Thought for Friday: Be Prepared to be Amazed

Here’s a talk by Celeste Headlee called “10 ways to have a better conversation” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R1vskiVDwl4(11:44) [TED, 9-Mar-2016]

In the talk Headlee shows that our default position is to talk and not listen. Our passions often lead our talking positions and this leaves little room for listening to each other. She notes that “a conversation requires a balance between talking and listening, somewhere along the line we have lost that”. Honouring each other by coming from the starting point that all experiences are individual brings openness to the conversation. Listening, considering and responding is the number one skill to develop. After all, listening is not preparing to speak. For us, this is part of engaging our stakeholders, delivering to objectives and aligning values.

Some things to consider

  • Paying attention instead of focusing on paying attention. Let go of doing and let go of fleeting thoughts in conversations.

  • Seeking response.  Pause and honour the space between, response will come.

  • Assuming that we always have something to learn. Go with the flow and be brief.

What is your squad listening to? What are you learning? Where are you pausing?

How does this thinking apply to you in your Tribe / Support Function? What are you honouring? What do you think you are paying attention to? Where are you all in flow?

Why is this important? Good question. When we talk from preconceptions and experience we bring the past to a conversation. If this is all we do then the conversation is no more than a statement of positions that may or may not reflect the present. All it takes to glimpse the present is to step aside from the past and give it some space. The future may reveal itself. This is where we can be prepared to be amazed.

For further viewing / reading:

Inviting you to have a view / read and to have a chat with me about your thoughts.

[Originally posted internally in my role in IS Governance at The Warehouse Group.]