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When we talk about people who are talented communicator’s lots of us generally refer to those that are apt at transmitting their point of view and making themselves understood. So, to a certain extent we understand great communicators as those that broadcast well, great speakers, lectures etc. However, we too often underestimate the importance of listening in their success.

When I was just over a year at Symantec John Thompson had just taken over as the new CEO. I was fortunate enough to have spent a few minutes with him as he did the rounds in the Dublin office. John was, and is I am sure:-), an amazing communicator, I had never seen anybody engage so effortlessly with so many teams and individuals; it seemed that he already knew everybody.

Listen twice as much as you talk

In the opportunity I had to speak with John I told him that I was not long at the company and that I was looking forward to the professional challenge. He said that one rule of thumb for him in all is dealings and especially when he was in new situations like his new post was to use his mouth and ears in the correct proportion, that’s to say we should listen twice as much as we talk.

Do we listen to respond or to comprehend?

John went on to give an overall speech to the entire branch. Obviously he had a message to convey but the amazing thing was how he conveyed it, it seemed so relevant to the local context, why? Because he had listened and then adapted to what he had heard. John Thompson made a commitment to visit an extordinary number of offices, cant remember the exact figure now, in his first 100 days in the post. Getting the new message across was definitely one of his objectives but after meeting him I new that comprehending the situation of the office was going to be right up there on his list of priorities.

That was over 13 years ago now but that piece of advice has stayed with me all my life. Unfortunately we listen only too often to respond when the real goal of listening is to comprehend.

5 interesting facts about listening that you might not know

Some facts about listening you might find interesting.

1. Humans generally listen at a 25% comprehension rate
2. Less than 2% of all professionals have had formal education or learning to understand and improve listening skills and techniques
3. 85% of what we know we have learned through listening.In 1999 the US Department of Labor statistics reveal that 46% of those who quit their jobs did so because they felt they were not listened to and were therefore unappreciated
4. We listen at a rate of 125-250 words per minute, but think at a rate of 1000-3000 words per minute.  The processing gaps creates opportunities for distraction and failure to listen attentively
5. Most of us are distracted, preoccupied or forgetful about 75% of the time we should be listening, one of the biggest reasons for this is that we are thinking about what we are going to say or respond.

A wrote about listening this week as I recently posted on the importance of asking “Why” to innovate and create market driven products, if you cannot properly listening to comprend there is no use in asking why.

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