Video Transcript
These have been generated by robots and may not be 100% accurate.
SE 4 (Communication)
Have you been through an active listening exercise before. If you were speaking and I was listening when you concluded I would say back to you what I understood you to say it goes something like it sounds to me like what you’re saying is or what I hear you feeling is if I was correct you referred if I misunderstood you could clarify. Active listening is all the rage when it comes to effective communication because it’s effective. However it’s simply a tactic and when tactics aren’t incorporated in an overall strategy they lose their lasting power. Then we forget to utilize them. Welcome to another episode of shaping environments where we stretch an idea discovering new dimensions that expand our capacity communication is always an issue at work not having enough of it being overwhelmed by it having multiple sources. And ABC seeing rapidly misunderstandings emotional blurring avoiding conflict passive aggressiveness I mean the list goes on and on and on. That’s why we create tactics l ike active listening because when misunderstandings occur we assume it’s on the listener side they miss understood when in reality the deliver of the information may have mis spoke. Active listening gives both parties a chance to clarify. It’s beautiful however what I’ve found is we forget to use it which makes it an awesome tool just left in a drawer. Today I want to give you a strategy that is not just a tactic but that increases all levels of communication. I call it being interested once again I’m offering a very simple strategy but when implemented brings about drastic results. It’s called being interested. The challenge with communication is typically the one delivering the information is much more invested in it than the one receiving the information. Particularly if it appears in one of these manners someone shows up at your doors as hey do you have a few minutes I can talk to you. Or passing in the hallways. I. I’ve got something I just want to bounce off you for a second. Do you have a moment or the phone call. Can you swing by my office in a few moments to go over some numbers being interested in strategies starts with a simple yes or no. Yes I will give you my attention now or no I cannot. For those of you that don’t have the option then you must purposefully say yes if we’re going into this interaction then yes I’m going to be interested. I recommend actually verbalizing it. OK. I’m interested. Let’s hear what you have or that sounds interesting. Tell me more. Her ma’am swamped at the moment but I’m interested in what you’re saying. Give me a minute. Just that little virtualization shifts something in her mind being interested creates three things First curiosity when you and I are interested in something we become curious when we’re interested in going to dinner we look up restaurants and read Yelp reviews because we’re curious about what others have said and experienced her about a book product or TV show. We Google it or go to Amazon and learn more. And there we read the reviews to interest unleashes curiosity. Second being interested forms our intent in communication. Oftentimes the motivation is to conclude the interaction as quickly as possible. It’s transactional surface efficient though hardly effective when we’re interested. We intend to maximize the moment. If you’ve ever gone to a Broadway show You know there’s a lot going on on that stage. I purpose not to miss any of it because I’m interested in everything that they’re offering interest shapes intent and then third being interested opens us up. All of us tend to be rather set in our thoughts and perspectives being malleable to others ideas and opinions is not our default inclination. However when we’re interested it automates our disposition to that of a learner from a learning propensity. We allow ourselves to consider angles and ideas untypical of our common mindset. Interest keeps us open when all three of these benefits are in play. You and I ask really great questions being interested enables curiosity intent and openness so our queries aren’t just parroting back what someone said but we are asking relevant contextual questions to gain more understanding and to discover more. Not only does it elevate the listening role from passive to active it engages the imagination which facilitates a system of consistently effective communication. And how I know I know you’re thinking but I’m not really interested. Let me broaden your scope. You can be interested in the person you can be interested in the situation or you can just be interested in the outcome. But like forming any good habit it takes being determined to practice. You literally have the opportunity every single day to be interested. How communication functions in a workplace determines how effective everyone gets to be. Please consider the strategy of being interested. I would love to hear what strategies and did you utilize for communication to flow well at your place. Go ahead an d share some of those details below. Of course if others on your team would benefit from the idea of being interested feel free to forward this on to them. My name is Greg Hawkes. We shape environments where everyone gets to contribute their best daily. Thanks for letting us serve you.