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Quickstart - Why Listening is Often The Key
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Quickstart
Grow a Profitable Consultancy and Still Have Time for a Life
In this issue
Note from Beverley - Good Wishes and Revisit
One Step Further - Why Listening is Often The Key
What's Out There? - Listen and Learn
Personal Reflections - Lessons Learnt
Note from Beverley
Well this is the final issue of Quickstart for 2006 and this one makes it 46 in total this year. Please feel free to go back and revisit any of the Past Issues, which range in topic from, Do You Have a Marketing Pie? To Boost Your Business with Joint Ventures and Is your Consultancy Becoming a Dodo? to Are you a Provider or a Parasite?
I hope you have learnt something, enjoyed something and got value form something this year through Quickstart and that you will continue to do so as we move into 2007. I enjoy writing Quickstart and my true wish is to provide value, challenge your thinking and offer some insights and thoughts, which will of help to you.
I wish you a very Happy Christmas and hope 2007 brings you all that you wish for yourself.
Have a good week.
Beverley
bev@onestepfurther.co.uk
www.onestepfurther.co.uk
+44 (0) 1344 625713
One Step Further
"I know that you believe you understand what you think I said, but I'm not sure you realize that what you heard is not what I meant." Robert McCloskey
Listening is a powerful tool. Listening is a skill. Listening is one half of communication.
* Are you a great listener?
* What does being a great listener mean?
* Why should you care?
If you acknowledge that the results of good communication require a good process of communication then to play your part in that process means being good at the two most important aspects: Talking - expressing your viewpoint with clarity and Listening - truly understanding what was expressed. Just being good at one part diminishes the value of the whole process.
Listening happens at many levels and for many people the level at which they listen will determine the value they get from their communication: in business, in their relationships and with themselves.
So what are those 4 levels? Well different people express them in different ways, so these are my 4 levels, just to get you thinking
1. I listen - I hear the words you speak
2. I listen - I translate the meaning behind the words you speak
3. I listen - I understand your meaning behind the words you speak
4. I listen - I understand your meaning, your intent and am focused only on that
At level 1 and 2 the focus is on us. The focus of the activity is on us and our view of what we think is being said. We are listening but not truly hearing or understanding.
At level 3 we start to focus on the other person. We focus on what they say, how they say it and the meaning of what they say without assumptions based on our view of the world.
At level 4 we are truly "in harmony""at one" with the other person. At level 4 the connection, value of the communication and subsequent depth of the relationship is so much more powerful and valuable because we truly sense what is happening and can participate much more.
In his new book Presence:Exploring Profound Change in People Organisations and Society , Peter Senge along with his co authors talks about letting go and for me letting go of preconceptions, assumptions and "what I think" mindsets is what is needed for communication to really happen at anything but a superficial level.
Well so what you may ask? What does that have to do with my consultancy?
Well imagine the difference between a level 1 conversation with your clients and a level 4? How much richer could the relationship be? How better could you serve each other? How much more connected could you be? And as a result how much more business could you do together directly or indirectly.
Letting go of your need to talk, letting go of your desire to control/be in control and letting go of any preconceived notion of what might be happening, to be truly engaged and present in what someone else is saying is, in my view, a rare skill, a valuable skill and one which if we all cultivated would greatly enhance all our lives.
So let go and truly listen and let me know how you get on.
"So when you are listening to somebody, completely, attentively, then you are listening not only to the words, but also to the feeling of what is being conveyed, to the whole of it, not part of it." Jiddu Krishnamurti
What's Out There?
Think Like Your Customers: Listening to Learn Your Customers' Perspectives
"In order to think like a customer, imagine that you are the customer describing to someone your business objectives and the resources you will need to achieve them. This is the kind of information every supplier needs to have for their future."
Listening: Your Best Sales Tool by Thomas Wood-Young
"Listening is hard work that pays off in the long run. Be an excellent listener and build trust. Listening allows you to get inside the head of your customers and understand their hot buttons."
Presence:Exploring Profound Change in People Organisations and Society A different set of perspectives on the development of a new theory about change and learning. A book built around a series of wide-ranging conversations over a year and a half, The authors, Senge, Scharmer, Jaworski, and Flowers explore their own experiences and those of 150 scientists and social and business entrepreneurs in an effort to explain how profound collective change occurs. Their journey of discovery articulates a new way of seeing the world, and of understanding our part in creating it - as it is and as it might be.
Personal Reflections
As another year ticks by I am given to reflecting on what I have learnt over the past 12 months. Always a good exercise for the mind and heart and at the same time both enlightening and interesting. Here are 20 things I've learnt/relearnt over the past year
1. Change is good if you allow it to be
2. Bad times don't last unless you let them
3. Clients teach you when you are least looking for them to
4. Connections and alliances are what add and create value
5. Creativity is the lifeblood of any business
6. Sometimes you just have to ask
7. Business is more than a balance sheet
8. Having a purpose gives you direction
9. Not having a purpose leaves you wandering aimlessly
10. The journey is as enjoyable as the destination
11. Many people don't want what they say/think they want
12. There is always a way - if you really want to find one
13. Reading offers more than words
14. Learning is continuous and experienced in the most bizarre ways at times
15. Opportunities are in abundance if your eyes, ears and heart are open
16. It's OK to change your mind
17. Authenticity is attractive and detractive and the same time
18. A poke in the eye and kick up the behind is what some people need
19. A smile and a thank you go far beyond the moment
20. Say what you want not what you don't want
So what have you learnt? Would you be willing to share that with me. I'd love to collate all your learning over the past year and include it in the first issue of 2007 for everyone else to gain from. Simply email me at
bev@onestepfurther.co.uk
And a final thought from me
The foundation stones for a balanced success are honesty, character, integrity, faith, love and loyalty." Zig Ziglar
Best Regards
Bev
bev@onestepfurther.co.uk
www.onestepfurther.co.uk |
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