Listen and Lead

A Listening Test

There are several listening tests on the Web.

Of course, they are not standardized or validated in any way but they are fun to take and give us reminders of what we should be doing when we tryto listen. I saw one this morning on About.com. Deb Peterson posted it.

These are some of the questions I liked:

____ I can ignore a speaker’s mannerisms and appearance.

____ I listen for main ideas, not just details.

____ I consider which form of communication is best: email, phone, in-person, etc.

You can take the test here.

Listening is Like Losing Weight

LifeScript has an online listening quiz.

It's interactive and kind of fun -- except that you have to submit some information to get your score from the 10-question quiz.

The questions seemed pretty easy and the answers show that more than 70% of the respondents agree. In one case, more than 98% of the quiz-takers got the right answer.

It occurred to me that maybe listening is a lot like losing weight. There are no big secrets, it's just hard to do. The main difference is that you want to take in more if you're listening and less if you're trying to lose weight.

The Art -- or Act -- of Listening

Mother Earth News has an exercise in an article, "The Careful Art of Listening," but it is for listening to -- squirrels. And, of course, other sound sin nature.

Still, I think there may be some applications there for becomning better at listening to humans. (Resist the urge to compare squirrels and humans.)

The article say, "Try this the next time you’re outdoors: Look around for a tree with a base sufficiently wide to serve as a back rest and enough level ground beneath to serve as a seat. Make a comfortable cushion of leaves, pine needles or an old shirt, and sit down. Now relax. Never mind listening or watching for anything; just let your muscles go limp. Take easy, deep breaths. Focus entirely on the in and out of your breathing. Don’t let restlessness or thoughts of other matters creep back into your consciousness; stay relaxed and breathe slow and easy. Shhhh. Breathe easy. Relax. Stay still

"The technique may take several minutes (and several tries), but eventually that internal noise of yours will quiet down, and if you remain still the wildlife around you will forgive and forget your crashing."

the lesson for us, of course, is that listening takes a concerted effort and that it begins with some calming of ourselves.

So, try listening. No, don't begin by looking for a tree to lean against. Begin by getting comfortable, quieting yor body and especially your mind, where yoor own thoughts are caroming around the inside of your head. Listen and watch.

One key to listening is to remove distrastions whetherthey be physical discomfort or mental interruptions.