Do you know people that just don’t listen to anything? How about people that can’t seem to remember anything their have been told or talked with you about?
Okay so we all know it is important to listen to people when we interact with them. It’s a common trait of people that are desirable to talk to. We will take it as a given that we all understand this, and have dealt with people who don’t listen.
So here is the next thing to go along with that. While your listening, remember what your being told, or conversing about so that you can use it to your advantage later (or protect you from disadvantage). If it is personal you can use that information to give a compliment later, or to flatter. This is really important in personal relationships.
I am talking about work relationships. When your being trained or told how to do something, remember what your being told. This sounds so simple, but it is something that is a big problem in some work places, and sadly at mine. I work with someone who’s job specification is the same as mine. We often work on the same project, and then different ones at the same time. Well, there is a project that I have been working on with this person for a while, about 9 months. This project involves doing the same thing over and over. 78 times to be precise. It takes about 4 days for each cycle of the project.
As it worked out I trained the person I work with how to do the project because they were out when it started. The frustrating thing is that I have had to repeat that explanation at least 30 times over the last several months. I have had them do all of the project from start to finish and many other things with this project, but for some reason there is no recognition as to what we are doing each time we start over. I get asked the same questions over and over. I have tried explaining it many different ways. Nothing sinks in. I now believe that the person I work with has separated work and other parts of their life somehow so that information from work never settles into their permanent memory.
The frustration comes when I have to basically do both of our jobs because of the forgetfulness of my co-worker. I also feel bad for them because they are facing their one year probationary review and they are very likely not going to be made a permanent employee. The sad part of this situation is that because they don’t let anything from work settle in to their memory they are missing the fact that they are regularly held in contempt and are devalued by their boss’s because of their lack of ability to perform at work. They obliviously consider themselves to be doing a perfect job, while they are close to being let go.
So focus, listen, and remember what is going on at work. This is an important skill and trait, and will make a difference in your job performance. What happens at work will definitely affect all areas of your life, so perform well there and other areas of your life will likely improve as well (just be sure your performing well based on other peoples standards and feedback as well as your own).
Is this a situation that your in? Figure out quickly so you can save yourself before your unable to provide any value to your workplace and are replaced. Do you see this at your own work place?
