Last week’s Thought for the Week was; “NO Time to Think” which was about why taking time to check in with ourselves is so important because how we think about ourselves affects how we communicate with others. People thrive in a thinking environment!
You can see all of my previous blogs below.
When you’re in a meeting, do you notice who is doing most of the talking? Is it always the same person, or people?
They may be making some excellent points – the thing is though how does that enhance communication for everyone else at that meeting?
If they are just talking, are they actually listening to others? Just saying!
This can create a wall, a block for the others to speak. The consequence of that is that decisions will probably be made by the more dominant speakers in the room and everyone else has to live with those, unless they manage to speak up!
I was in a meeting recently and was observing … there was one person doing most of the talking and dominating the conversation. Let’s call them Person A.
Someone was trying to present to the group (Person B) and A kept talking over them. Not only was A talking over them, they were jumping the gun and telling B what they should be doing when B hadn’t been able to get to that point yet!
When B spoke up saying they would like to finish and get to their point, A said (quite abruptly) that they wanted to be able to talk too and gave B a piercing look.
Well, of course everyone can have their say – at the same time, if A had just listened and waited for B to finish before talking, it would have been a very different conversation.
I’m sure that you have experienced similar situations and you may even realise that you have been Person A at some point!
The most impactful people are those who listen and read the room. They may say just one thing in a meeting and yet that one thing is the most powerful thing anyone has said!
‘We have two ears and one mouth so that we can listen twice as much as we speak.
-Epictetus-
[Greek philosopher who spent his youth as a slave in Rome before gaining freedom after the death of Nero, under whom he served until around 60 AD].
I’d like to share this FREE Checklist with you; “The Ultimate Checklist for Mastering Communication” and you can download HERE
And, if you’d like to take time to think with me, I invite you to book a FREE consultation – you can choose your slot HERE
So, I hope this Thought for the Week has inspired you, even in a small way.
Have a great week and I’ll be in touch again soon with more thoughts and tips.
With best wishes,
Korinne Le Page