WEBVTT

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Active listening is the ability to be fully focused on the conversation,;
understand its context, and build on what others say.
Even in one-way presentations where there isn't a conversation happening,
active listening allows you to monitor the audience's reaction, judge their interest,
and adapt your delivery accordingly. You may think that everyone is able to listen, but honestly,
how many times have you, or the person you talk to, zoned out during a conversation,

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answered something completely unrelated, or only heard what you wanted to hear?
Sometimes we are so focused on what to say next that we forget to listen to what is currently being said.
This is why active listening is actually a multifaceted skill. So, let's break it down.
First, you have attention and focus. This means avoiding multitasking while
someone is talking, like checking your phone or drifting away. Then, you have the ability to show

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feedback and response cues, like showing that you're following along by maintaining eye contact,
maybe nodding, or asking questions in relation to what's being said.
Then, you have reflection.
This shows that you've listened and understood by rephrasing what was said. For example,
you could start with, "So what you're saying is..." or "Okay, if I understand correctly,
what you're saying is..."
Then you can connect with empathy. It means acknowledging what

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people say and feel, even if you don't agree with them. It actually shows respect for their
point of view. And finally, there is delaying judgment. Maybe this one is the hardest to do
these days. It's about avoiding being critical and not jumping to conclusions. So instead,
we have to listen to what people have to say without forming an opinion straight away.
Thanks for joining. I'm really thrilled about these new designs

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for our e-commerce platform.
Here they are,
and I've incorporated what I believe are the latest and most effective design trends.
Ah, thanks. I can see you put a lot of effort into it, and there are parts I really like, but I've
noticed that our brand colors are a bit different here. Have you followed the brand guidelines?
Well, I had to look beyond the existing guidelines to keep up
with what's trendy. And this is really what dominates the design scene right now.

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Okay. Yeah, I understand we want to stay up to date, but I don't think we can change the
colors without talking with the brand team. So maybe we will check with them. Also,
I can see that here, the layout has been changed to a side panel.
Yeah, exactly. This layout is what, like, all high-end platforms are implementing
right now. And if it works for them, it should definitely work for us.
Okay.
All right. So, let's look at what happened here. There was definitely a

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lack of eye contact. You could see from Henry's body language that he was not really
sitting squarely. His body position was a bit closed, especially when he crossed his arms,
and he also dismissed my feedback whenever I made it. So, he did not acknowledge my concerns,
and overall, he made judgments about my requests without actually trying to
understand why I was making them. So overall, he didn't exhibit active listening here,

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and he was more focused on getting validation for what he thought was good for his work.
Morgan, thanks so much for taking the time to meet with me today. So here they are. So
these are our new e-commerce platform's design and layout. I've integrated some
modern elements and things like that in here, and I'm just really eager to get
your feedback about what you think and see if we can make them happen.
Okay. First, I have to say it's evident that you put a lot of work in there. So

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these parts I really like. But I've noticed some of our brand colors are
a bit different here. Have you followed the brand guidelines?
Yes, that's a good point, actually. I deviated a bit. My intent was to produce
a bit of a fresher look. And yeah, so I haven't actually discussed this with branding just yet,
but I'll work on integrating some proper brand colors. So we can have a look at those. But I
did notice that the brand actually has some accessibility issues on the web,

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because I think all of their colors are designed for print, actually.
Oh, okay. So I suppose that's something we need to discuss with them,
then. Okay. Can you actually do two versions, and I'll set up a
meeting with them to discuss if they can consider adapting the colors for the web?
Yeah, sure. No problem.
Cool. I've also noticed that the layout has changed to a side panel,
but you know, sometimes the names of our products are pretty long,

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and the descriptions as well. Have you considered the impacts?
Okay, maybe a side panel doesn't work for us then. Could you give me some
sample data or something like that so we can actually see what works and maybe we
can test it with some users? But I'm sure we can find something that works.
Okay, yeah, great. I'll do that.
See how different the dynamic was here? By using active listening,
Harry was able to listen to my concerns. For example, on the colors, he used me;

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he actually turned me into an ally to discuss with branding. And for the layout,
he actually got more insights, thanks to talking to me, and also a new excuse to talk to users.