Mario had barely arrived at the office when his boss, Marilyn, swept into his office and in her usual brusque way said, "Hi, Mario. Good weekend? Hope so. I got this idea: We've been concerned about the way our people never seem to listen to us—or to the customers. So, I was surfing the 'Net and found this little chart. Let's see that we get copies to everybody and maybe they'll listen better. I gotta run. Talk with you later."
Before Mario could respond, she was gone. He smiled to himself and shook his head. "Ah, Marilyn. You always think problems can be solved with simple quick messages. Oh well, no harm looking at this. Maybe it'll get our people thinking about better listening, even if their boss isn't much of a role model," he said to himself.
Probes
1. What should Mario do to get his employees thinking about the better listening ideas described in the chart?
2. How likely is it that people will recognize and change their behaviors based on this brief message? What else could Mario do?
3. What do you think of Marilyn's listening, based on this brief description? Do you know people who communicate like she did? How do you react?
4. To what extent are your own listening skills reflective of the poor or effective listener described in the chart?