Distraction, another Form of the Two Great Wastes™, Leads to Project Failure
February 14th, 2007 by HalArticle Series - Why Projects Fail
- Why Good Projects Fail Anyway
- Could Occam's Razor Explain Project Failures?
- Why Projects Fail
- Silence -- One of the Two Great Wastes™ -- Is a Project and Career Killer
- Distraction, another Form of the Two Great Wastes™, Leads to Project Failure
There's no independent study I'm quoting today. No, I'm just sharing what I've been observing. In yesterday's post on Silence Is a Project and Career Killer, the authors of the study emphasized that team members need to be speaking. My experience is that most team members, at one time or another, do speak about their concerns for the project. But others — team members, leaders, managers, and clients — are too distracted by their own concerns to pay attention to the speaking. I mean, really pay attention. The kind of attention that requires putting the laptop cover down. The kind of attention that keeps you from answering the telephone during the conversation. The kind of attention that the person speaking walks away knowing that s/he has been listened to by you. That kind of attention.
Ask follow-up questions to what was said to keep the speaker speaking giving you more time for listening.
It's not hard to give attention to someone who is speaking.
- It requires looking at the person while s/he is speaking.
- It requires suspending one's assessments of what the speaker is saying.
- It requires waiting until the speaker is done speaking before working on a response.
- And it requires connecting with the concerns of the speaker in spite of how well the speaker does expressing those concerns.
Collectively, we call that listening. And if you want to increase the opportunity for someone to be listened, then ask follow-up questions to what was said. That will keep the speaker speaking giving you more time for listening.
Most of the time I find project participants want the same thing that other project constituents want. They want a successful project. With that as background, a little less distraction and a little more attention to what is being said might be just what is needed to keep a project going well. Oh, if you're a speaker, then don't wait for others to catch on to the value of listening. Share with them this tip for avoiding the Two Great Wastes that lead to project failure.
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February 15th, 2007 at 6:27 am
Hal:
We speak in many dialects. Some speak when spoken to. Other speak without saying anything. Others speak about anything but what they are really concerned about. Only relationship can resolve these dialects into dialogue. Relationships can tip you off that their words and music don’t quite mesh and encourage you to ask about the resulting puzzle.
We are moving so fast (or trying to) that slowing down to the posted speed limit is difficult, often impossible. Listening is a speed reducer. I try to adopt the ethic that reminds me that I’m only listening to the extent that I’m prepared to be changed by what I hear. If I don’t expect to be changed by what I hear, what reason would I ever have for slowing down to the speed of cognition?
February 23rd, 2007 at 2:11 pm
Hi, Hal,
Just another note on listening. I learned this in the IBM course on project management, which I attended in the 1970s. The most effective way to make a person feel heard is the reflective response. That means, when someone says something to you, repeat it back to them in your own words, or even in the same words. Carl Rogers invented this technique when he was inventing psychotherapy, and every therapist knows it works. I have used it in interviewing, and it definitely keeps people talking.
Christine Slivon