Premature Articulation
Author: robert | Posted: 23.07.2008 | Views: 16
Ask anyone about what makes a good leader and they are sure toput the ability to communicate high on the list of necessaryskills. Yet all to often communication is simply seen as theability to speak.
Listening - actively is an incredibly powerful tool at timesrather neglected.
I stated working with ***** who said, "I feel really frustrated.I often suggest ideas at meetings but others get the credit! Iam really keen to get promotion and want to impress"
***** was keen to do well. He wanted his superiors to recognisehis potential and felt it was important to come up with thegoods. At meetings ***** always tried to get in first. He wasquick to speak, often cutting across others and interrupting.
By doing so there were a number of consequences quite differentto his original intention:
Bosses lost their train of thought; they found the interruptionsirritating.
***** concentrated far more on what he was going to say ratherthan internalising what was being said by others. Hiscontributions were not focused on the matter at hand, or wereshallow because he had not taken the time to analyse what hadbeen said
Thoughts were articulated before they were completelyformulated. Others picked up on the idea, thought them throughlogically and re-articulated them as their own, gaining lots ofbrownie points with the bosses
The problem was premature articulation, a very common problem.The solution is easy to identify but requires practice on aregular basis if the new behaviour is to become second nature.
Together we considered how to manage the problem. I asked ******to make a conscious decision to act differently at the nextmeeting.
To remain quiet, listening carefully and to contribute only whentheir opinion was asked for.
Planned strategies for listening, ordering thoughts andrecording ideas were put in place.
It was agreed that ideas were to be offered after enough thoughthad taken place to ensure they were logical ordered and listenedto.
The result was amazing. ****** felt more in control and wasready with positive, well thought out contributions which wereaccredited to him.
***** found the situation in meetings was less stressful andfrantic as the pressure to perform was lessened. Listeningattentively, taking time to get his thoughts together beforeoffering a contribution has taken a bit of effort but well worthwhile.
Feedback from *****'s boss has been extremely positive.
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Independent Consultant, writer and life-coach Gina Gardinersupports people at individual or organisational level to developconfidence, leadership and people skills and effectivedelegation; empowering them to see themselves as part of thesolution. If you would like to know more email:gina.gardiner@ntlworld.com Phone 01708 703959 or look onwww.firststeptothefuture.com
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