I had to practice what I preach. I had to listen to someone share her criticisms, suggestions, and proposed new procedures for an organization I have been heavily involved with for the past five years. And here's the tough part, I had to force myself not to interrupt her. Every time Susan said something I disagreed with I had to struggle to control my knee-jerk reaction and say "But you don't understand...", "But we've tried that before", "But..." I had to listen critically.

Luckily for her, me, and this organization we were discussing, I had just completed updating materials for a client's training program on Critical Thinking. In doing so, I'd obviously spent a good bit of time thinking about the importance of critical thinking and listening. During my research, I'd found a good definition of critical thinking on About.com:
Critical Thinking involves developing some emotional and intellectual distance between yourself and ideas - whether your own or others' - in order to better evaluate their truth, validity, and reasonableness ... Critical thinking does not guarantee that we will arrive at truth, but it does make it much more likely than any of the alternatives do.

With this knowledge lingering in my mind, I sat and listened to Susan. I needed to learn what she really thought. In doing so I struggled with my desire to interrupt her when she used words and terms I didn't like. I forced myself to stop wishing I had a remote control because I wanted to click her "Off" when she presented opinions I didn't agree with. And, I had to struggle to determine what she was really trying to communicate versus what she was simply saying. It was hard, but as a result, I learned a lot about myself and a lot about Susan. I realized she wanted many of the same things I had wanted to see happen with the organization too - yet she was simply saying them differently. She was using terms that were "wrong" to me, but her ideas were "right." I'd had to listen critically so we could both think critically to benefit this organization.

Do yourself, your employees, your organization, and your customers a favor. Force yourself to think and listen critically. Avoid the knee-jerk desire to click "Off" opposing views and opinions. When you do, you may be amazed at what you will learn.

Copyright 2008 - Liz Weber, CMC - Weber Business Services, LLC.
WBS is a team of Strategic Planning and Leadership Development Consultants, Trainers, and Speakers. Liz can be reached at liz@wbsllc.com or (717)597-8890.
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