Tune into Nonverbal Cues

Overview

Good listening skills are critical to the success of your Six Sigma project. Obvious areas where listening skills come into play are in learning about the process and collecting the right data. Poor listeners won’t get the right information. Less obvious—but just as critical—is the role of listening in gaining support and cooperation from your stakeholders. Specifically:

• People are more likely to cooperate when they feel you’re listening to them.

• If you listen well, you’ll be better able to determine whether you are really getting cooperation or just “lip service.”

Becoming a better listener is not brain surgery—it’s primarily a matter of knowing what to do and (more importantly) committing to making the effort. We can’t help you make the commitment, but we can make some suggestions on how to improve. We recommend that you:

1. Tune in to nonverbal communication cues.*

2. Concentrate on the speaker.

   Note

   *The suggestions in the section on nonverbal cues apply to interactions that are face to face or via phone. While there are nonverbal cues in e-mail messages, most people are so poor at conveying information this way that interpreting their meaning is often quite difficult. See Chapter 14 for more on communicating effectively through e-mail.