Vistage Chair George Walker
August 3, 2016
In addition to his ongoing training and development as a Vistage Chair, Mr. Walker has extensive and varied experience as an operations manager, corporate executive and community leader. Mr. Walker has held positions including Vice President and General Manager at Unocal.
The Palos Verdes Peninsula Chamber of Commerce “Good morning, Palos Verdes!” breakfast networking mixer featured the Power of Intentional Listening workshop, presented by Vistage Chair George Walker.
In business, the ability to listen can be an essential ingredient for success. Listening to understand rather than waiting for an opening to talk about one’s own experiences or ideas can lead to efficiency and more revenue. The practice works in sales as well as in the interactions with colleagues in the workplace.
There are important business benefits to listening effectively.
A salesperson who listens to a potential customer will hear that customer’s needs and then be able to explain how his/her product or service can address those needs.
A manager who listens to the goals of a worker will be able to collaboratively design a development plan that helps the worker and the enterprise.
When the potential customer or the worker senses that his or her needs are understood, then that person will feel positive about the interaction and associate those feelings with the salesperson or the boss.
Those positive feelings lead to closed sales and productive workers.
The workshop was well attended with over thirty enthusiastic participants. In groups of three, attendees practiced engaging in active listening. One person presented a personal or business issue. The second person asked questions of clarification and the third person acted as the observer. Participants shared their experiences – noting the positive feelings that came from the genuine focused listening of their colleagues and how helpful using this communication style would be in both their business and personal lives.
