Are you listening?
Are you listening?
If you’re so eager to communicate that you turn a conversation into a monologue, you’re not listening.
Recently I was interviewing a candidate who had enthusiastic, thoughtful answers … that weren’t quite relevant to our products/industry. That was okay – I don’t expect interviewees to perfectly understand the company they’re coming into. So I thought I’d clarify:
“For us, the single most important thing to communicate to customers is X.”
“Right!” said the interviewee enthusiastically. “The most important thing for you communicate to customers is Y!”‘
I point this out only because – it’s obvious to see when other people aren’t listening. It’s much harder to apply that same awareness to oneself. And some weeks it feels like every conversation leads to another revision or another meeting. Subconsciously, it’s tempting to put ourselves out of the reach of new information, because new information has a way of seriously screwing with those deadlines we have to meet.
So what’s a good product manager to do?
A couple habits I try to practice:
Ask at least one question before starting to present. Especially if you’re presenting to a customer or leading a meeting, it’s really easy to start talking and never really stop. Your audience takes the cue from you and goes into passive mode.
Then listen.
Turn at least one statement into a question. Several months ago, I interrupted a customer check-in that was going smoothly to turn a statement — “So you’re happy with the product” — into a question — “What could the product be doing for you?”
Meanwhile, my subconscious was whispering: “Why would you do that? They’re happy now. Don’t give them any chance to think and be less than happy. Get out of here as quickly as possible before your luck turns!” That subconscious, man. Sometimes you just have to kick it back down.
Then listen some more.
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Tags: Communication, conversation, listening
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