At the teacher conference this past weekend, Les Ollila (I'm sure I just butchered the spelling of his name; it was not intentionally!) did a session on "Life Touching Life."
One thing he stressed was "be available." Even when he feels like he has ten million things to do (and he's LES OLLILA so he probably does! :-) but he makes it a point to show up in the cafeteria. Not to eat, but just to be there. As a leader at Northland University, he wants the students to see he is there and he is NOT too busy for them. They are what his job is all about! When he gets into a conversation with somebody, he plants his feet, looks them in the eye, and asks how they are doing. And he stays engaged to hear the whole answer.
I've been challenged to do that lately. It doesn't have to be a long, drawn-out conversation. But while I am talking for those few minutes, I should give myself entirely to that conversation. My body language should convey that I want to be there, and that I care. These are such simple little concepts, but they go a long way in being an encouragement to someone.
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What you mentioned about "being all there" is such a key thing! It's super easy to say something to someone and then already be moving on to thing mentally even while you're standing there and they're saying words. And though we like to think people can't tell, I'm pretty sure they can!!
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing your thoughts :)
er, "to the next thing" :)
ReplyDeleteYup, pretty sure they can! Plus, listening is hugely inter-connected with asking the right questions too... If I ask something they already said, then the questions betray that I only appeared to be listening.
ReplyDeleteThanks for reading my lil blog. I'm enjoying trying to keep up with it :-)