Listening Leaders Archived Edition

March 15, 2006

LISTENING LEADERS TREASURE & TINKER WITH TIME

Listening Leaders® treasure every available minute of every listening day and consciously tinker with how they invest and spend their listening time.

All Listening Leaders® listen and lead within the “Hourglass of Life” as skilled listeners know the simple fact that some facts never change. It is a fact, the day we are born, all our sand is in our glass. Yet, the day we die, all our sand is still in our glass. Our listening moments are finite, but unknown; fixed, yet moving. Everyone’s sand moves at the same speed, but one day it will cease to move. Future sand is crucial, but unmeasured. Present sand is potentially powerful, but must be efficiently and effectively utilized. Past sand is spent, but instructive. Effective leaders listen to every grain as they treasure and tinker with time.

More than “time management”, wise Listening Leaders® focus on “listening time management.” In the process, they Listen to the Opportunities of the Future; the Voices of the Present; and the Lessons of the Past.” To paraphrase Benjamin Franklin, “We should wish not to listen long as to listen well.”

Effective listeners know treasuring and tinkering with time begins with an understanding of the value of time, plus a conscious commitment to manage how they spend their listening time. In short, listening is a work of art, designed by the listeners who live it. As Listening Hall of Fame member, Carolyn Coakley, was known to say, “The essence is not knowing, but doing.”

Of course, appreciation of every treasure begins with the knowledge of value. For as Thomas Edison so clearly observed, “Time is the only capital that any human being has, and the only thing he can’t afford to lose.” It is one of our most valuable possessions, but unlike all our other assets, its sanctity is not protected by any law. Our listening time cannot be expanded, accumulated, mortgaged, hastened, or retarded. However, it can be valued and managed.

Although there are a multitude of effective time management strategies, productive Listening Leaders® effectively manage their listening time by mastering and refining several proven listening strategies. They listen on purpose by: assuming the “predominate responsibility” for communication success; identifying and aligning “communication purposes”; listening for “value moments of listening”; “planning to report”; and “taking notes.”

They do not attempt to listen to everyone talk about everything, for listening time is precious and deserves prioritized on-purpose investment. Consider the fact that everyone owns 86,400 seconds every day, and 604,800 seconds every week. In the course of a year that amounts to 31,449,600 seconds, minus a bit of time to sleep and regenerate.

Proficient Listening Leaders® establish a concrete daily listening strategy built around the productive time-management prioritizing process of filling a container with rocks, sand, and water. The task of optimally filling the container is simple if the most important rocks are filled first, the valuable sand second, and the relevant water last. Likewise, all truly effective leaders set their daily listening priorities by planning and listening first to the most important rocks, then the ever present sand, and finally to the time filling water. Then one’s listening container will be filled in an appropriate manner.

In the process, every listening second, minute, hour, week, month, and year becomes invaluable. As Golden Circle Listening Leader® Roger Ingebritson recently reminded us, time requires perspective. “A billion seconds ago it was 1974. A billion minutes ago Jesus was alive. A billion hours ago our ancestors were living in the Stone Age. A billion days ago no one walked on the earth on two feet. And a billion dollars ago was only 8 hours and 20 minutes, at the rate our government is spending money.”

The differentiating opportunity for all serious Listening Leaders® resides in taking the time to tinker with making time to listen.

LISTENING LEADER KNOWLEDGE NUGGET: Listening Leaders® consciously control with whom and how they spend their listening time.

Every productive Listening Leader® who systematically plans how they listen to those they lead knows the answer to the following Riddle, “What Is It?”

It’s present everywhere, but occupies no space. We can measure it, but we can’t see it, touch it, get rid of it, or contain it. Everyone knows what it is and uses it every day, but no one has been able to define it. We can spend it, save it, waste it, or kill it, but we can’t destroy it or even change it, and there’s never any more or less of it. It is, of course, “The Riddle of Time!”

Or as Washington Irving noted, long before the onslaught of today’s overload of messages, “Time is both common and rare; we either have too much or too little. None of us believe we use it as well as we should. But unlike the other ingredients in life, some time is for flavor and some time is just to give support to all the other ingredients we mix in. Time’s importance is measured from where we sit when we do the measuring. Unfortunately, we frequently think to measure it after it is used rather than before. Then we realize that time is not a common luxury at all, but a rare and valuable gem.”

The unending task for every Listening Leader® is to accept the point and move to action. The importance of setting life and listening priorities is illustrated in a story entitled “A Thousand Marbles” shared by Golden Circle Listening Leader Betty Halvorson.

As Betty explained, a gentleman reported the impact of overhearing an older man explaining something about “a thousand marbles” to a seemingly younger person. Reportedly, the older gentleman, said,” Well Tom, it sure sounds like you are busy in so many ways and seem to be missing out on so many important things with the important people in your life.”

Then he explained his theory of “1,000 Marbles.” “You see, I sat down one day and did a little arithmetic, because the average person lives on average 75 years. Then I multiplied 75 times 52 and came up with 3,900 which is the number of Saturdays the average person has in their entire lifetime.”

Continuing on uninterrupted, he said, “Now stick with me Tom for I am getting to the important part. It took me until I was 56 years old to think about this in any detail, at which time I had lived through 2,912 Saturdays. If I lived to be 75, I only had about 1,000 left to enjoy.”

