By: Cole Buergi, Leonard & Finco Public Relations
Communication overload is happening more and more every day.
It seems that everyone is being bombarded with information, in all forms
including verbal, email, texts and social media. In some ways that’s great
because we can get much more work completed in a shorter amount of time than 20
or more years ago.
The problem is, with the amount of information coming at us,
are we really taking the time we need to truly listen and understand what the
message is?
That’s important because, in order to be an effective
communicator, you need to hear and process what others are saying. Unfortunately,
in today’s fast paced world, thoroughly listening to someone and truly
processing what they are conveying goes against most people’s desire to reply
instantly to everyone, all the time. Right or wrong, it’s the world that we
live in.
I can remember a time (and, yes, I’m old enough to say that
now) when the only people you talked with were the ones you were spending time
with at that moment. And you listened to what they had to say and responded
appropriately. Now you put a group of 20 somethings in a room, and it seems
like the only person they are not talking to is the person sitting next to
them. Most, if not all of them, will be on their smart phones and only
partially engaged in what’s transpiring around them.
I understand that’s not all bad. In a sense, it almost
allows us to be in two or more places at once. However, at some point in
everyone’s life, there will be a need to be able to communicate face-to-face,
particularly when it’s their boss. And, in these situations, you better be
listening to what they are saying and be able to communicate accordingly.
Not too many employers I know will accept an emoji smiley
face as a response to a question.
What do you do to take time to truly absorb the important
messages you receive and prepare to respond?
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