Among the signs of high anxiety in groups is the freqency with which members interrupt each other. I belong to a service club board where meetings are driven by interruptive behavior. By my unscientific count, fewer than half of questions or statements begun by any one member in the group are finished. I once began a question by asking the group to allow me to complete it. I was interrupted. A few minutes later, another member of the group asked if I thought my question had been answered. As I began to reply, someone else interrupted.
This group is not well led. Its leader is the chief interrupter. Members have learned meeting-by-interruption is the norm. Group members arrive at the meetings appearing harried, frazzled and sometimes late. I estimate the group's overall performance is about half of its potential.
I am considering leaving the group and using the time in less anxoius ways.
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I laughed out loud when I read this. Who over the age of three, has NOT experienced this?
And my conservative colleagues poke fun at school curricula that includes "listening skills" as a waste of time!
Learning to SHUT UP and actually HEAR, not just wait through - but HEAR what the other person is saying, may be the most powerful single management tool that exists.
It is so simple, and yet we use it so little...
Everything I need to know I learned in Kindergarten? Apparently many execs missed "circle time".
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