The Lack of Competent Communication: It’s Hurting Your Career
Good communication is lacking today. We see its absence everywhere – in the conflict of war and aggression, in misguided boardroom decisions, in projects that have to be re-engineered, and in our who’s-going-to-do-what conversations at home. You’ve felt it yourself – that sting of being alienated by people unwilling to listen.
Being shut out of conversations and decisions, not being heard, and not being understood – these things bite whether this action is done on purpose or through neglect or oversight. It’s painfully true that people want more than anything else to be heard and to be understood.
In his book, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, Stephen Covey says that most of us are preoccupied with being "understood" when we should be seeking to "understand". Just changing this one aspect of our behavior would create worlds of improvement both at work and in our personal relationships.
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