Communication – Speaking for Easy Listening

In a supportive climate no one has to defend themselves when they present a wild idea. You can present it with all the flaws, quite confident that everyone is out to help you built it. You feel no need to trick them in to accepting it or bulldozing them into ‘buying’ it. Both methods will result in:

Your audience ‘turning out’.
Your losing their potential to give valuable inputs.

A better alternative is to start by giving the headline as a newspaper would. Follow this by a brief description of the idea with no conclusions. Be truly open to inputs. Leave it loose and welcome suggestions. Participants then feel welcomed into problem solving. They respond to the regard and respect being shown for their ideas. The first method presents a heavily defended fait accomplishment. The second involves listeners in a mutually satisfying exchange of ideas. The first feels uncomfortable and controlling for participants. The second allows the bliss of participation and the joy of mutual regard, while resulting in the building of really new viable ideas.

Action

Practice speaking using the headline/background approach. Share the ideas flowing out of listening for value. Let each commando member practice and then discuss the resulting ideas.