 |
 |
 |
These are three of the many focused topical articles that George has written and published in association publications, newspapers and national reports. He has written twelve articles on Listening published in the Telephone Selling Report, a popular nationally known sales publication.
George has had over 40 articles on Leadership, Change, Listening Skills and Body Language published in the ASTD Perspectives publication. He is currently writing another series of articles entitled Leadership One on One: Mentoring for the New Millenium. All of his articles relate to various topics that he speaks, trains and consults on nationwide. Call him at 972-234-4377 to receive a free copy of any of his series of articles.
 Listening is MORE Than Meets the Ear Leaders Grow People The Human Side of Change |
 By George Hendley "Give every man thine ear, but few thy voice." Shakespeare
Has this ever happened to you? You give clear, brief, simple instructions to an individual about a task they are to perform. You ask them if they understand and they say 'yes'. Then three to five minutes later they come back to you and ask you to repeat those same instructions one more time. Another scenario goes like this. You have just finished covering the three most important points to gain audience attention and build rapport with the training session that you are addressing. Then a hand goes up. The person asks the question, "Could you cover the three most important points to gain audience attention and build rapport with us?" Or the worst one yet: You find yourself in the shoes of the one asking those questions! It happens to all of us, doesn't it? Are you ready for an answer? Keep reading. Here's the answer: LISTENING. How can it be that simple? The greatest answers in life are always simple. Are you ready to start from the beginning, ask some questions, do some thinking and get some new insights? Keep reading. Now, here's some more questions for you. What is the foundation of all communication? What communication skill were you using long before you thought about reading, writing or even speaking? Out of the four basic communication skills which one do you use the most? You already have the answer: LISTENING. How did you do? That wasn't too hard, was it? We should be off to a great start together. Now a couple of questions that require you to think. How much time did you spend learning to read, write and speak during your years of formal education? How much time did you invest on listening skills? Your first answer was probably similar to mine...lots. From first grade through high school and into college we are constantly learning and reviewing the skills of reading, writing and speaking. But how much were you taught about listening? Your second answer was also probably like mine. I never had a specific course nor any detailed instruction in listening skills during all of my formal education. Does that mean listening isn't important? Does it prove that we do not need to be taught how to listen? The answers are obvious. Why is Listening Important? Here are 10 reasons: 1) To receive information; 2) To be courteous; 3) To solve problems; 4) To make money; 5) To prevent waste; 6) To save time; 7) To be more efficient and effective; 8) To prevent accidents; 9) To build rapport; 10) To enhance relationships. How many can you add to this list? There are easily 25-30 additional reasons that you could add. Are you starting to see why listening is vital both to your personal and professional life? Research has shown we spend 70-85% of our business day communicating in one form or another. Out of that time we usually spend 45% listening; 30% speaking; 16% reading and 9% writing. Almost everyone believes they are good listeners. Unfortunately most of us listen at only 25% of our potential. Can you improve? You bet you can! See next months article for ways you can begin to improve the foundation of all communication, listening. George works with leaders who want to grow people and organizations that want to excel in service.
George Hendley If you want one year of prosperity, grow grain. If you want ten years of prosperity, grow trees. If you want one hundred years of prosperity, grow people. Chinese Proverb People are our most valuable resource. Hopefully, this is more than just another nice clich&#eacute; rolled off the tongue of an executive when cornered and asked about his top priorities. Yet it is often forgotten when the "bottom line" is being discussed. Maybe it's time we realigned our thinking, and especially in corporate America, abut the bottom line. Or better yet, perhaps we should look at people as the "top line" and top priority that they are. Leaders grow people. This isn't done overnight. This priority can't be delegated to the "VP of people-growing" and quickly forgotten. Growing people is an ongoing responsibility of any and all executives, bosses, managers, supervisors and folks-in-charge. Where does this begin? It starts with each of us individually, and continues with all of us collectively. All lead and all follow. The question isn't "do you lead?" The question is "how well and how much?" What is the quantity and quality of your leadership? If just one person looks to you for direction, for decisions, for guidance, for information you are leading that one. And for that one, one hundred, one thousand or more you have a responsibility. Leadership is a privilege and with all privileges there are accompanying responsibilities. How do you deal with the responsibilities? How do you steward the privileges? You begin by growing yourself as a follower. You recognize a need both for yourself and others and you decide to act. You start by learning the foundation of leadership…service. Leadership starts when you take action. A wise farmer will study the weather patterns, the soil conditions, the growing season, the insects or other crop destroyers and numerous other details before planting the crop and expecting a rich harvest. The smart coach will review the rules of the game, the game plan , the player's strengths, the competition and a myriad of other details in preparing for a winning season. Likewise, the individual wanting to become a leader must first make the necessary plans and preparations to develop their own leadership abilities. This begins by learning self-leadership, which includes self-responsibility and self-discipline. Studying the lives of many of the greatest leaders of all time, you will find that they spent many years in preparation for their important role of leadership. They patiently grew themselves by following others, learning from their strengths and their mistakes. They recognized a need, sometimes in others, often times within themselves and took action to meet that need. Service was the true foundation for their leadership and established as they practiced it. Leaders grow people, starting with themselves. In Part Two we'll examine more details on self-growth to understand why it is the first step in growing people. George works with leaders who want to grow people and organizations that want to excel in service.
George Hendley In the beginning...was change. And the change was without form and void; and darkness was upon the face of everyone because of the change. Well, you have to start somewhere! Why not start in the beginning? Wasn't that a point of real change? Let's face it, change didn't start with the nineties and corporate rightsizing, reengineering or upsidedown-sizing. It started in the beginning and will continue, and continue and continue. Are you ready for change? Ready or not, here it comes, and comes, and... The human side of change is a study of life. Life is about change and change is about life. It's about living, growing and learning; relearning, growing and living some more. Change is a process and to understand the process the greatest analogy is to study life. To study life, look in the mirror. You are alive, aren't you? As human beings we are in a constant process of change. We are continually changing, albeit in our adult stage
more slowly and imperceptibly than in our earlier years.
If you look at the rapid, exponential growth and changes that occurred during the first few days and weeks of our early existence it's shocking. It has to be a miracle we didn't stop the process and send a message to the one giving us life support that these changes were happening too fast. "Hey Mom, slow it down, will ya!" We didn't stop it because we were changing too fast and that is how life begins. Even if Mom had gotten our message and wanted to help she couldn't slow down the process. Why? Because that growth process is part of life and life is a process of change. This process of change has to start on the inside to be long lasting and positive. External change or cosmetic change has no real long term benefit. In most cases it continues to promulgate the quick-fix mentality that encourages mental weakness and emotional bankruptcy. This isn't the answer we need in helping us master change. We can change, we do change and we are changing even at this moment. These changes are part of our life process. Our life process is a change process, a growing process. "So what!" you say. So let's learn from the process. We can examine it and understand what we can do to accept, adapt and act with confidence. Then we can become the change masters of our lives and not fear or dread the future. Will you become a change master who is able to stretch, adjust, transform and transfigure yourself into the kind of person who embraces the twenty first century? Or will you cringe in fear and anxiety wondering and worrying what tomorrow, next week and next forever will bring? It's your choice! Change is happening with or without you. George works with leaders who want to grow people and organizations that want to excel in service.
|
 |
