Listen, Listen, Linda, Linda

You would think that listening is elementary but it is not as innate as you would think. It may be a play on words but I think that many of us hear what others are saying but we don’t necessarily listen to what others say all the time (to include myself). According to Robert Moran Ph.D. “Listening is a complex activity.” The average person speaks approximately 12,000 sentences everyday at about 150 words a minute, while the listener’s brain can absorb around 400 words per minute, (Moran, 2017). That means we usually have more capacity to take in and understand what we hear everyday. According to Webster’s Dictionary the word hearing is defined as: to perceive or become aware of by the ear and to listen is: to hear something with thoughtful attention. This is why I say we hear many things but don’t always listen. Ph. D Moran states that there are two types of positive listening behaviors: Information gathering – purpose to absorb information verbally and nonverbally. The other is: Active listening – listening which demonstrates to the speaker that he or she really understands what is being said. To actually listen takes purposeful involvement, a deliberate action on the listener’s part. “Listening is at the heart of all successful communication.” (Moran, Robert, Ph. D, 2017)  During the time I was in the military, we sat through briefing after briefing and meeting after meeting getting the latest intelligence and mapping out the best plans to utilize it. It proved to be very difficult at times to sit through these briefings and actually listen. No matter how many cups of coffee you had or no matter how many times you pinched yourself under the table it was still difficult at times to take it all in. It was a know fact that it hit the best of us at some point in our careers. There isn’t much to do during these time as you are rather confined to a seat. In order to combat this we would stand up, ask questions, write notes, summarize the brief in our own words to make sure we understood the message the speaker was trying to convey and number one, never interrupt the speaker. Always let him or her finish their thought before interjecting.  All of which I would say is part of a good active listener. I was actively listening back then and didn’t even realize it. This is something I have taken with me and have used throughout my career. This is nothing of epic proportions but important enough to acknowledge in order to attain a healthy line of communication.

References:

Moran, R. T., Abramson, N. R., 7 Moran, S. V. (2014). Managing cultural

differences (9th ed.). New York, NY: Routledge.

Merriam Webster, (2017) Dictionary,  https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary