BARRIERS TO EFFECTIVE LISTENING

The following come from John Maxwell's book 25 Ways To Win With People. I've found that when I have a communication problem with a player or staff member, it's usually because I am doing a poor job of listening. This is a list of ways to ineffective listening:

Even after you have begun to focus on the person with whom you are conversing, you may still experience many potential barriers to effective listening. Here are a few of them:

DISTRACTIONS

Phone calls, TV, pagers and things of that sort can make good listening nearly impossible.

DEFENSIVENESS

If you view complaints or criticism as a personal attack, you can become defensive. Once you begin to protect yourself, you will care little about what others thing or how they feel.

CLOSED-MINDEDNESS

When you think you have all the answers, you close you mind. And when you close your mind, you close your eyes.

PROJECTION

Automatically attributing your own thoughts and feelings to others prevents you from perceiving how they feel.

ASSUMPTIONS

When you jump to conclusions, you take away your own incentive to listen.

PRIDE

Thinking we have little to learn from others is, perhaps, the most deadly of distractions to listening. Being full of yourself leaves little room for input from others.