Are women better listeners?

• 

• 

• 

_{Warning-somewhere in here is a little pun, to test if you have really understood this blog. Can you spot it?}

A philosophically-inclined correspondent of ours recalls an interesting difference in the behaviour of men and women, encountered while he was a Training Manager for a large financial services corporation and recruiting new employees:

“we sent detailed instructions stating that the essential requirement was to teach us something, anything. in twenty minutes” he recalls

Some candidates, particularly women, read their briefs and managed to teach the interviewers something. they hadn’t known. Others, mainly men, emphatically did not. They went into long presentations, taught nothing, and became indignant when they were closed down as their time ran out.

All of which got us thinking. Are women better listeners than men? Are they better readers too? Have you ever come up against a really bad listener? The type who completes your sentences for you before you have finished? Who interrupts, stating that you haven’t understood what you are saying? Or, if you met a man with three legs, he will undoubtedly know one who has four?

We suspect that many of the world’s disputes will only be resolved when people learn to listen better. We’ve got two lovely links for you, which we hope these will get you started.

Audrey Nelson of Psychology Today takes on the women v men problem. * Trying to get beyond first impressions, she suggests the sexes may be listening in different ways. There’s a nice summary of what good listening skills might look like. Which leads us in to a more general discussion in Persuasion by James Borg. * It’s one of our favourite books in the management/self help genre and we honestly recommend that you try it, as there’s a lot more in there besides.

And so, gentle readers, we leave you with this age old thought :why do people so often hear, but so rarely listen?

James Borg Persuasion Pearson 2004

Are Men Really Lousy Listeners? | Psychology Today

#management #psychology #menvswomen #listening #communications