A wise old owl sat on an oak; The more he saw the less he spoke; The less he spoke
the more he heard; Why aren’t we like that wise old bird?
– Anonymous
This IT guy at a prospect of ours would not let us get in a word edgewise.
He would ask a question and before we could complete a sentence would cut us off
with another question.
You just felt like screaming "Are you simply capable of shutting up for two minutes
and just listening? What we have to offer may not be the right thing for you and your
organization. But at least you can extend us the common courtesy of listening to us
when we are answering your question!"
May be this guy was so smart that he is getting the answers from half of our sentences
than the whole ones.
Somehow I don’t think this person is going to be that successful at what he does for
too long!
Traits that you see in one arena of a person’s life invariably spills over to others.
Smart CEOs and executives watch how an interview candidate treats a waiter at a
restaurant for more insights into a candidate’s ability to deal with people rather than
sustained interviews!
CMMI Level 5, ISO 9000 and COPC certifications are of zero utility if the people you have
do not have intense listening skills. In fact if they do not have them, projects are
downright suicidal!
I don’t see how an outsourcing buyer can do a good job evaluating vendors if they do not listen
intensely to what is being said and more importantly what is not being said with nonverbal communication!
Sellers of outsourcing services cannot win in the long run whether it comes to transitioning a business
process or capturing requirements or feedback about design or software releases if they
cannot listen properly.
Listening is simpler said than done. Often people think they have conversations with each other. It is often more
like, across each other in two parallel tracks! They are just biding their time politely for the other
one to stop before continuing their own monologue!
How many times have you caught yourself in this situation? I am positive, countless number
of times.
Listening is hard, but has to be done if you want to be successful at outsourcing, either
as a seller or a buyer!
