October 19. What Is A Listening Plan?
Why are we created with two ears and one mouth?
Leaders and entrepreneurs have some similar characteristics. One that is intriguing to me is that they are listeners. Sure, we all fail to listen to what others are really saying sometimes. But entrepreneurs must listen to customer demand, for without demand a product or service is worthless.
I can think of many products or services where listening did not occur, and customers went away because of it. Have you seen it in your business or on your teams? Have you stopped offering a product because the customers abandoned the product?
Think about the newspaper industry of the United States where the employed journalist numbers are down by one fifth. The local newspaper in our community does not publish every day of the week. But when we listen to our customers and team, we can find opportunities.
In China, newspapers are growing and US newspaper companies that have transitioned to web-based delivery of news have a new revenue stream. But we must really listen to our team and customers. The value of what we deliver can be enhanced when we listen to the words, emotions and even the body language of those involved in our processes.
The value comes when we transform what we have heard into that which we can deliver. It is not about what you, the listener, want or need. For leaders, the best value exchange is always about others. Then we can be accountable for what we may provide and how we do it.
If we step up our listening this week, we just might find the easiest path to more value. How will you be accountable to listening more?
As brothers and sisters in Christ, we know the following message well. Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again. It is a great and powerful message to those that believe. But do we listen with our ears and let the message soak into our hearts?
Our hearts are where we listen to the message with our being and soul. We read, "We must pay the most careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift." Hebrews 2:1 NLT. The world has another message for us, it wants us to drift.
It teaches us survival of the fittest, of comfort and it all competes with the message that we received about Christ. So which message are we listening to? If we are not listening to God's message, then I would bet that we are probably hearing another message, or we are being focused on ourselves instead of Christ.
When we are angry with someone, I believe that we are listening to ourselves instead of listening to "Christ will come again." When we are cut off in traffic, a clerk does not smile at you or the service at the restaurant is poor, do you listen to hear your heart say, "Christ is risen."
It is easy and convenient to listen to ourselves and the messages of the world. They seem to yell and scream their messages. No wonder that the Holy Spirit is referred to as the still small voice. Maybe the next time something seems to really be demanding our attention and screaming at us, we should just pause to hear the still small voice.
Will we be accountable in some manner to stop and listen more than we speak? What is the first thing that you can do about it in the next seven days?
Let us pray, Heavenly Father, you are the Creator of the universe and everything great and small. Your voice can be as loud as the thunder or as quiet as the mountain meadow at sunrise. Comfort us as we shield ourselves and withdraw from the screaming messages of this world.
Protect our hearing so that the small still voice is heard clearly. Calm us as we listen with our hearts and minds. You have given us one mouth and two ears. Make us wise enough to use them in the ratio that you built us with. In Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen,
