Focus Supplement 1 - Summer 2016 - (Page 16)

KEYNOTESPEAKER Communication in Leadership: Listening, Mindfulness and Music ■ By Bill Scheidt How much of your work depends on you listening to someone, or on someone listening to you? 16 C ommunication is the No. 1 most-taught so skill in the training world, according to a survey of the largest HR group on LinkedIn. In the life sciences and medical fields, it's no wonder communication is top on the list. According to Oregon Health & Science University, studies show that 80 percent of serious medical errors are due to miscommunication. e importance of communication becomes even greater when we look at communication in the area of leadership, as our leaders are the ones driving our organizations. So as leaders, what creates great performance in the area of communication? When we think of leaders renown for their communication skills, we oen think of those who are great orators, or those whose abilities with the written word have changed the world. is tendency to think first of speaking and writing as the foundation of great communication skills is normal; the U.S. system of classroom instruction traditionally focuses on reading and speaking (lecturing) as the primary mediums by which learning happens. But what happened to the lost art of listening? Perhaps it is not overstatement to say that people in general do not know how to listen. Research at Florida State University and Michigan State University finds that the average listener forgets 75 percent of a talk they heard only two months ago, and that in the area of subjects we have barely learned, we forget up to 66 percent of a talk within eight hours! Ask yourself: How much of your work depends on you listening to someone, or on someone listening to you? Looking back over the last few years, how many troubles have arisen in your organization from someone not hearing something, or hearing it in an inaccurate way? What goes wrong in our listening? What is the monkey wrench in this critical system of business communication? e problem may stem largely from the fact that we think much faster than we talk. According to research published in the Harvard Business Review, the average American speaks at a speed of 125 words per minute. is is a very slow rate of information transfer given the processing capacity of the human brain's 13 billion cells, which operate in an incredibly complicated and eﬃcient manner. e diﬀerence between speaking and thinking rates means that while we listen we continue to think at high speed. e brain generates hundreds of thoughts other than those spoken to us, tempting us into mental sidetracks. While we are "listening" how oen do we wander oﬀ into thinking about the next response we are going to oﬀer? How frequently do we get mentally sidetracked into jumping to conclusions about where the speaker is going? How oen do we just tune out and think about what's next on our calendar, that phone call we have to make, and the growing pile of unanswered messages in our inbox? ese seemingly innocuous habits of lessthan-stellar listening seem innocent enough, but when we improve communication the FOCUS | CONFERENCE PREVIEW 2016 | www.L-TEN.org http://www.L-TEN.org

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Focus Supplement 1 - Summer 2016

Focus Supplement 1 - Summer 2016
Welcome to the 45th LTEN Annual Conference
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Ad Index
Conference Agenda-At-A-Glance
Food, Fun & Friends: Making Connections in the Learning Village
Mel Robbins: Admit It: You're Not Fine
Sewa Beats: Communication in Leadership: Listening, Mindfulness and Music
Walter Bond: Peak Performing Training: Committed to Excellence
New GxP Track: Reaching More Life Sciences Trainers
Conference Sponsors: Supporting Conference Attendees
Learning Village Exhibit Hall Schedule
Learning Village Exhibit Hall Floorplan
LTEN Talks: Targeted Topics from Industry Experts
Get the App: Your Digital Conference Tool
Giving Back: The Pajama Program
LTEN Members: Why the Conference is a Must-Attend Event
5 Questions with Mary Myers
Focus Contacts

Focus Supplement 1 - Summer 2016