02.22.10 Listen to Grow
…for there is no growth without changing, correcting and questioning yourself.
Marvelous, tough medicine for you and me.
In my work in Executive Development and Sales Training, I have needed to self-correct and listen to the objective evidence to grow and develop. I always will. I encounter many different professionals with many different challenges. To advance in their companies, each faces specific developmental challenges to succeed. The success-link running through all my coaching interactions is a person’s trust in themselves to adapt and change when the objective evidence says so. This says easy, does hard.
Listening to the objective evidence takes a lot of humility and in oneself. You really have to that you can and will alter your behavior because you the person/people who are giving you feedback and you have the depth and capacity to change, because YOU said so, and that you CHOSE to change to broaden yourself.
There are times when I have committed to change my behavior and not exactly known what’s on the other side of the change. That’s when observing your own behavior becomes a great tool in developing oneself. You really have to notice your evolved actions versus remaining unconscious to your actions, actually ignoring your “default behavior”.
Example: Often there is a recommendation I have for a client I’m burning to tell them. I’ve noticed that waiting is better because the person says something that offers me a perfect segue into the recommendation. It proves to be farl better and healthier that me blurting out my recommendation right after our initial handshake.
When you can, try asking a close colleague what you can improve in your behavior and notice what they recommend to you. Do everything you can to listen to them without judging their recommendation; this is not easy to do. Notice how you first feel about their recommendation then wait a day and notice how you feel then. My hunch is that you will notice their commitment to you and their genuine desire to coach you versus criticize you.
If you’d like to share it with me I’d enjoy hearing from you and reading your thoughts about the process.
