Today I finished Seth Godin's Linchpin. As you can see from the tabs in the below photo, I took a lot away from it. Here's a reflection on one such part.
Communication is usually the hardest thing in any workplace. From org wide to one-on-one, it's often what trips us up. Seth attributes part of this challenge to the fact that often we are reacting to what someone says rather than responding.
When we react we are usually trying to show how we are right and they are not. There's a lot of emotion, whether we realize it or not, in a reaction. We're already attached to a certain outcome (usually the status quo). When we respond we try to see the world as it is rather than how we wish it would be. Take in the information and then speak.
As with anything only we can really know whether something was a reaction or a response. It's a new filter I'm going to try applying. How quickly am I or someone responding? Does it seem like we had time to consider what was said or are we reacting? And if it is a reaction and not a response, why? What's the emotional attachment?
Being a Force for Good 