A number of people commented (not as comments on the blog although you are welcome to actually post those emails) that my last post was Speak Memorably while the one before that was Management Success: Ask…and Listen. I must admit that this was just a random event unless it was some message from the recesses of my unconscious. These notes come from whatever I’ve been thinking about based on recent occurrances around me. Lately I have been caught up in quite a few things involving speaking and listening.
But the comments did get me intrigued that readers found it strange that I suggested both speaking and listening. It seems that some people find them at odds with each other. I find them to be the major components of conversation, of dialogue, of intelligent discourse. What those commenting noticed was that all too many do one or the other without connecting the two. All spewing it out or all gathering it in but not connecting the dots that lead to engagement, connection, and all the improvement that comes from building ideas together.
Success comes not just from being a good speaker or listener but from the ability to connect these two things. Poor speakers have a hard time getting their ideas across while poor listeners miss all kinds of useful information. Success comes from being good at both and even more importantly knowing that each has its place of great importance in successful communication…and management.
For what is exceptional management but the ability to communicate well. The ability to clearly share the story in ways that engage and excite mixed with the ability to gather input and ideas to incorporate into and improve your message. It’s a dialogue, not a monologue. Forget this at your peril.
Most of the information you need resides in the heads of those in the organization…but they often don’t know it and don’t get asked. Worse yet, they get the message that their ideas are not wanted, that they are to hear and do rather than think and improve. Your most precious resource, the knowledge of your people, is wasted.
Become good at conversation. Become expert at both sharing your story and listening to those around you. Take the best parts of what you say and add in the best parts of what you hear, that which leads you onward, improves what you do, builds quality and excellence.
Build a message that shows you value input from others and truly believe that the whole is greater than the parts…and that all will benefit when all are included.
Speak Memorably…but also Ask…and Listen. Together they build the conversation that leads to even greater success.