Before you begin reading
this article, I encourage you to turn everything off and take a moment to
breathe and listen to the silence of your surroundings. Clear your head…and
turn off the noise.
For the last several years
when meeting with groups or individuals, the first thing I request is that we
take a moment to turn off cellphones and computers, take off our watches, and
stop running the mental to-do list constantly through our minds.
Why?
When you take a deep
breath and clear everything away, you can actually engage and listen to the
content, emotion, thoughts/ideas that are being shared at a particular moment
of time. Being an active participant in any discussion, be it personal or
private, allows for growth—rather than just walking through the motions of
life.
I have noticed over the
years that we have lost the gift of truly listening to one another, to engage
in thoughts and ideas. Listening leads to so many wonders of life such as
innovation, collaboration, respect and understanding of different opinions.
Many years ago, we held a
conference to discuss the impact of the computer age and the internet on the
modern workforce. Visionaries and
industry experts shared with excitement the speed with which the workforce would
be able to communicate with others around the globe. This new revolution, they
thought, would make our lives easier, allowing for shorter workdays and more
free time. This visionary/futurist
prediction held true in some ways, but we did not forecast the overwhelming
barrage and clutter of information 24/7.
The technology era has put
human resources in a speed warp of time. We are not listening. We only hear
words. This impacts the way we work, the way we live, and the way we care for
one another as human beings.
I encourage people to
truly listen. Many great solutions and innovations have been created through
true collaboration in a time-effective way through to achieve the active engagement
of conversational sharing. By slowing
down and actually listening to one another, I have seen many challenges,
disputes and miscommunications settled quickly, in a respectful and
collaborative way.
Listening does work. I like to say we listen through the heart and
we hear from the mind. Yesterday, for example, I was placing an order for a
product over the phone. The customer service representative apologized several
times for being slow in processing the order. “Your slowness,” I encouraged,
“is not from lack of understanding of the technology. We both know that. It is because you are not truly listening to
my request.” If the representative had taken the time to listen properly from
the start, there would have been neither mistakes nor time wasted.
I encourage all of us to
slow down. Take a moment to turn all the outside noise off and see just how
much you will experience and learn from listening—and what you can accomplish
in a short amount of time.
Follow these steps:
Follow these steps:
