“The quieter you become, the more you can hear.”
Why Listening is so Important
I’ve had a few different experiences over the last couple of weeks that have made me pause and reflect on the importance of actively listening to others. What I realized from these experiences is that I wasn’t listening as well as I could have, or should have been. This resulted in some miscommunication, confusion, and frustration. As I thought about these situations, it was apparent to me that I was very distracted by other things in my environment and wasn’t giving my full attention to those who were speaking to me. As we go through our daily lives, it can be hard to take the time to actively listen because we have deadlines to meet, places to be and things to do. However, it is important that we take the time.
Listening is one of the most important skills you can have. How well you listen can have a major impact on your job effectiveness and on the quality of your relationships with others. Listening helps build rapport, understanding and trust. Good listening skills help us actually hear what others are saying – not just what you think they are saying or what you want to hear.
Much has been written about the importance of listening to others. Research suggests that we remember between 25 and 50 percent of what we hear… so, when you talk to your boss, colleagues, or friends for 10 minutes – be aware they are paying attention to less than half of the conversation! If you turn this around, it means you are not hearing the whole message when others speak to you… I think it is really important that we are aware of this. These statistics clearly show that listening is a skill that we can all benefit from improving. When we become better listeners, productivity is improved as well as our ability to influence and persuade. More importantly, we avoid misunderstandings and confusion!
I would encourage you to be deliberate with your listening and focus on truly hearing what the other person is saying. Concentrate on the message and ask questions or paraphrase to ensure you understand the message. You will truly benefit. In the words of the Dalai Lama:
“When you talk, you are only repeating what you already know. But if you listen, you may learn something new.”
As always, I welcome any ideas or suggestions you may have. Please send them to me at Nancy.Hughes@bethanyseniors.com.
Regards,
– Nancy
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