active listening | powerful questions | emotional intelligence | interviewing | STAR | 360 feedback | survey design
What You Will Learn:
- Ask a question that produces information rather than the answer the person thinks you want
- Use STAR and CARE to get from a rehearsed story to what actually happened, and notice when it was invented
- Design a questionnaire that measures something: question types, scales, open questions, and the length people finish
- Run a 360 assessment properly — observable behaviour, evaluator bias, response rates, and delivering the result to the person
- Recognise your own emotional state in a conversation and its effect on what the other person is willing to say
- Build a competency profile from what your best performers actually do, not from a job description
- Design an assessment exercise for the cases where asking will never give you the answer
- Deliver findings from a survey or a 360 in a way that produces a plan instead of defensiveness
- Learn alongside Mike’s 1.6 million students from 185 countries
- Get the author’s experience from Preply, Wargaming, iDeals and Alfa-Bank
Alright, let’s talk about ‘Active Listening and Powerful Questions at Work, 110+ Tools.’ In the tech world, we’re often obsessed with efficiency, algorithms, and quantifiable metrics. But what often gets overlooked, and what frequently causes the biggest roadblocks, is our ability to genuinely understand and connect with other humans. This course, taught by Mike, who’s racked up a seriously impressive 1.6 million students across 185 countries with experience from places like Preply and Wargaming, aims to tackle exactly that.
Overview
If you’ve ever felt like you’re talking past people, getting canned answers, or struggling to get to the root cause of a problem beyond the surface-level symptoms, then you know the pain point this course addresses. This isn’t just about ‘listening better’ or ‘asking open-ended questions’ – frankly, that’s table stakes. This course digs into the nuance of why people hold back, how to identify when you’re getting a rehearsed narrative instead of the actual truth, and perhaps most critically, how your own emotional state can either unlock or shut down a conversation. It’s a deep dive into the art of eliciting genuine information and translating that into actionable insights. Think less ‘soft skills for the sake of it’ and more ‘strategic communication as a vital component of effective problem-solving, leadership development, and career growth.’
Prerequisites
You don’t need any specific technical chops for this one, but don’t mistake that for requiring zero effort. The biggest prerequisite here is a genuine willingness to be self-aware and to challenge your existing communication habits. If you come in thinking you’ve got communication all figured out, you’ll probably miss the boat. It’s for anyone from a beginner to advanced professional who recognizes that their human interactions are often the bottleneck in their work, whether it’s understanding user needs, managing a team, or interviewing candidates.
Skills & Tools
The course is packed with practical methodologies. You’ll move beyond passive hearing to true active listening, learning techniques to listen for what’s *not* being said and to recognize underlying emotional currents. It teaches you how to construct truly powerful questions that produce rich information rather than the easy answers people think you want to hear. You’ll get hands-on with frameworks like STAR and CARE to dissect stories and get to the factual core, crucial for everything from performance reviews to incident post-mortems. For anyone in an HR tech, product management, or leadership role, the sections on designing effective questionnaires (understanding question types, scales, and ensuring survey completion) and properly running 360 assessments (from identifying observable behavior to delivering results constructively) are gold. Furthermore, you’ll learn to build robust competency profiles based on actual high-performer behaviors, not just generic job descriptions, and design assessment exercises for those tricky situations where direct questioning falls short. All these are industry-standard tools presented with a practical edge.
Career Benefits & Job Roles
The benefits here are massive for virtually any role involving human interaction, which is, let’s be honest, almost all of them in tech. If you’re a manager, team lead, or aspiring leader, these skills are fundamental for effective coaching, conflict resolution, and driving team performance. For recruiters and HR professionals, the insights into interviewing (getting past rehearsed answers) and designing meaningful feedback loops are invaluable. Product managers, business analysts, and UX researchers will find themselves far better equipped to uncover user needs and stakeholder requirements. Even individual contributors aiming for more influence and impact in cross-functional teams will see significant improvements. These are undeniably job-ready skills that directly impact your ability to lead, influence, and innovate, leading to significant career growth.
Pros
- Actionable Frameworks & Tools: This isn’t theoretical fluff. The “110+ Tools” aren’t just a marketing gimmick; they’re practical, step-by-step methodologies like STAR, CARE, and specific guidance on survey design and 360 feedback that you can apply immediately in real-world projects. It’s like getting a communication toolkit for effective human interaction.
- Deep Dive into “Why”: The course goes beyond the “what” of communication, delving into the “why”—why people give certain answers, why they’re defensive, and how to recognize your own emotional state’s impact. This focus on emotional intelligence is critical for authentic interactions.
- Experienced Instructor Perspective: Mike brings a wealth of experience from diverse companies (Preply, Wargaming, iDeals, Alfa-Bank). This isn’t just academic teaching; it’s insights from someone who’s been in the trenches, dealing with complex organizational dynamics.
- Focus on Outcomes, Not Just Input: Whether it’s designing a questionnaire for valid results or delivering 360 feedback that actually leads to a plan instead of defensiveness, the course consistently emphasizes how to achieve tangible outcomes from your communication efforts.
Cons
- Demands Active Practice: While the course provides all the templates and knowledge, these aren’t passive skills you acquire by just watching videos. You *have* to commit to putting them into practice, self-reflecting, and iterating. This isn’t a quick fix for communication challenges; it’s a foundational shift in how you approach interactions, which can be challenging and time-consuming for some.