Mindset: Listen & Believe

I received a few more questions the past few weeks about mentality. A lot of them seemed to be generated around this time of year and triggered by thoughts of love, truth, justice, mercy, compassion and peace. One in particular made me think of conversations - both personally and professionally.

Hearing refers to the awareness of the presence of sounds and placing meaning to that sound. Listening is the ability to accurately receive and interpret messages in the communication process. Listening is key to all effective communication. Without the ability to listen effectively, messages are easily misunderstood.

We have all been there as a friend, team member, family member and/or leader where information is shared. Listening is when one is hearing what others are saying, and trying to understand what it means. Has the other party truly listened to what has been said? Have you listened to what has been shared with you? The next piece of it is listening with full engagement to what is being presented with no personal opinion, bias nor skewed analysis based on one's own preferences and/or experiences.

Below is one of the questions received from a new follower that requested to remain anonymous. Permission was given to share with all of us for learning, growing and feedback.

Hi Mr. Prudhomme,

I get so frustrated for I don't think my new manager ever hears me. My manager says they are listening but immediately goes into what they think happened or how better to handle it given experience. I don't know if it's just me or others feel the same...it's hard enough working remote during the pandemic in a new job but not being heard makes it so much tougher.

Thanks,

X

Believe is to accept (something) as true and/or feel sure of the truth of. It also means to hold (something) as an opinion, think or suppose. Listening is an active skill for you are fully engaged and focused on the moment at hand. Believe is an active still as well for you are focusing on the perspective of someone else without automatically discounting based one's own experiences. Both are more easily said than actively practiced and done.

Listening is an active process by which we make sense of, access, and respond to what we hear. The listening process involves five stages: receiving, understanding, evaluating, remembering and responding. Believing is accepting the current situation, trusting, going with a positive attitude and building upon past successes. Listen & Believe is strong when understanding, trusting and responding all are utilized to strengthen a relationship(s) and/or plan(s) of action. Facts can then be more readily verified and followed.

Lastly, these steps were shown years ago early in my career about helping to believe in yourself. This topic made me think of them for listening and believing both are that much stronger if one is in a good place with him or herself.

1. Believe it's possible
2. Visualize it
3. Act as if
4. Take action towards your goals.

I hope that question and the topic was helpful. It is an example of always being present to listen and assume what is coming at you is the truth from who is sharing it.

Thanks again for joining the newsletter and will continue to respond to the group weekly. Please feel free to share with anyone who can benefit from the discussion and lessons learned.

Questions can be added here.

Thank you.

DP