Hearing what isn’t said

“The most important thing in communication
is hearing what isn’t said.”
Peter Drucker

In his HR Predictions for 2021 report, Josh Bersin describes the biggest of lesson of 2020 as the critical importance of communication.

“All over the world, CEOs and other senior leaders got on Zoom calls with hundreds to thousands of employees and opened up channels to talk, share, listen, and get feedback,” he said. “We needed such frequent communications because the entire world was so uncertain.”

Given the stress and challenges of this relentless pandemic and its associated disruption, as well as the difficult social issues and divisions we face, communication skills have never been more important at a time when it’s easier than ever to instantly connect.

Remember that a quick text or email, a terse reply when you’re multitasking, or an abrupt answer to someone’s inquiry can have unexpected or unintended consequences.

Parents of young children, especially, know this, but we all can benefit from a reminder to consider thoughtfully how we communicate with others throughout the course of our day. We may have no idea about the context in which someone is receiving our message.

Have you ever wished you had responded differently to someone? As a naïve newspaper editor in my 20s I was once approached under deadline by a proud mother who was hoping her child’s poems could be published in our Sunday magazine. How often I later wished I would have stopped to read them and say a kind remark to her daughter standing nearby instead of simply telling them we didn’t publish poetry and sending them on their way.

It’s been decades since that day. The world and I are different, yet still I cringe. How little whatever I was working on then matters now, yet how much that moment – frozen in time for me – helped me become a better person as I listened in my head to what I didn’t say but could have.

Why not act now and send a positive message of encouragement to someone. You never know how much it may mean to them. And you might be surprised how great it makes you feel. Pass it on!

Julie Wolpers, writer/editor

One great thing for 03.02.21 –  Quick and valuable ideas you can watch, listen to, or grab & take with you that can make your day brighter, your work more effective, your job more fun, or your challenges less challenging.

Avoid remote work burnout (4-minute video)