Are You Really Listening?

In Kate Murphy’s new book: You Aren’t Listening; What You’re Missing and Why it Matters, she explains that too often our tendency is not to listen, but to simply wait our turn to talk.

"Hearing is passive. Listening is active. The best listeners focus their attention and recruit other senses to the effort. Their brains work hard to process all that incoming information and find meaning, which opens the door to creativity, empathy, insight, and knowledge.

Understanding is the goal of listening, and it takes effort. Listening requires, more than anything, curiosity."

Because much of communication and listening is the non-verbal things like tone of voice, tempo, pitch, the recommendation is to have as much communication with your clients on the phone rather than email or text. Sure, electronic is good for quick messages and messages that can be read when the receiver has time; but nothing beats a voice to voice conversation and connection. Except of course a face-to-face which, sadly, we can’t have right now.

In these times of uncertainty and crisis it’s even more important to make sure you are listening. This applies to family, friends, and of course clients. Often times people just want to share their feelings and know that someone cares. You can be that caring, helpful person.