Listening Skills

Listen to Each Other

It’s been an interesting week. We started off with several meetings in which we solicited ideas for solutions to a variety of problems. The participation level was off the charts and people came up with a number of good action items. Most of the time at these meetings, I have to admit that, I have a tendency to already have the agenda doped out and most of my own answers running in my head. I sometimes use these staff meetings more for disseminating information, rather than actually soliciting it.

This week I did a bit more active listening and I think that it was very beneficial to a lot of different projects. I found it fascinating to listen to two different Resident Managers (with different sizes of complexes and differing tenant profiles) discuss how they addressed specific problems. Their solutions were creative and based upon sensible approaches to real world problems.

I guess the lesson for this week was to listen and learn and to let people not only take responsibility for the task at hand but also for how to approach and solve it as well. It takes some trust in one another and taking time to actually pay attention. Don’t always ask the question with the answer running in your head.

Favorite quote I came across this week in the newsletter 321 Gold by Bob Moriarty:

“The bigger the organization, the dumber people get as they are removed further and further from the consequences of their decisions.”