Listening Barriers

Listening is not the same as hearing, listening tends to be a developed skill while hearing is much more instinctive. Often when we think about a great friend we identify one of their strong points to be that of a great listener. We probably could cite their feedback and interactions, including allowing us to rant or vent as strong points to their listening skills. Workplace listening may have similar strengths but what we may not stop to realize are some of the barriers that prevent us from listening effectively.

While there are many barriers here are few that make the list:

• Noises that attract our attention (elsewhere)
• Room temperature too hot or too cold
• Voice volume or faulty sound system in training sessions
• Interruptions (phone calls, people moving about)
• Clock watching, time constraints, work overload

Listening tends to be a developed skill and by identifying external barriers we can help to improve the quality of any listening and feedback exchange. Most of the items cited above represent external distractions or barriers, what can you add to this list?

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Decisions, Decisions

How are high impact decisions made in within your team or workplace? Decision making often seems like a straight forward activity and one that leaders typically manage with authority. Does this result in the best decisions? Going one step further team or organization leadership will often express that it was a “team” decision, or sell the outcomes by suggesting that “everyone” agrees. Is this how it really works?

 

While every decision and every workplace will have its own unique circumstances here are a few things to observe the next time you see decision making in action:

• Does the behavior align with the words
• Is feedback utilized, or is it only presented
• Is input truly considered, or is it only propaganda

Many workplace leaders feel that they include and utilize others when making high impact decisions, however in many cases their ideas and conclusions are predetermined and the process of including others may just be an exercise to create buy-in. It often appears that many well meaning leaders do not realize the impact of their behaviors and words on the process.

Have you considered how you manage high impact decisions? How are high impact decisions made in your workplace?

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The Conscientious Employee

Conscientiousness in the workplace is a valuable competency. Conscientious employees typically demonstrate their competence by paying attention to details, anticipating what is next, and being very self-disciplined in their approach. These employees typically uphold the organizations standards, they tend to stay out of trouble and have very high levels of integrity. Conscientious employees are great!

It seems that everything about conscientious employees would be very desirable for any organization. However, in some cases there are some drawbacks. On the not-so-good side of the scale they may develop a tendency to be overly critical of other co-workers. Co-workers whose standards are not set so high. These co-workers may be fully performing employees, just not star performers.

When conscientiousness develops into a relentless pursuit of perfection and judgment on those who are not so conscientious it can lead to a decline in workplace morale and creativity. Morale can suffer with both the highly conscientious employees and the not-so-conscientious employees. Job roles that require more flexibility and creativeness may also develop performance problems. Examples of  job roles or areas that often suffer include sales, research and development, and marketing. Workplace leaders should carefully consider the dynamics of their organization and work hard to help themselves and other employees find the correct balance of conscientiousness.

 

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Balancing Deadlines

Deadlines help us create a sense of purpose and manage priorities, and most workplace professionals recognize the benefits of managing projects and people through deadlines. Can the use of deadlines cause other somewhat unexpected results? The answer of course is – yes.

Extensive use of deadlines may lead to an abuse of power and create a form of micromanagement. Drawbacks to micromanagement include noticeable reductions in employee morale, increased absenteeism, and a general weakness in building or maintaining high performance teams. 

Abusive use of deadlines sometimes create panic about pending projects and a noticeable absence of workplace innovation. While many may argue that some employees perform better under pressure, too much pressure can create an environment that invites burn-out which results in employees disconnecting from the true spirit of the organization in hopes of finding some relief for the uncomfortable and unbalanced circumstances. Nearly everyone will quickly agree that the proper use of deadlines is important for success but at the same time effective workplace leaders know that they must utilize deadlines properly and maintain an appropriate balance.

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Practice Unlearning for Success!

Unlearning, is it important to you? Unlearning is based on the idea that we are a product of ourselves, our experiences, espoused values, and the cultural climate where we live and work. In order to change, grow, and improve sometimes we need to “unlearn” previous skills or habits.

Education and training are paramount to developing new skills and preparing ourselves to take on new challenges. Often it is important for us to let go of the old ways of doing things before we can begin the new. In still other cases when we are under pressure to perform or things don’t seem to be going exactly as we planned we may revert back to old habits or skills. Changing and solidifying new found skills is critical for improving performance, yet sometimes we fail to unlearn the old habits first.

Perhaps the single most important issue for growing or developing new found skills is having the opportunity to practice them. Through practice we start to form a bond with the new skill which can lead to it becoming a habit. Habits are hard to break, be proactive in solidifying your next learning experience by putting the new skills into practice and by replacing old “bad” habits with new “good” habits!

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