Listening Impact

I recently watched a TED talk given by the futurist Dan Tapscott who outlined four principles of an open world.  Of course he was superb, and of course, he built upon what Elon Musk said—open communication is the way forward for our changing world.

You can see the video yourself: (http://www.ted.com/talks/don_tapscott_four_principles_for_the_open_world_1.html)

I want to reiterate only a few of the points and relate them to listening.

Openness is about transparency.  I’m reminded of two different organizations I’ve observed.  One invites employees to look at the books, attend board meetings, and advise the executive committee about changes that could help the organization. I was asked to attend one of the board meetings to provide feedback to the board after I did some listening skill development with them. The board wanted my feedback about how well they listened and if they were being open with the employees who attended the meeting. They answered all employee questions with candor.

The second organization said they wanted to be open and transparent with employees, but there wasn’t one scintilla of behavior to support that statement. There was a suggestion box and so many layers of management plus pounds of red tape, that the few suggestions were ludicrous (paint the dingy cafeteria, buy soft cushions for the call center).

The employees at the transparent organization told me they felt heard, respected and would do anything to help out.

Openness is about sharing.  He told some wonderful stories about insurgents who succeeded because they shared information for the safety of others. I’m on several Linked In groups and I’m impressed by the amount of intellectual property (IP) that colleagues share with one another.  Even the concept of TED itself is an example.

So why in the world would anyone give away what s/he has spent years developing? Truthfully, I’m not sure, but I think it’s in our inherent nature to want to add value and be a trusted source. If I listen to the request of a colleague within a social network community, I tend to probe deeper to develop a greater understanding of the issue. I rarely rush in with lots of solutions and information. Those interactions build a community of collaborators that builds trust and a willingness to be open with one another.

Finally, his statement that our young people today are digital natives, whereas, the rest of us are digital immigrants who have to learn to speak the language. I loved the thought that we are constantly challenged to pay attention to what is new and open to us.