Ever had the thought…are they deaf or stupid?

We often hear things like “but we’ve told them that”, “we’ve had that conversation before”, “it’s like hitting your head on a brick wall”,… sound familiar? Or Stupid?

Research indicates the chance of being deaf is about 1 in 2000, leaving rather large odds for being stupid. Surely there’s a limit to how many stupid people you can be surrounded by, so, logic leads to communication.

Apparently adults spend an average of 70% of their time engaged in some sort of communication, of this an average of 45% is spent listening.  Odds should be adults are good listeners however this doesn’t appear to ring true.

We think the first step to better communication is to be better at listening, which is not the same as hearing and in order to listen effectively you need to use more than just your ears;

  • Stop talking and be prepared to listen
  • Put the speaker at ease and remove distractions
  • Empathise and be patient
  • Avoid personal prejudice
  • Listen for ideas – not just words

Finally, you should always seek clarification to ensure that your understanding is correct, do you think you listen well?

editor