There are 2 ways to receive verbal information. Either you are LISTENING and getting ‘it’, or you are HEARING it, which typically says you aren’t getting it all. I know when I am in front of someone, whether it’s a one on one or I am in front of 150 students, I can observe body language and it tells me who’s LISTENING and who’s HEARING me. When you pay attention, you are LISTENING and when you are HEARING, you are probably multi-thinking, and all the information does not fully process. If the data does not process, you are missing something that might just be significant and could be disruptive to your end game.
As a student, I remember teachers always saying, ‘pay attention’. What they were really saying is, ‘are you hearing me?’ If you don’t focus, pay attention and try to get it all, you are at risk of some form of failure.
Many of my students just graduated and they are either interning or working. I try hard during the academic year to impress upon them that all jobs require various responsibilities and an ability to manage the criteria….whatever that might be. This is the workflow and should one detail in that workflow get confused or lost, then the workflow fails, and you fail. When you are engaging with someone make sure you are on your ‘A’ game and LISTENING.
