{"id":35183,"date":"2020-08-14T10:35:34","date_gmt":"2020-08-14T14:35:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/?p=35183"},"modified":"2020-08-14T13:47:43","modified_gmt":"2020-08-14T17:47:43","slug":"business-report-during-trying-times-stop-and-listen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/2020\/08\/business-report-during-trying-times-stop-and-listen\/","title":{"rendered":"Business Report: During Trying Times, Stop And Listen"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_35184\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-35184\" style=\"width: 197px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-35184\" src=\"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/48\/2020\/08\/marco-column-c-197x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"197\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/48\/2020\/08\/marco-column-c-197x300.jpg 197w, https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/48\/2020\/08\/marco-column-c.jpg 437w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 197px) 100vw, 197px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-35184\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">James Marco, president of Saratoga Human Resources Solutions Inc.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>By James Marco<br \/>\nOne need not look far to find turmoil, conflict, anger, and in some cases aggression in today\u2019s climate. We can blame it on a lot of things, the George Floyd incident, the coronavirus pandemic, or other reasons.<br \/>\nWe hear about shaming, the \u201ccancel culture,\u201d conservatives, liberals, and so on. These issues are dividing friends, families, communities and workplaces.<br \/>\nMany companies have received negative press and have had employee backlash for not releasing a statement that they felt was appropriate for the current issues facing our society. Executives have been fired for saying the wrong thing at the wrong time and igniting a firestorm on social media as a result. Companies don\u2019t like the negative press and poof! Executive gone.<br \/>\nHave you ever been accused of something that you felt was untrue? How did you feel? Were you defensive, maybe a little angry?<br \/>\nAll of this controversy has brought issues of diversity, equity, inclusion, racism to the forefront. But while controversy swirls and accusations fly, there seems to be one thing missing. Are we stopping, even for a moment, and listening? <!--more--><br \/>\nLet\u2019s just peel off one topic, for the sake of brevity. Let\u2019s mention diversity. Encyclopedia.com discusses workplace diversity initiatives as having one or many of the following goals: Fostering awareness and acceptance of human differences; fostering a greater understanding of the nature and dynamics of individual differences; helping participants understand their own feelings and attitudes about people who are different from themselves; exploring how differences might be tapped as assets in the workplace<br \/>\nSo, these can be differences of opinion, experience, education, training, values, traditions, motivations, and so on. Diversity is not just superficial, it\u2019s not just skin color, gender, sexual orientation or gender identity.<br \/>\nIt is about understanding the individual, and what makes them who they are, and creating an environment in the workplace where that person has an opportunity to contribute those talents and skills that make them unique.<br \/>\nWe may have them for weeks, several years, or a lifetime, and never take advantage of what else might be in that \u201ctube\u201d of experience, talent, insight, and knowledge. We are worse off for it.<br \/>\nSo, how do we get to a place where we can appreciate each other, appreciate our differences, and learn from each other? Stop and listen.<br \/>\nDale Carnegie, in his book \u201cHow To Win Friends and Influence People\u201d says that the best way to be considered a good conversationalist is to listen to someone by giving them your \u201cexclusive attention \u2026 nothing is as flattering as that.\u201d<br \/>\nSteven Covey in his book \u201cThe Seven habits of Highly Effective People\u201d talks about empathetic listening. \u201cIf you listen, truly listen, without pretense, without guile, you will literally be stunned at the information that will flow to you from another person.\u201d<br \/>\nThere are a few ground rules here. Own your thoughts, opinions, insights, and emotions. \u201cThis is how I feel, and here is why.\u201d<br \/>\nThere are no accusations in that sentence, nothing to put someone on the defensive. Invite the other person to tell you their story, and understand their view on a topic. And have enough respect to give that person your undivided attention. It\u2019s a sign of respect, and the person you are speaking with will realize that you have treated them with respect.<br \/>\nThese conversations don\u2019t have to have winners and losers, right and wrong. That\u2019s what is causing so much conflict these days, someone has to be right, someone has to be wrong. Someone is good, someone is bad. Don\u2019t make assumptions about the other person\u2019s motives. Clear your mind and listen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By James Marco One need not look far to find turmoil, conflict, anger, and in some cases aggression in today\u2019s climate. We can blame it on a lot of things, the George Floyd incident, the coronavirus pandemic, or other reasons. We hear about shaming, the \u201ccancel culture,\u201d conservatives, liberals, and so on. These issues are [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":196,"featured_media":35184,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[45],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-35183","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-workplace-security-legal"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\r\n<title>Business Report: During Trying Times, Stop And Listen - Saratoga Business Journal<\/title>\r\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\r\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/2020\/08\/business-report-during-trying-times-stop-and-listen\/\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Business Report: During Trying Times, Stop And Listen - Saratoga Business Journal\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By James Marco One need not look far to find turmoil, conflict, anger, and in some cases aggression in today\u2019s climate. 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