Stop Hearing And Start Listening

Suddenly, more than a decade later, I finally have some time to myself again. So, I decided to go through a few of my decades-old papers from college and high school. I found a bunch of text books, papers, and other materials that are as useful as buggy whips. Some of the theories of that era were interesting, to say the least.

While technology, operations management, and industrial processes have changed tremendously in the last few decades, there are some lessons that are more enduring. Many papers talked about the importance of active listening. In the last few years, I have often overlooked the fact that many people are hearing but not listening during conversations. Sometimes, I have been guilty of this myself. When the listening stops, dysfunctional behavior flourishes. As the fractured communication continues, it becomes more difficult to recover. While I have lived through many good examples of this, it takes more than one person to overcome the challenges in communication.

I think I'm going through one of those cycles right now in many different aspects of life. People are hearing me. However, after listening to the responses, I sense great difficulty in the listening skills of many others this month. It would be nice if people stopped hearing and started listening for a while.

See ya.