Out of Style A consultant with slightly different spin on listening problems is Michael O'Brien of O'Brien Learning Systems in Milford, Ohio. O'Brien says listening training has fallen out of fashion. During the '70s and '80s listening skills were taught as part of communications training but now are included only with leadership and supervisory training, he says. But, because more and more people are working on teams, nobody can afford to be a poor listener. Over the years I've come to think you don't need to be taught to listen.
Most people are naturally good listeners.
From the moment we're born we can identify sounds. The problem occurs when another person's words trigger our minds. We have no ability to stop thinking and continue listening, he says. What we have to learn is to stop that internal talking so we can listen. When we do our dialogue training among executives, we teach them how to notice when they're not listening.