What Happens When You Don’t Listen & the Unforeseen Danger of Misinterpretation…

Poor listening skills can lead to misunderstandings, hurt feelings, and missed opportunities.

But even if you do listen by paying attention and hearing all the words, you can still misinterpret what you hear.

How can that happen? A frequent cause is not having all the information or making an assumption which is not accurate.

Example– Your client is married and both husband and wife work remotely at home. You know this because your client talks about both taking care of the two-year old. You remember your client saying that the husband helped her get her job. She works remotely for a hospital system whose home base is in Minnesota. You assume they both work for the same company and decided (for some reason) to live in Pennsylvania.

ACK!!! Your assumptions are wrong. Turns out they live in Pennsylvania in the city of her husband’s professorial job at a university and he does blended work— on site at the university and remote work. They do not work for the same company.

So how to avoid misinformation and inaccurate assumptions? Use clarifying questions like: “Let me see if I understand accurately …” or “Do I understand correctly…” or “Tell me if I have the picture right…”

Develop your skill of listening and asking clarifying questions to increase connection with people, inspire trust and rapport, and build strong relationships that lead to greater satisfaction and successful outcomes.