Take A Moment To Explore Active Listening

While thinking about Active Listening the other day there was a knock at the back door and at first I thought it must be a package delivery, but it was my next thought that got my gears churning.

What was the thought that pushed all other thoughts off the stage? My thinking pointed itself to this thought, when we speak with another person we are in effect knocking on their door of perception we are asking them to open up, we are asking them in effect to focus on the bits and pieces streaming from our minds to enter into their mind for consideration.

There is a catch in the flow of information between two people, between those in a group. The catch is that most of us are not well equipped to open the door and engage in Active Listening and the reason is quite simple. Most of us were never taught how to listen for the meaning flowing from the person sitting across from us.

When speaking we are knocking on a door of perception asking a person to let us in. #activelistening Click To Tweet

Frankly it a huge problem that business and organizations have to deal with on a daily basis and the problem just grows when it comes to the ability of a group to enter into meaningful dialogue. Thinking about how hard it can be for a business to put together a group dealing with creative or innovative strategy that ends up rubber stamping the ideas of one or two people within the group. When a group fails to fully explore and express itself more than just money and time are lost, opportunity is lost and maybe worst of all the power and energy of collaboration is erased.

Of course all is not lost, Active Listening can be learned and is in fact a huge part of the Generative Dialogue process. When you engage with Dialogue you are infusing your creative and innovation teams with a dynamic energy that will lead to growth and organizational renewal. Generative Dialogue is a process your business can’t afford to ignore.

Below I’ve collected 10 articles that look at active listening from both the same and different points of views, what they have in common is a unanimous agreement that mutual understanding within the group will help with the growth of ideas and innovation. Engaging with the Dialogue process will help everyone to master active listening.

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