Practice Listening in your Practice

“Most people do not listen with the intent to understand; they listen with the intent to reply. They are either speaking or preparing to speak.” –Stephen Covey

The fact that we have two ears and only one mouth should clue us in to how important listening is as a skill. But we often fall short in this area, especially in the dental practice.
Listening is an active process which has three basic steps:
1. Hearing. Just listening enough to catch what the speaker is saying.
2. Understanding. The next part of listening happens when you take what you have heard and understand it in your own way.
3. Judging. After you are sure you understand what the speaker has said, think about whether it makes sense. Do you believe what you heard?

As is indicated by the quote at the beginning of this article, even the best of listeners sometimes make this mistake: they hear a few sentences, assume that they know where the speaker is going, jump to a conclusion that may well be incorrect. Such erroneous assumptions can breed unhappy consequences; misunderstandings, lost insights, frustration—even anger. When this happens at the organizational level, results can be disastrous says the editor of Sssh! Listen Up! (The newsletter of HighGain Inc. a company dedicated to better listening in business). The fact that there are companies whose primary focus is to help create better listeners in the business arena speaks to how important this skill is.

We all believe we are good listeners. And most people won’t tell you that you are a poor listener. So we have to monitor ourselves. The ability to listen effectively is not something we are born with. Listening is actually as complicated a communication skill as reading, writing and speaking.

Active listening was selected as the most critical managerial skill by 282 members of the Academy of Certified Administrative managers. In another survey, 170 business people were asked to select 1) the most important communication skill they were presently engaged in at work and 2) the communication skill they wished they had studied more. Listening was the number one answer to both questions.

There is a big difference between listening and LISTENING. Most people practice the former, paying little attention to what is being said by others while busily planning their own reply. The latter, however, is an art and a skill—and the effective application of it can and will improve your work life and the dental practice.

For instance, if you carefully listen to what patients have to say—paying particular attention to what they want—they’ll end up trusting and buying from you because they feel that you understand and care about their needs.

Lee Iacocca, former chairman of Chrysler, claims that “Listening is the single skill that makes the difference between a mediocre and a great company.”

Another positive way in which listening works in business: when you listen to the people who work for you, their productivity and quality of work tends to improve. Why? Because in an open and accepting LISTENING environment, honest opinions and new ideas arise, are heard and discussed, and when appropriate, acted upon. This in turn, helps to decrease and even dissolve team conflicts.

You probably spend more time using your listening skills than any other kind of skill. Like other skills, listening takes practice. You cannot be passive in the process of listening. You must decide to make it an active process. Plan to listen more each day—consciously attempting to listen more will accustom you to the process of listening and provide you with valuable practice.

Remember: time is on your side! Thoughts move about four times as fast as speech. With practice, while you are listening you will also be able to think about what you are hearing, really understand it and give feedback to the dental team member or dental patient.

References: FactMonster.com
Sssh! Listen Up! (From HighGain Inc)