Wednesday, September 21, 2011

I enjoy my improv leadership readings

One friend, one person who is truly understanding, who takes the trouble to listen to us as we consider our problems, can change our whole outlook on the world.
Dr. Elton Mayo

One of the soft skills all my leadership classes have been teaching me is the immensely important and so often neglected skill of......... listening. It seems so easy. But it's so much work! Active listening means that when someone is talking to you, you're not trying to formulate responses in your head, brainstorm possible advice, or craft ways to interject your opinion of the matter. For me, I'm always trying to figure out how I should respond that I end up missing parts of what the other person is saying to me. Planning my responses isn't going to help me understand the other person's concerns better - it'd probably push me further away from it. So I've decided that for the time being (aka when I still remember this goal), I'm going to (try to) be a better active listener!

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