Mentoring Future Leaders

Mentoring Future Leaders
© Learning Link International
April 2005
Undivided Attention
Attention and focus involves:
• Maintaining appropriate eye contact.
• Adopting an open posture – facing the speaker, standing or sitting at a
comfortable distance, leaning towards the speaker occasionally,
mirroring the speaker’s body language, tilting one’s head to one side to
express interest and remaining relaxed.
• Appropriate facial expressions that acknowledge the speaker’s
feelings.
• Speaking at an appropriate volume and using a suitable tone.
• Not hiding behind barriers – such as desks or tables, or folding our
arms and crossing our legs.
• Not fidgeting – for example, tapping fingers on the arms of the chair,
twisting a strand of hair, fiddling with items of clothing, shuffling a chair
about, or glancing at our watches.
• Making sounds such as ‘Uh-huh’ or ‘Umm-hmmm’, to encourage the
speaker to continue talking.
Exercise
1. Person A tells person B about something exciting while person B’s body
language has to indicate disinterest, not listening. Then reverse the
roles and discuss how it felt.
2. Repeat the same exercise, but indicate with your words and body
language that you are 100 percent focused on what the other person
says.
3. Sit directly across the other person. Keep the time and see how long
you can look each other in the eye without wavering. Debrief afterwards
by telling the other person what you think he/she was thinking about.
Use Silence - its Not Hazardous to Your
Health!
Module 4 - Mentoring Skills Page ! 1