Listening is so hard to do these days! It seems we are all in such a hurry to communicate. Even I find myself interrupting people when I know I shouldn’t. In this respect, email and texting does give you the chance to get your whole thought out before someone jumps in.
I find it particularly difficult on the telephone to know when it is ok to talk. On the telephone you don’t have body language to tell you if the person is just taking a breath or if they are done with their thought. Like many people, if I am in a hurry or am excited about something, I start talking if there is even a slight breath on the other side. Or worse, if I want to stop the other person from telling me a long story because I already know or have a solution or whatever. I find myself doing this more personally than professionally, because I try harder to be patient with clients and colleagues. So, what’s up with that?
Shouldn’t I give the same courtesy to family and friends? Duh! I think the difference in personal conversations is that give and take casual relationship and we don’t think about how well we’re listening vs. getting our point across. Either way, interrupting says my agenda and thoughts are more important than yours and that clearly says I’m not listening to your thoughts to understand. I am taking the challenge to be a better listener and a non-interrupter everywhere. What about you?
