Are you a good listener?

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Added: Fri. Jan 29, 2010 9:27am
Posted in: Lifelong Learning

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We are born with two ears and one mouth. There may be a sound reason for that. It is hardly a conversation when you are talking to someone and they don’t let you get a word in edge-wise.

Listening is about showing the other person or persons respect. You value their opinion enough to listen to what they have to say. When you are constantly cutting someone off in the middle of a conversation you are really telling them they are not worth listening to.

This can be a real problem in any organization (professional or socially). Whether you are an executive, staff member, clinician, or groundskeeper, you have to be able to communicate with one another in order to get along and get the job done.

Everyone feels like there isn’t enough time in the day so “keep it short and sweet when you are talking to me”. There may be times during the day where short and sweet is the best answer, but if you portray yourself like that all the time, then be prepared to be cut out of the daily communication loop.

The best information in any organization travels by word of mouth. The best ideas to boost productivity are hashed out in conversation before they are reduced to a memo. The same is true when the company plan isn’t executing as intended – the team gets together to discuss the problem and find a solution. However, if one person attempts to dominate the conversation it is the equivalent of driving into a sinkhole and then creativity grinds to a halt and only the dinner bell can rescue you. I have stolen many a good idea by being a good listener. So my suggestion to you is be a Contributor and not a Dominator the next time you are participating in a conversation