At my job, we had to attend a customer service training seminar two days this week. The speaker was phenomenal, upbeat, energetic and full of life. In my job, customer service skills are essential and in any position because we all tend to expect exceptional service when we are in need.
Listening is never learned only expected from our culture. We learn how to speak but never learn how to listen and it shows especially in an argumentative setting.
Did you and your spouse ever sit in a room together for hours with no conversation? One of the things I wanted to share is that silence is a form of communication. When you can sit next to someone without saying a word, you know you have a good rapport with that person and talking is no longer necessary to have that relationship. You learned how to have comfortable silence. This is also a great active listening skill since we tend to always want to interrupt someone and try to give our input in every situation when sometimes people just want to talk.
Did you also tend to get bored with people’s conversation and think to yourself, “will you get to the point?” It is not only you….According to FasterAudio.com, our brains can process up to 600 words per minute and we only speak 125-150 per minute.” It is our body mechanics working against us that cause us to be bored by some conversations unless we are stimulated by the topic.
I thought I would share this with everyone today, I thought this was pretty interesting. What do you think? It was refreshing that ignoring my boyfriend wasn’t a sign of boredom.
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I wasn't aware of that Alison. Thats great to know.
I love statistics and what I call 'worthless knowledge'. Although, all in all, it is not worthless.
I am glad you shared. It is really important to know that we need to listen more as well as create an exceptional customer service attitude in every aspect of life, not only professionally.
August 31, 2008 - 2:36pmThis Comment
Ha! your last sentence is funny!
Your post had quite a few messages, everything from appropriate customer service (which is important in every field, from doctor's "bedside manner" to the grocery clerk saying "hi" and "thank you" and not commenting on your choice of food or medicine...) to being bored by a boyfriend's (excessive? unrelenting?) talking. :-)
The topic of communication is so interesting, and as a mom with a toddler, I am learning more about the nuances of "language" (which, of course, "listening" is the receiving-end of the communication/language cycle).
Did you know that we all had to learn three types of language when we were toddlers? You will recognize all of these once I list them, but they are often lumped together with the assumption that they all take the same types of skills to learn (and improve on, when we are adults):
1. Language Comprehension (understanding what was said or read, listening actively and listening passively)
2. Verbal Expression (includes saying words and sentences and being able to articulate sounds)
3. Non-verbal Expression (pointing, shoulder-slouching, hand shaking, crossing arms, rolling eyes, smiling)
I wish I could remember who said this, but I wrote it down a long time ago:
August 31, 2008 - 2:11pm“We Learn. . .
10% of what we read
20% of what we hear (that good ol' listening!)
30% of what we see
50% of what we see and hear
70% of what we discuss
80% of what we experience
95% of what we teach others.”
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