Hi! managers: The benefits of being a good listener

Good listening enables a manager to make informed decisions that will lead to business effectiveness and success.

Many benefits come from developing a listening expertise, whether you are listening to customers, colleagues or subordinates.

Whenever a customer has a problem with the company's products or service, he or she may complain seriously.

You have to listen all the way to the end. Do not interrupt, even if you may want to. You will gain the customer's insights on your products and your company if you listen patiently and open-mindedly and try to send signals back to show you are focusing on what he or she says.

After the customer finishes talking, he or she will have naturally cooled down and the problem-solving negotiations can start.

A customer's dissatisfaction may become a "bad brand" experience if nobody allows them to tell the complete story of their dissatisfaction without interruption. In the case of telephone complaints, customers are sometimes connected to several different people for wasted conversations, which may worsen their dissatisfaction until it becomes incurable.

In order to get relevant information for making quality decisions, a manager should listen to both his colleagues and subordinates.

Innovative strategies can then be formulated because most of these people know more about the details of their assignments and their problems than the manager does.

Good listening requires no prior judgment, even when you are listening to something that is not consistent with your expectations.

Listening skills can be developed.

An active listener always provides his counterpart with complete attention, without letting his mind wander or thinking ahead to what will happen next. He frequently asks questions, to reflect his focus, and allows his counterpart to deliver his or her full message, so that they feel they have been treated with respect.

A manager should never assume that he knows a customer's needs, or what his subordinates will say. Being a good listener will enhance their trust in you.

You can reap many benefits from listening to the voices of other people - and not to your own.

Panatda Chennavasin is vice president for corporate strategies and corporate relations of Tri Petch Isuzu Sales. She is also senior vice president for overseas marketing of Isuzu Operations (Thailand). Her column is published on the third Wednesday of every month.