Eric Maddox Program Overview – Empowering Your Team Through Empathy-Based Listening

Eric Maddox Program Overview – Empowering Your Team Through Empathy-Based Listening

Eric Maddox:

Hi, I'm Eric Maddox, the former U.S Army interrogator, who in 2003, while assigned to a Delta force team in Iraq, tracked down Saddam Hussein.

And I'm the creator of empathy-based listening. The communication process I had to develop in order to build the highest level of trust of prisoners on the battlefield.

And when we think about trust, you as leaders, what do we think about? Of course, we want to be great communicators. We want to demonstrate that we have a vision, we're good at our job, we have our success, our experience. Of course, all of that matters.

But what do our subordinates need to know? What I discovered, what I realized over now, 2,700 interrogations in 20 years of studying communication and building trust, people want to know something. If we're going to work together, if we're going to partner together, do you get me? Do you have the ability to get me?

Yes, you may be great at your job. Yes, you may have the experience, the knowledge, the wisdom, all the solutions. But think how often we hear from your team that you are leading if you don't get it, maybe they feel like you don't get them. And the biggest problem as leaders. We know we're probably right. We do have that wisdom, that knowledge, and we think to ourselves, get behind me. I will lead the way. Have no fears.

Leadership, it's about driving. And most important, it is about empowering the team.

How do we empower to say we have to trust them, they need to see it. My empathy-based listening communication process is the first thing we do when we're communicating with someone is realize they're on their stage and we're on our stage. And as much as we may hope that we're aligned, they're seeking to understand, do you get me? Do you want to get me? And the first thing we have to do as leaders is realize we have all these listening distractions, our goals, agendas, objectives, our preconceived notions, and we're always thinking about what we're going to say next. Of course, we got to be able to remove what I call the six categories of listening distractions, because on average, we only listen to approximately 25% of what we hear in communication.

Empathy-based listening, we're going to get your listening deep into the '80s and '90s. And once we're better listeners, what do we listen for? It's what I call breadcrumbs, keywords, terms, phrases. Every time somebody makes a statement, that is what they most want you to hear.

And as a leader, your subordinates, when they drop you a breadcrumb, that keyword, they want to know, are you going to tell them what to do? Are you going to speculate what they need? Or do we have the ability to seek to understand?

And the cool thing is, as leaders, once we get on their stage by picking up the breadcrumbs, they want you to be the director of the movie. You have the value proposition, you have the wisdom, the knowledge, the power. But the difference in driving, follow me. They may do it, but they don't own it.

As leaders, our job is to empower everyone on our team to own it. I promise this empathy-based listening, it will change the way that you listen, you communicate the way that people are drawn to you for the rest of your life.

 

Neither MFS nor any of its subsidiaries is affiliated with Eric Maddox. The views expressed are those of the speaker and are subject to change at any time.

FOR INVESTMENT PROFESSIONAL USE ONLY. Should not be shown, quoted, or distributed to the public.

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