“So I went to several toy stores and bought 1000 more than 1,000 marbles and put them in a large, clear plastic container. Every Saturday since then I have taken one marble out and thrown it away. I found that by watching the marbles diminish, I focused on the really important things in life. There is nothing like watching your time here on earth run out to help you get your priorities straight. And once my 1,000 marbles are gone, every extra Saturday will be a significant bonus.”

The story is pertinent for every Listening Leader® who chooses to tinker with time and set thoughtful priorities. In the process of setting priorities, regarding what, whom, why, where, when, and how they listen, every Listening Leader® will listen better. In addition, so will everyone they give priority to listen to.

LISTENING LEADER TIP OF THE WEEK: Tinker with time and set listening priorities.

GOLDEN CIRCLE LISTENING LEADERS QUOTES OF THE WEEK:

Time is the only capital that any human being has, and the only thing he can’t afford to lose ~ Thomas Edison
You can save time, but you can’t bank it ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson
The time which we have at our disposal every day is elastic; the passions that we feel expand it; those that we inspire contract it; and, habit fills up what remains ~ Marcel Proust
Hell, by the time a man scratches his ass, clears his throat, and tells me how smart he is, we’ve already wasted fifteen minutes ~ Lyndon B. Johnson
There are no office hours for leaders ~ Cardinal J. Gibbons
I recommend that you take care of the minutes, for the hours will take care of themselves ~ Lord Chesterfield
We should all be concerned about the future, because we will have to spend the rest of our lives there ~ Charles Kettering
Never confuse motion with action ~ Ernest Hemingway
Lost time is like a run in a stocking. It always gets worse ~ Anne Morrow Lindbergh
One today is worth two tomorrows ~ Carlos Pena Romulo
Never before have we had so little time in which to do much ~ Franklin D. Roosevelt

A LISTENING LEADER GIGGLE:

While enjoying an early morning breakfast in a Wyoming cafe, four elderly ranchers were discussing everything from cattle, horses, the weather, new movies, and how things used to be in the “good old days.” As one rancher said, “Life was simple and we had our priorities.”

Eventually the conversation moved on to their spouses. One rancher turned to one of his fellow ranchers, and asked, “Billy, ain’t you and your bride celebrating your 50th wedding anniversary soon?”

“Yup, we sure are,” Billy replied.

“Well, are you gonna do anything special to celebrate?” another rancher asked.

Billy pondered the question for a moment and replied, “You know, for our 25th anniversary, I took Gertrude to Tucson. Maybe for our 50th, I’ll go down there and bring her back.”

Maybe some tinker with time and wait too long.

A LISTENING LEADERS KUDOS:

Kudos to the late and great Kirby Puckett. From the Projects in Chicago, to two World Championships with the Minnesota Twins, to Baseball’s Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, his enthusiasm and smiling wit, was a priority worth listening to. Now Saint Peter will have a chance to modify his listening priorities. Thanks Kirby for your short, but sweet, 45 purpose-laden years.

WE ARE LISTENING and invite your action:

Together, we can change the listening attitudes, skills, and knowledge of leaders throughout the world. We appreciate and invite your assistance in expanding our listening leader’s connections. Eight simple steps in advancing this important movement include:

Identify your primary weeklong listening priorities. Then measure your 7 days accomplishment and start again.

Forward this newsletter to your children, grandchildren, friends and colleagues. More important, invite them to Subscribe to the “complimentary and weekly” newsletter by going to www.listeningleaders.com

Send us your listening leader insights, examples and stories.

Start a Listening Leaders Reading and Discussion Group. Invite your Librarian to purchase our Award winning LISTENING LEADER book.

As meeting, conference, and convention attendees spend the bulk of their time listening, please let others know of our availability to Keynote Conventions and customize Listening Leader Workshops.

Invite us to identify specific needs for listening development of leaders in your organizations.

Ask about our proven listening leader training programs and our customized in-house train-the-trainer strategies and our new Certification program.

We can help, we are committed, and we are listening.

Listen, Lead On & Make Today Count! – Manny & Rick

__________________________________________________________________

LISTENING LEADERS: THE TEN GOLDEN RULES
TO LISTEN, LEAD & SUCCEED

By Dr. Lyman K. Steil
& Dr. Richard K. Bommelje

Publisher: Beaver’s Pond Press
(ISBN 1-59298-073-2)

A pioneering book that directly connects listening with leadership.Based on more than 50 collective years of work with listening leaders throughout the world, Dr. Steil and Dr. Bommelje have created 10 practical, proven, and priceless rules to enhance everyone's listening and leadership success. Although outstanding leaders are outstanding listeners, most leaders have neglected the development of their listening attitudes, skills and knowledge.

“This is the most significant book ever written on listening and leadership and will profit leaders at all levels in all types of organizations and enterprises.” Dr. Ralph Nichols, Father of the Field of Listening

ORDER YOUR COPY at www.ListeningLeaders.com or www.amazon.com

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Dr. Lyman K. (Manny) Steil
25 Robb Farm Road
St. Paul, MN 55127
651-483-3597
LKS@ListeningLeaders.com

Dr. Richard K. (Rick) Bommelje
8530 Amber Oak Dr
Orlando, FL 32817
407-679-7280
RKB@ListeningLeaders.com

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