Welcome to the Making Conversations Easier podcast. In this episode, our hosts Professor Peter Gillen and Wini Ryan are joined by Dr Kathryn Mannix to discuss the art of listening. Kathryn was a consultant in palliative care medicine for 20 years in the UK. She is the author of two internationally acclaimed books, With the End in Mind and more recently, Listen, how to find the words for tender conversations. Kathryn is on Twitter and Instagram as @drkathrynmannix, on Facebook (Dr Kathryn Mannix) and her website is www.withtheendinmind.co.uk. Tune in while she shares her insights on communication skills for listening in healthcare.

Key Takeaways:

• If we call a conversation ‘difficult,’ it probably will be. If we re-label those encounters as ‘tender,’ we take down our own defences and lean into being gentle with the other person in the conversation. This changes the balance, and opens us up to better listening and communicating.
• Good listening is rooted in curiosity: what is going on here? How does this situation feel to this person? What has happened so far? What are their ideas, concerns and expectations? What are the obstacles to improvement, and how can this person take charge of their own solutions? Listening to understand rather than listening to reply.
• Our willingness to listen improves rapport, allows the other person to feel heard, gets us more quickly to the heart of the matter, and prevents us identifying a real but less-relevant issue that then distracts our attention.
• Delivering unwelcome news and discerning patients’ (or colleagues’) difficulties are skills as important in healthcare as any other practical skills. We should expect (and dare!) to attend training, to practice, receive feedback, reflect on the feedback and develop/maintain our skills in a constant skills-improvement cycle, as part of our continuing professional development.

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