A Case of the Listening Ears

Summary:  Lessons learned after being given a case of “listening ears” – lost my voice.

Listening is important to succeed. You need to listen to your clients if you want to serve them. You need to listen to your suppliers to ensure you will receive what you need. You need to listen to your employees if you want yo help them succeed (which in turn will make your business successful). Listening is one of those things we all say we do well, myself included. However in practice it can be a different story.

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I have always considered myself a good listener, people have even commented to me about my excellent listening skills. Well, there is always more to learn as I found out. I have been given a good case of Listening Ears – I lost my voice. When you can’t speak you are given no other option but to listen. When you can’t speak it is amazing what more you pick up on.

What I learned:

People will fill in the gaps. I typically all for extra silence to let a person know they can continue. Apparently I need to give people more. I need to stop thinking in the pauses in a conversation. Let the other person do it and they will share more.

Carefully pick my words. When you are limited to what you can say, you close your words more carefully even when getting straight to the point. That does not mean being abrupt or rude just more selective.

Ask questions. When I wasn’t clear instead of trying to put many confusion to words I Would also more questions and show them to explain. This would usually clear up my thoughts.

If you were given a case of listening was what would you learn?