Controlling your workload

Not being a great talker, I often wonder at those who love to talk.
When I’m coaching people, there are those who will answer a question with a huge amount of detail and not easily get to the point and others who will say “don’t know” as an initial reaction (and of course a whole range in between!)

Recently someone said to me “it’s good to talk” and that made me stop in my tracks: was I encouraging too much talking because my natural tendency is to need to be drawn out to talk?
It’s said the ratio of listening to talking is naturally 2:1 because we have 2 ears and 1 mouth! What about you? Do you have enough people who’ll really listen to you, or would you value someone doing that while you talk?

I was brought up on the phrase ‘children should be seen and not heard’; hardly conducive to being prepared for being asked for an opinion on things and having something ready to say! Sometimes asking people what they think after “don’t know” works fine, because they just haven’t worked the pros and cons yet, but if you’ve not learned to list them, or brainstorm ideas, conversation can be slow-going.

(I would recommend Toastmasters for working up an opinion on things: we talk about all sorts of topics in Bournemouth and every meeting there is a chance to speak ‘off the cuff’ for 1-2 minutes, not to mention listening to others’ opinions through their speeches.)
Shirley Thompson - The Desk Coach
Time Management and Motivation Specialist
Tel: 01425 480631

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