Here we go ….. into the month of December, typically filled with holiday cheer – – along with performance evaluations, compensation decisions, budgets, and an assortment of other pressure-filled projects and assignments that happen only once a year.
Do you hear what I hear is on the radio, and I’m thinking about what I hear when I’m in conversation. Remembering that the holidays have tentacles attached to them in the form of family history, complex child, sibling and parental relationships. These things are called “filters” in the coaching world, and recognizing my filters in a conversation guides me in deeper listening. Getting out of my own way to really hear what you said.
Sometimes silence speaks volumes, as the saying goes. Are we listening in a deeper way? Can you listen to what is not being said? It requires setting aside our filters (as much as we can) and focusing precisely on what is being said, and then again to what isn’t being said.
As we navigate this holiday season, both in our office and personal conversations, raise your awareness to your filters, listen beyond the response you want to make (or have rehearsed), and watch how much more depth there is to the conversation.
