Last night I watched the full 3-hour interview Joe Rogan did with Kanye West. I got so much inspiration from hearing their dialogue, especially Kanye’s brilliance and creative thinking.
Have you ever been speaking with someone and they go on and on and on and on and you don’t have a chance to add anything or ask a question?
There was a funny section in the beginning where Rogan didn’t get a single word in for at least 15 minutes. At first, I thought this was a mistake, and that he was letting Kanye go on too much, and not helping his listeners digest the info by making it more bite-sized.
However the second Kanye finally got to a stopping point, Joe surprised me by repeating back in summarized form the “jist” from the last 15 minutes of conversation.
I was really impressed with his ability to hold all the information and then reflect it back and then lead into his next question.
There’s a point to all this. I’m not particularly good at this and I know many people who cannot hold this much info without getting flooded, so I wanted to share some listening tips I picked up from The Relationship School.
They teach people how to improve their relationships with themselves and others through programs and podcasts. I just went through their 9-month program with my love and it was transformative.
Here are a few listening tips that can radically change not just your podcast and interview experience, but your life and relationships as a whole.
-
You have to interrupt people if you start to space out, get lost, or lose presence. In order to listen, we have to pause people. This is called active listening. Stop whoever you are talking to with hand signals, or politely interrupting them and say, “One second, I just want to make sure I’m with you, what I’m hearing is….” and then repeat some of what we understood them to be saying. Doing this we not only help our listeners integrate the information, but we clear up any misunderstandings and help the speaker get even more clarity on what they are saying, this leads to the next tip.
-
Reflective listening. Part of listening is repeating back what the person said, maybe in slightly different ways, in the Kanye example, Joe Rogan synthesized Kanye’s whole tornado of ideas into a sound-bite that showed he not only followed Kanye’s thoughts, but he could represent them for his audience in a way that would deepen the conversation and lead into his next question.
-
Curiosity is powerful. Curiosity has the power to help us build deep rapport with our guests, as well as lead us into incredible territory within our conversations meaning our audience will find value from our curiosity. Also, through curiosity, we deepen our connection with the person speaking and help them feel listened to.
These are just a few tips on the art of listening and making the other person feel understood. I hope they help you in your next interview and in your relationships. If you are interested in learning more, check out https://relationshipschool.com/relationship-school-podcast/ for more tips on relationships and communication.
Also, if you haven’t joined our Facebook community Podcast Farmers, it’s a small focused group of entrepreneurs, coaches, and others who are launching or growing their show. It’s a great opportunity to get support and give support to others like you.
Thanks so much for reading,
K.Lee Marks
Founder“The future belongs to those with the best story”
Podcast Farm
Instagram: @thepodcastfarm
Facebook: @thepodcastfarm
