Some people listen because they’re afraid not to. It’s self-preservation, not respect.
What if people couldn’t wait for you to open your mouth?
7 Reasons Your Team Isn’t Listening
#1. You’re negative. Negativity sucks the life out of teams.
#2. You’re irrelevant. The message doesn’t matter to them.
#3. You don’t listen. Why should they?
#4. You talk too long. People with power love the sound of their own voice.
#5. You make commitments you don’t keep. Your words don’t have weight.
#6. You don’t hold yourself and others accountable. People ignore what they know you’ll forget about.
#7. You pretend you know when you don’t. Drivel generates skepticism.
When people can’t wait for you to stop talking, they already stopped listening.
5 Ways to be Heard
#1. Be brief. Don’t cover all the bases. Speak fewer words and invite questions.
#2. Open your mouth to ask questions. Say, “I don’t want to waste your time with information that doesn’t matter. What did I leave out?”
#3. Speak with specificity. Weak leaders hide behind generalities. Ambiguity is boring.
#4. Adapt to the people listening. Spend more time thinking about them and less thinking about yourself.
#5. Be solution-centric and forward-looking.
Say things that make life better for others.
