The Art of Listening
“Okay, that’s it. Time Out!”
Through the wailing and sobbing I hear, “I listening. I sorry.”
This is a common response from my 2 year-old son when he’s placed in time-out for something I’ve asked him repeatedly not to do. In my head I’m thinking, “No. You’re not listening otherwise you wouldn’t have done it.” (okay, sometimes I say it, too). Generally, I thank him for apologizing and try to emphasize, “You need to listen. If you listen and do as I ask, then you won’t have to be in time out.”
Aside from all the parents out there, does this situation sound at all familiar? What about the designer-client relationship? How many times have you been placed in ‘time out’ by a client because you didn’t do as they asked? You weren’t listening. If you had only done what they asked everyone would be happy, right? Wrong—it is not that simple in a valuable designer-client relationship.