begin practicing what you have learned.

 

Recommended Program:
Experience Taking Flight with DISC, our new DISC Training Program, based the book Taking Flight!: Master the Four Behavioral Styles to Transform your Career, Your Relationships…Your Life, a business fable that features a diverse group of birds confronted with a race against time to save their homes from impending disaster. Suddenly forced to work together, the birds must decipher the four DISC behavioral styles to bring out their best and solve the crisis.

Recommended Resources:
Leading Style Article
Everything DISC Series