As workplace communicators, we obviously spend a lot of time each day communicating verbally. Therefore, we spend a lot of time listening … or should.
Problem is, we don’t listen very well. Especially those of us Type A Driver Entrepreneurs. Sound familiar? We regularly fall victim to one or more of these seven Barriers to Listening:
Barriers to Listening
- Ruling out the speaker – “He is of no interest to me.” She has nothing to say. Why listen?”
- Reaching a premature conclusion – “I’ve heard enough to know where he’s going with this argument. I’ve heart it before and it’s all wrong.”
- Reading in expectations – “I know what you’re going to say, I can finish your sentence when you pause.”
- Reading in threats – “I know you didn’t mean that, you couldn’t have said it, you didn’t say it.”
- Rehearsing a response – “I am preparing what I want to say. I’m just waiting until you pause so I can break in.”
- Responding with evaluation – “The way you say it is a) clever, b) creative, c) crude. I am more interested in the way you say it than what you are saying.”
- Rejecting the person – “You come on too strong. I don’t need to listen further.”
Now that you’re listening to these Barriers to Listening and why you don’t listen better, tune in next month for some helpful techniques to improve your listening skills.