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Listening skills, like the interstate highway system, is something that’s always being worked on. For example, just yesterday, I answered the phone in my office, “Hello, Doug Smart Seminars, may I help you?.” A very nice sounding female voice asked, “Is Wayne there?” “There’s no one by that name here,” I replied. “Oh, is this the real estate office?” “No this is Doug Smart Seminars.” And then she asked, “This is not the real estate office?” and I couldn’t resist. The devil got in me. “No,” I said, “this is still the same place I said when I answered the phone - Doug Smart Seminars.”

Now it’d be easy to blow her off as a ditz or stupid. But the truth is she sounded foolish because she did what nearly all of us do: She was so focused on her needs, what was said went right over her head twice and she almost missed reality. Good thing I was just a guy answering the phone and not an 18 wheeler speeding down the wrong side of the road.

I have a smart suggestion for all of us, me too — listen to what’s said before responding. I like Dr. Stephen Covey’s advice from the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: “Seek first to understand and then to be understood.” I doubt Covey was referring to placing phone calls, but it’s a smart place to apply his wisdom.

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 16th, 2006 at 12:02 am and is filed under Podcast. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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