Deep Listening - Impact beyond words - Oscar Trimboli

This episode of Deep Listening Impact Beyond Words explores the art of listening in diplomatic cross-cultural meetings, drawing insights from British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly's discussion with Cindy Yu on The Spectator's Chinese Whisper Podcast.

Key takeaways:

• Focus on non-verbal cues: Ambassador Cleverly emphasizes that what people don't say, their body language, note-taking, and response delays are often more revealing than their spoken words. This applies not just to high-stakes diplomacy but also to everyday workplace meetings.
• Team listening: Effective listening involves individual attentiveness and collaboration within your team.
• The power of silence: Pay attention to pauses in the conversation. Their length, frequency, and placement can signal reflection, emphasis, cultural differences, or the weight of potential responses.
• Longitudinal listening: Notice subtle changes in language, body language, and overall tone over time during extended negotiations or repeated meetings.

Actionable insights:

• Reflect on your listening habits: How much attention do you pay to non-verbal cues?
• Practice team listening: Discuss group observations and interpretations after meetings to gain a more comprehensive understanding.
• Refine your pause awareness: Observe how others use pauses and experiment with your own pausing to enhance meaning and impact.

By applying these insights from diplomatic listening to your own workplace interactions, you can improve communication, build trust, and navigate complex situations more effectively.

Additional Resources

"Does China Care What Britain Thinks?" from The Spectator's Chinese Whisper Podcast hosted by Cindy Yu.

"Ambassadors: Thinking About Diplomacy From Machiavelli To Modern Times" by Robert Cooper.

It is so important to be able to focus when listening for an extended time. Adam Purcell shares his unique perspective on this as an air traffic controller. He also shares how his career path was discovered through a World War II log book, and how it changed the entire course of his life.

Adam Purcell is an enroute air traffic controller in the Melbourne Air Traffic Services Centre. The aviation bug bit at a young age, while Adam was growing up in the NSW Southern Highlands. He Learned to fly shortly after finishing high school and holds a Bachelor of Aviation from the University of New South Wales, and he worked in airline operations in Sydney before moving into air traffic control.

A qualified controller for five years, he has recently returned to operational work after completing an 18-month secondment as an instructor, teaching trainees at the Air Traffic Control training facility in Melbourne.

Outside of work, Adam has a keen interest in WWII Air Force history, and he has interviewed many veterans of the strategic night bombing campaign for a UK-based archive. He is also a keen photographer.

Today’s Topics:

• What a day in the life of an air traffic controller is like.
• The importance of the read back and actively listening.
• Overcoming internal and external distractions.
• Keeping instructions straight forward and slowing down with International pilots.
• How old memories can spark a tangent and those are the stories that trigger another story.
• The importance of longer pauses and asking fewer questions to get more out of an interview.
• The role of silence can be awkward, but it is also an important interview element.
• Being aware of your audience when you look at them and how visual cues may not mean what you first think they mean.
• How recall takes time.
• The lost listener who moves on during the read backs and not monitoring what he is hearing.
• How there are consequences of not listening for air traffic controllers and the pilots and planes.
• The power of high standards for listening.

Links and Resources:

• Adam Purcell International Bomber Command Centre
• Something Very Big

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SUBJECT Deep Listening Leader Academy

Sammi Grant is a professional dialect/vocal coach and voiceover artist. She has coached over 50 theatrical productions, worked on major television shows, and provided private coaching to countless actors. Sammi brings a unique perspective on listening and focusing on the human voice. Sammi is legally blind and her hearing is more attuned, because it has to be.

Today, we explore how to listen like a dialect coach. We also explore the impact of breathing on how we listen to ourselves and others. Sammi listens deeply to accents from around the world and translates how those accents are spoken to teach her clients the use of those accents. She also provides accent modification to anyone wishing to sound more general American.

Today’s Topics:

• Sammi is legally blind. She still has impaired vision in one eye, but she has degenerative glaucoma.
• She shares a story of Mr. Thompson a great teacher who would really listen to students.
• The last couple of years of high school, Sammi started noticing how people use their voices to tell stories.
• She is hyper aware and even tones who voice down to sound more general American.
• She is aware of what she is doing in a curious non-judgemental way.
• Consciously using breath and avoiding vocal fry which can be limiting and not as pleasing to listen to.
• A lot of people don’t breath before they start talking because of fear of public speaking.
• Sammi helps actors learn how to portray a certain role. She strives for authenticity, comprehension, and acting.
• The accent needs to be tied to the character and the choices that character makes.  
• Placement, oral posture, sound changes, rhythm and intonation are all things she looks at.
• She also has clients who want to tone down their accents.
• Sammi shares how to create an accent from London and Pakistan.
• Noticing the feeling and emotion behind the words without using vision.
• Using pitch and volume to either express or hide your emotions.
• Time periods and the characters circumstances play a role in how their accents sound.
• Be open minded and listen beyond the surface.

Links and Resources:

Sammi Grant

Sammi Grant on Facebook

Sammi Grant on LinkedIn

How To Do 12 Different Accents

This Dialect Coach Can Transport You With Her Perfect Accents

Quotes:

“It’s a natural inclination of mine to listen and take everything in.” Sammi Grant

“I am accustomed to analyzing my voice down to tiny little breaths and pauses.” Sammi Grant

“I’d rather listen to people with different accents than to listen to the same one all day.” Sammi Grant

Want to create a big impact? Subscribe to the Deep Listening podcast and never miss an episode.

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