Last week’s Thought for the Week was; “Expectations for Today” which was about how our expectations are at the root of so many misunderstandings.
You can see all of my previous blogs HERE
So, if peoples’ expectations are at the root of so many misunderstandings, I believe that another huge barrier is when we don’t listen well!
We are all human and there are times when we don’t listen as well as we could for a number of reasons such as; our mind being on other things, we aren’t interested in what the other person is saying, we think it’s irrelevant to us, we have a very short attention span, or whatever.
When at a party socialising, we are likely to communicate differently to when we are at work or with clients, right? And in social situations, people are often talking over each other and not listening that attentively to each other.
“There’s a lot of difference between listening and hearing.”
-G.K. Chesterton-
[English writer and philosopher]
“The word ‘listen’ contains the same letters as the word ‘silent’.”
-Alfred Brendel-
[Austrian classical pianist, poet, author, composer and lecturer]
So, in what kind of situations should we be better listeners then?
I’m sure you can think of many situations and don’t need me to tell you! Essentially, I think most people would like to be better listeners in general and many believe they are already great listeners. Let me ask you a few questions …
- In conversations with colleagues at work, on a scale of 1 to 10, how much of the talking do you usually do?
- In meetings, on a scale of 1 to 10, how much of the talking do you usually do?
- If someone comes to you for advice, on a scale of 1 to 10, how much of the talking do you usually do?
- If you are giving someone a performance appraisal, on a scale of 1 to 10, how much of the talking do you usually do?
So, you will see in which situations you do most of the talking.
Now, replace the word ‘talking’ with ‘listening’ and ask yourself the same questions.
What did you notice?
“Listen with curiosity. Speak with honesty. Act with integrity. The greatest problem with communication is we don’t listen to understand. We listen to reply. When we listen with curiosity, we don’t listen with the intent to reply. We listen for what’s behind the words.”
-Roy T. Bennett, The Light in the Heart-
If you’d like to explore this further for your team or yourself, I would like to invite you to book a FREE consultation with me. You can choose your slot HERE
So, I hope this Thought for the Week has inspired you, even a little bit and I will sign off on that note.
Have a great week and I’ll be in touch again soon with more thoughts and tips.
With best wishes,
P.S. Download this FREE Checklist: “10 Mistakes that Could be Stopping You from Being a Really Good Communicator“: