It's not Them, It's Me.

A husband thought that his wife was becoming deaf each day. So he decided to test her listening skills as she was preparing dinner that day.

As he came in from the front door, he shouted towards his wife, whose back was against him in the kitchen, “Honey, what’s for dinner?”
No answer.

He moved towards the sofa and shouted, “Honey, what’s for dinner?”
Still no answer.

He then moved towards the kitchen and shouted with all his might, “Honey! What’s for dinner?”

This time, his wife turned around, glared at him and shouted back, “For the third time, I said chicken!”


Moral of the Story:
As leaders, we might feel that we are being misunderstood and that others don’t listen to us and we are always in the right. However, if we take time to listen and appreciate others, we’ll find that we are the ones who need to change. By removing the plank of self righteousness in our eyes, and ear wax in our ears, we will be able to understand the world better.

Here are 4 tips.

1. Hear the ground more.
2. Be more sensitive to feedback
3. Listen with your ears.
4. Check yourself. If you try to convey something and nothing goes through, you could be decoding the message wrongly.

cheers,
Mark