(Looks like it’s time for my annual rant about poor listening skills in the workplace.)
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:
1. Ruling out the speaker – “He is of no interest to me.” She has nothing to say. Why listen?”
2. 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.”
3. Reading in expectations – “I know what you’re going to say, I can finish your sentence when you pause.”
4. Reading in threats – “I know you didn’t mean that … you couldn’t have said it … you didn’t say it.”
5. Rehearsing a response – “I am preparing what I want to say. I’m just waiting until you pause so I can break in.”
6. 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.”
7. Rejecting the person – “You come on too strong. I don’t need to listen further.”
Now that you’re listening to why you don’t listen better, tune in next month for helpful techniques to improve your listening skills.