Tell me what I don't want to hear!

Our close team collaboration begins in the cockpit before a flight with the general briefing. As captain, I have the opportunity to address my priorities. Personally, openness - the "speak-up" - is very important to me. That's why I usually introduce it with the following words:

"Tell me what I don't want to hear! But please tell me in a way that I can take it in. And if it's important to you, until I've heard you and recorded it."

In these short words, I have summarized my many years of experience as a manager:

1. Speaking up can be painful: listening when I receive positive feedback is easy - for example, when debriefing after a successful flight together. However, if I have led less well, made mistakes or the team has not really harmonized, I also find it difficult to listen. Because now I have to openly face up to (justified) criticism. After all, I asked for it myself. That's not always easy, even for me. But it has to be - because it's the only way I can learn and develop in my work.
   
2. Change in perception under stress: Is there also stress in the cockpit? Certainly - and not just in your business life. Under stress, we focus so much that in the end all that remains is "tunnel vision". Listening then becomes even more challenging than usual! We pilots also need to bear this in mind. We know that under stress, the auditory channel is one of the first channels of perception to break down. In the cockpit, this can mean that we no longer hear warning tones. And in business life? What is still "heard" in a heated management meeting? Perception - what we perceive as "reality" - is highly selective and subjective and extremely stress-dependent. Observe yourself: if your pulse rate rises above 100, the stress level begins where you no longer absorb information comprehensively. By the way - this also applies to relationship conflicts...
   
3. Stress prevention in the company: Small problems require small solutions. Big problems demand... That's why I consistently promote speaking up. The best stress management is stress prevention. The daily workload can increase significantly in the short term. If the team is preoccupied with internal conflicts, the additional workload cannot be absorbed constructively. Resignation among team members can be fatal - literally for us pilots, and figuratively for you as an entrepreneur in the sense of insolvency.

Therefore, avoid speechlessness, isolation and resignation. Make sure you encourage - and demand - discussions with your team. In this way, you will create a supportive, active team in which everyone feels appreciated. This is the way in which an environment conducive to learning can grow.

Listen, even if you don't like what you hear!

This increases your overview as well as the agility to react promptly and appropriately to new problems. Unfortunately, this can be a real challenge, as we usually prefer to talk rather than listen.

Listening is a real career tip

If you often hear other people say "please let me finish" or "I think you misunderstood me", then practise active, patient listening. Because if you listen attentively, you will pick up on the expertise of others. And can use them profitably as resources for constructive problem-solving.

Conversely, employees withdraw and the boss is encouraged to think that he or she is the only one who can solve the problem. And becomes - yes, actually lonely. 

Personally, I find it too strict, too stressful to have to do everything on my own. That's why I listen - after all, I have two ears but only one mouth.

www.pilotimpuls.ch

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