Curiouser and Curiouser!

Curiouser and Curiouser! on listening http://matt.blogs.it/ RSS feed for topic listening Copyright 2006 Matt Mower Squib/0.1 self@mattmower.com self@mattmower.com en-gb Did you hear something? Thu, 12 Dec 2002 11:40:34 +0000 <BLOCKQUOTE dir=ltr style="MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px"> <A href="http://weblog.halmacomber.com/#90003486">Reduce Project Variability...Start Listening</A>. I've been teaching listening from the time I started teaching project management. Invariably, a large percentage (often a great majority) of the sources of mis-coordination on projects is the result of project participants not listening. Mis-listening just adds to the variability and uncertainty on our projects. [<A href="http://weblog.halmacomber.com/">Reforming Project Management</A>]</BLOCKQUOTE> With thanks to <A href="http://dijest.com/aka/">Phil</A> for rsstroducing me to Hal's blog and to a great post.  It's also a great advert for k-logs since reading k-logs is all about listening. Was it Phil who, a little while ago, advised the idea of using k-logs to let projects fail fast.  Reading the k-logs of the people on the team (or perhaps a consolidated feed built from & filtered out of their individual feeds) is a key aspect of how you understand what is happening on the project, how you can tell if it is failling and understand the issues. I've pondered risk management in projects before.  No project worth doing comes without risks and the challenge is often to understand what the real risks are and to spot them in time to do something about them.  Again, this is listening.  How can you sense when a risk is rearing it's head for real?  How can you tell when a new issue is emerging that should make it onto your list? If listening is the stethoscope then k-logs are the heartbeat (...too much? :-) ) http://matt.blogs.it/entries/00000993.html Seek first to understand Mon, 03 Mar 2003 09:01:30 +0000 <BLOCKQUOTE dir=ltr style="MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px"> THE LISTENING LEADER "Lifting Listening Leadership Awareness and Action Worldwide" DANGER!! THE INTERRUPTION!! The following excerpt is from "Time to Think: Listening to Ignite the Human Mind" by Nancy Kline: What is it about the interruption that is so tantalizing? We seem unable to resist doing it. I once asked a group what they were assuming that made them interrupt their colleagues. They listed these things: <UL> <LI>My idea is better than theirs. <LI>If I don't interrupt them, I will never get to say my idea. <LI>I know what they are about to say. <LI>They don't need to finish their thoughts since mine is an improvement. <LI>Nothing about their idea will improve with further development. <LI>I am more important than they are. <LI>It is more important for me to be seen to have a good idea than it is for me to be sure they complete their thought. <LI>Interrupting them will save time, </LI></UL> There is a cost to each of these items. They all can be summed up with the expression - "It's all about me." LISTENING LEADER LESSON: Why not check yourself in the interruption category? Let others experience bliss by knowing that you will not interrupt them. [<A href="http://www.listeningleader.com">The Listening Leader</A>]</BLOCKQUOTE> I'm guilty of this far more often that I would like.  Especially given my wholehearted belief in Stephen Covey's 5th Habit Seek first to understand, then to be understood.  I guess it's just hard. http://matt.blogs.it/entries/00001248.html Powerful listening Mon, 31 Mar 2003 09:50:47 +0100 <BLOCKQUOTE dir=ltr style="MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px"> THE LISTENING LEADER "Lifting Listening Leadership Awareness and Action Worldwide" 03/31/03 -------------------------------------------------------------------- LISTENING-BASED INNOVATION Continuing success comes from value-creating innovation stimulated by disciplined listening. Occasional surveys are insufficient. Organizations need to build listening systems that capture, summarize, and disseminate the unmet dreams and unfulfilled wants of multiple customer groups, including existing, prospective, and internal customers (employees). Listening systems uncover fresh marketplace intelligence, help guide decision making, and nurture creative thinking. Effective listening systems involve both formal and informal methods, conversations with customers, the use of trend data to reveal changing patterns, the distribution of relevant information to all employees, and active discussion and application of findings in work groups. Listening leads to learning, which sets the stage for innovation. Innovation is more likely when employees are well informed about the customer, unafraid to try something new, and committed to the organization's success. Charles Schwab uses multiple methods to listen for customers' dreams that often start with the phrase, "I know it's not possible, but I wish....." Schwab's top management travels extensively to interact with customers in informal settings. Branches host monthly customer receptions, and at least once a week in different cities. Schwab holds town meetings to hear employees' ideas, suggestions, and concerns. Gary Hoover, who has created three innovative businesses (Bookstop, Hoover's Handbooks, and TravelFest) claims that the customers always get what they want. It is just a matter of who gives it to them when. Companies that sustain success continually search for new ways to create value for customers. They choose to lead rather than follow, to act rather than wait, to heed the customer instead of the competitor. Source: Leading for the Long Term, Leonard Berry, Leader to Leader </BLOCKQUOTE> More good stuff from the <A href="http://www.listeningleader.com/">Listening Leader</A> (one of the few daily e-mail shots that I subscribe to). For a company that is ready to hear (and encourage) real news from the front-line a network of internal action journals would mae a very powerful listening system.  More intelligence (and potential for automated news gathering) could be added to this by using simple topic map techniques (e.g. annotating each post with 1 or 2 topics describing the business area/project, tone of each post, etc...) http://matt.blogs.it/entries/00001341.html Effective small talk through listening Mon, 28 Jul 2003 07:48:54 +0100 <BLOCKQUOTE dir=ltr style="MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px"> There's an art to good small talk -- especially at business functions. Rather than just exchange pleasantries, you can gather information and create new relationships. The key: Avoid the canned nod-and-smile approach. Most people will notice if you run on auto-pilot, pretending to care when you're really indifferent or distracted. Instead try to listen and learn. Here are a few tips for strengthening your small talk skills: <OL> <LI>Know what to ask - Come prepared with 2-3 open-ended questions (i.e. "What brought you here today?") <LI>Focus totally on the other person - rather than being concerned what you are going to say. <LI>Keep moving - take the opportunity to connect with as many people as possible. <LI>Listen for common ground - if you find something you both relate to, that establishes a common bond. </LI></OL> [Source: <A href="http://www.listeningleader.com">Investors Business Daily</A>]</BLOCKQUOTE> http://matt.blogs.it/entries/00001530.html