Listen in Difficult Conversations
You’re fuming after finding out a patient sat in the waiting room for an extra 20 minutes while your receptionists took an extraordinarily long break...for the third time this week.
You’re understandably mad.
I would be too.
However, storming in to yell at the employee will do more harm than good.
The employee could react defensively and yell back, or you’ll get the reputation as a firecracker ready to go off at any time.
Not addressing the situation at all is even worse.
What you need to do is listen.
As a leader, conducting difficult conversations is essential.
But these conversations aren’t a chance for you to rant or to dish out punishment. If you need to do that, get out your frustrations by talking in the mirror instead of to your employees.
You can’t just pretend to listen while really thinking about what you’re going to say next.
Be an Empathetic Listener in Difficult Conversations
Learning the 5 levels of listening can help you reflect on what type of listener you are:
Ignoring: This is when you aren’t listening at all. You may be thinking solely about how to discipline the employee. This will lead to a very unproductive conversation; take a step back if you’re at this level.
Pretend listening: You may look like you are listening, but in reality, you are distracted. You could still be thinking about how angry you are or even distracted by all the other work on your plate. At this level, you won’t absorb anything being said.
Selective listening: This is when you’re only hearing the parts of the conversation that interest you or think are important. This can lead to misunderstandings between you and the employee. Maybe they say they needed to take a phone call and asked another employee to cover, but you only hear the phone call while on the clock part.
Attentive listening: This is when you pay close attention, concentrate on what is being said, and can respond appropriately. This is a good level to be at day-to-day, but at this level, you are still thinking about how the situation with the employee affected you before anything else.
Empathetic listening: At this level, you listen to understand the intent behind what is being said while responding appropriately. This type of listening helps you form a response that matches the person you’re communicating with.
Figuring out how to address situations with employees is a lot to manage, especially when you have patients to worry about.
I’ve had so many vets tell me they struggle with this and don’t feel comfortable having these conversations.
A practice manager can take on these difficult conversations and free you to focus on your specialty caring for pets.
Use my practice manager job description to start the search for a practice manager you can trust.
