Sylvia's Journal

I watched the old king of the Belgians abdicate, and then the new king ascend the throne in three languages, multi-tasking while reading the comments from the participants in last week’s workshop. Pomp, pageantry and the practice of the new.

The most cited learning from our participants, the pharmacists in last week’s workshop, and their good intentions for practice related to listening, the kind of listening that makes us better leaders, better followers, better parents, better employees, better citizens, and better kings.

It is the simplest of all leadership practices because we don’t have to teach it – people know how to listen. And it is the most difficult of all leadership practices because we forget about it as we insert our own opinions, thoughts, needs, agendas into conversations as if nothing else counts.

As a coach-in-training I am immersing myself in the discipline of listening. Yesterday I spent hours listening to recorded classes, catching up on content not quite assimilated, tips and techniques missed during earlier midnight teleclasses.

And then, during the required hour of coaching a peer, on Skype, I listen again, leave space, try not to interrupt, not to assume, not to judge the other. You’d think I’d be good at it now, having been on this path since February. But what I am learning is that good listening requires constant vigilance, self-awareness and the ability to kick that pesky ego back to its proper station.

And now I am listening to the new king, making his promises for his new reign. It is a new chapter for him and Belgium. For me it is only a new paragraph as I prepare my move to Porto Novo, a new hotel, a new group to work with this coming week.