FREE online courses on Building a Winning Team - Managerial Inputs in
Development - LISTEN !
Jim Corbett, the great hunter and naturalist, was often asked the secret of his ability to ‘read' the jungle (so much so, that Col.
Wingate who commanded the legendary ‘Chindits',
a World War II Allied guerilla force operating behind enemy lines in
Japanese-occupied Burma-today ‘Myanmar'--- had him specially brought in to train the Chindits in jungle craft!). Corbett always replied that it
spoke to him… he just listened!
Most of us love to hear ourselves talk. So enamored are we of the
applause that follows a snappy repartee, we do not pay close attention to what
the other person is saying! We are hearing, not listening, as cautioned by the
30-year old lyrics by Simon & Garfunkle in the sound track of the Oscar-winning
movie, The Graduate
45-60 % of comprehension results
from non-verbal communication, i.e. movement of eyes, hands, head, gestures or body posture/language.
This why we have such animated TV
newsreaders, and partly explains why we
relate to them more. This public adulation gives
these not extraordinary people a celebrity status disproportionate to their job
content…all because we listen to them.
The
day TV becomes inter-active, we will be closer to true ‘Active listening',
because we have to reinforce the exchange by feed-back,
that we are following closely-“ Oh! I don't believe it! And what happened
next??” Music to a talker's ears.
The listener is not just hearing, but really listening. Politicians (professional
talkers) indulge in occasional histrionics to revive attention if the
audience is reaching the boredom barrier. They will thump tables, wave their
arms, smack fist into palm…. driving the point home!
Now
here are some ways of turning off people:
- Using phrases like “You ought to…”or “You always….” , an
invitation to reciprocal rejection.
- Poor perception of
speaker's credibility/ status
- Fear of having opinions
challenged
- Misinterpretation of the
words used
- Avoiding conflict by
shutting-out volatile sensory inputs
Then we might as well talk, not listen; it's much more fun!
Right? WRONG!!
People,
who don't listen, don't understand.
The benefits of listening are:
- Improved quality/
quantity of information transferred
- Speed of
information-transfer increases
- Gives
recognition/‘strokes', leads to better relationships/deeper understandings
- Increases ability to
handle people
- Relieves stress/
tensions
- Gives insights into
ourselves, improves thought processes
Be a
good listener if you want people under you to grow.
QUESTIONS:
- How important do you
think speech is as compared to hearing? Why was Helen Keller dumb, at first?
Was it because she could not hear, could not ‘listen'? Then why is ability to listen so
important? Explain?
- Can we hear without
listening? How many ways do we absorb information from external sources?
Is there any inter-connectivity between them, and if so, of what significance
is it to management?
