What One Skill Have We Lost?

Dull of hearing.

As a leader, are you adept at hearing how people feel?

With all the "noise," have we lost this valuable skill: our sense of listening?

"Hearing is listening to what is said. Listening is hearing to what isn't said." Simon Sinek

A highly developed skill.

My father was deaf, hearing, and speech impaired. (Yes, I know sign language.) But even with his communication handicap, he was highly skilled at understanding others' feelings. In some ways, he was more effective than many of us at this one skill. He could sense immediately how you felt. Obviously, if a skill, then it can be developed.

His skill, this developed intuition, allowed him to effectively communicate in ways we only begin to understand. Intuitively, even through his handicap, He heard what wasn't being said. I witnessed this many times. If you think about it, it was amazing.

Can you imagine?the power of empathy in leadership if you were to develop, like my dad, the ability to grasp how others feel when they struggle to communicate effectively?

How many problems would that solve?

With our effective attention spans as humans reduced to that of a goldfish today, our "listening" skills have been "dulled."

As leaders, I feel our ability to "listen" has become like a clogged filter, allowing only a drip or two of real communication.

The result.

There is a plague of emotional disengagement in business?and in our personal lives, and those around us and those in our care must scream to feel heard, including you, no doubt.

A recent Gallup study of over 20,000 companies discovered that 83% of employees are disengaged.

Would you like to know why? It's the leadership. Read about it here!

Moving from the position of manager to coach will effectively reduce stress, (theirs and yours), increase productivity and enhance relationships. The key is to develop this seemingly lost skill: as Simon says, it's listening!

A fundamental human need is to feel heard. Those within our care, our teams, our staff, employees, our families, and those dearest to us struggle to "feel" heard through the noise of busyness and distractions. They are, in essence, screaming.

As managers, parents, teachers, and leaders, have we become "dull of hearing?"

What would it mean to you if you were to have someone 100% listen to you, listening to every word to understand the feeling behind what you say?

Want to know how to become a better coach or how to affect your results??Let's talk.

"The information is out there, all you gotta do is let it in." ~ Jesse Stone

Be encouraged. And Encouraging.