Are You Listening to Me?…
Posted on August 23, 2012
Did You Say Something?
My husband likes to claim that he has selective hearing and tells people that he is hard of hearing in his right ear only…the ear closest to me in the car. You may recognize the symptoms: You ask a question while in the passenger seat of the car, look over to the driver who is staring with a blank look at the road, you in turn receive no response verbally or otherwise…if this is your significant other, he/she is experiencing Selective Hearing Syndrome.
While my husband may deny it, he has learned to tune me out over the years as I am certain many of us, including me, have learned to tune out everyday sounds in our active lives. When we really stop to reflect on what is most important to us, whether personally or professionally, it takes all of our inbred senses such as the art of active listening to develop the relationships in our lives.
Relationships don’t just blossom on their own. They require some concerted effort on our parts to “work the relationship.” All too often, many of us don’t take the time to really listen to each other. Our minds are actively sorting through our “to do list” as people are talking to us or emailing/texting. We are a multi-tasking society. We don’t take the time to “nurture” our relationships whether personally or professionally. We are just now seeing the results with our younger generation, a “tech-savvy generation,” who may suffer from not knowing how to connect with people on a personal level, in my opinion.
Recently, I read a wonderful book that can be applied to both personal and business relationships. It’s about developing bonds with people rather than superficial relationships. The book is entitled, “Leading with Soul” by Lee G. Bolman and Terrence E. Deal.
Also, here is a great blog on listening: The Discipline of Listening
Once you’ve applied all of these tools and you still can’t hear well, then I suggest you get your hearing checked!
Be sure to make it a great day!