Management Information |
Do You Hear That?
I read a report in the Toronto Star stated that 70% of workplace errors happen because of communication breakdown and that many of them directly relate to a lack of listening skills. The challenge is most people filter out sounds, noises and people talking as much as they filter out most of the things their eyes see. On one level, this is important. You would go crazy if you processed everything that you heard and you would never be able to have a conversation with a person in a crowded room. However, we get in this habit so much of the time that we literately filter out things that are important to us. Another challenge is that we can hear 5 to 10 times faster than we can talk, so our brains start to think of other things rather than focusing on understanding what is being said.In addition, there are many types of listeners and most people don't even realize which they are. I have heard about many team projects that had disastrous results where the people involved "heard" something different and had a different view of the outcome. I have a photo "of what someone heard", of a plane in a hanger and what subsequently surrounds the plane. When the supervisor was leaving he said, "Don, turn off the suds machine" Don thought he heard, don't turn off the suds machine, and thought ok?The next morning the hanger was filled with suds and the only parts left showing was the tail of the airplane. It shows how, what we heard is our interpretation of what we think they said, after it has gone through our brain filtering system. I have seen many people hold grudges days, over what they believed was said, and not what the person actually said. This saying sums it up nicely. I know you believe you understand what you think I said, but I am not sure you realize that what you heard is not what I meant." -Unknown The benefits that come from improving your listening skills can mean the difference between moving ahead in your career, knowledge and skills or falling behind and wondering why. Some of the benefits are: Resolves Conflict - You are able to understand the other person better which leads to resolutions. There are many ways to improve your listening. Some of them are: Make sure you are not talking There are people who have said that they know they interrupt a lot, but are afraid of forgetting what they want to say. However, it is hard to reply to something when you haven't been listening to them in the first place. You are guessing at what they mean. There are several things you can do to assist yourself, such as a note pad to jot down a word or two to help trigger your memory. Sadly though, many people only listen to reply and not to understand. These people often don't realize the many benefits they are leaving behind. "It is the province of knowledge to speak and it is the privilege of wisdom to listen." - Oliver Wendell Holmes All the Best!
MORE RESOURCES: Unable to open RSS Feed $XMLfilename with error HTTP ERROR: 404, exiting |
RELATED ARTICLES
Critical Success Factors - Next The Critical Success Factors Focusing on the things that make the biggest difference to your future prosperity. (Note, although this article was written in early 2002, it is totally relevant. Credibility - A Golden Key to Becoming More Influential You have been named a new leader in your organization, or you are a long time leader with some new people in your organization. Or maybe you aren't a formal leader but are working on an important new project. The "Better People" Fallacy It's easy enough to convince your own staff that better people will prevail, even against the odds. It's what they want to hear. Reducing the High Cost of Absenteeism Employers pay a high price for absenteeism, often more than they may realize, in terms of both financial and production losses and employee morale. Managers may view the tasks of finding a substitute employee as a short-term inconvenience; however, absenteeism frequently has more serious long-term effects. Poor Employee Performance: How to Deal KEEP WRITTEN RECORDS: "Document !Document! Document!" Keep a record of periodic performance reviews, incidents of unsatisfactory performance, conferences where warnings are administered or terminations are announced. Issue warnings and terminations in writing as well as verbally. The Survey Feedback Process for Organizational Development and Change THE PURPOSE OF SURVEY FEEDBACK:In globally competitive environments, organizations are seeking information about obstacles to productivity and satisfaction in the workplace. Survey feedback is a tool that can provide this type of honest feedback to help leaders guide and direct their teams. Can A Business Still Be Profitable When People Skills Are Absent? In our current world of rapid and amazing technological advances, many entrepreneurs have managed to dramatically limit the need for staff in highly profitable operations of all kinds.It is therefore tempting and believable to imagine that with every passing day, the need for people skills is diminishing. Top Ten Tips About Communicating with Your Employees Effectively Communication is the basis of who you are as a manager/leader in business. The rules are simple and the good news is that you can learn them and develop your skills. Directed Introspection One of the greatest obstacles to progress can often be our awareness of past failures. If we tried something a couple of years ago and fell flat on our faces (and especially if we were ridiculed or derided as a result) we tend to be reluctant to rock the boat again. The Death Spiral Sometimes things just happen. Maybe we lose focus and take our eyes off the ball. Tales from the Corporate Frontlines: Improving Workplace Safety This article relates to the Safety and Working Environment competency and explores how your employees feel with regard to their physical and environmental working conditions, the quality of their equipment and tools, and overall attention to safety within the workplace. Every organization is responsible for ensuring the health and safety of their employees. Status Quo Pep Talks That Can Threaten Your Leadership Organizations live and die by results. Yet most organizations get a fraction of the results they are capable of. Turnaround or Terminate? How to Deal with Problem Employees Do you struggle with a "problem" employee? If so, join thecrowd! Many of my coaching clients - businesses owners ormanagers - tear their hair out over one or more toxicemployees. In our business environment, we tend to recreatethe dynamics of the family we grew up, so no wonder problemsdevelop. Its Not Always What You Say A major source of communication breakdowns is incongruence between the words that people say and the nonverbal signals that they send, largely because we lose sight of the fundamental truth: You cannot not communicate. Every second that we are in the presence of another, we are constantly sending and receiving messages, often silent, nonverbal messages that can either augment our communication effectiveness or detract from it. Writing and Revising Your Life Story Change is not simple. Why do we repeat behavior that doesn't work? Those actions that lead to stifling debt, disappointing careers, or stuck relationships? Then do it harder, yet expect a different result? Why is it not obvious that trying to exit an old story by simply writing a "better ending" only recreates the same story, and ensures that we remain in it? That a thousand better endings to an old story don't create a new story? That the past cannot be changed and is a settled matter? That too often, we see ourselves as the victims of the stories that we author and the feelings we create?We actively construct what we think, feel, and experience. Performance Management Made Easy Performance Management is a process that both employer and employee often fear!Why is this so!There is much misinformation about the performance management process and performance appraisals in management circles today. We often think that best practice demands that we must performance appraise 'no matter what'. How to use NLP for Business? What is Neuro-Linguistic Programming?Neuro-Linguistic programme is nothing but the study of human excellence. It is an art. Are You Managing to Lead? For many people, the terms "manager" and "leader" are synonymous. In the business world, they are often used interchangeably, i. Six Sigma Training 101 - Better Management Basics What is Six Sigma?Six Sigma is a quality management program that is designed to achieve a "six sigma" level of quality for products. In the mid 1980s, Motorola pioneered Six Sigma and it has since been adopted by many other companies and manufacturers. Parenting Your Employees to Better Performance Have you ever worked for someone who was such a micro-manager that it drove you crazy? And have you ever worked for someone who was so hands-off that you felt like a lone warrior on the battlefield? These are examples of you working for leaders who did not adapt their style based on the employee's needs. I would venture to guess that you were not entirely motivated to put out your very best effort every time when you were feeling such frustrations. |
home | site map | contact us |