Four Safety Issues in Gift Listening

Details: Last Updated: Monday, 28 December 2015 11:11; Published: Sunday, 11 August 2013 12:02; Written by Wilma Zalabak

A team committed to giving listening as a gift could attract an impostor who thinks he can bully or deceive these "mere followers." But a culture of gift listening trains the team to recognize and out impostor listeners, thereby keeping safe.

A team committed to empowering its most powerless or slow of speech members could attract a manipulator who plans to hold hostage the attention of this many people. In a culture of gift listening, keeping safe, the team notices and requires honesty.

A team committed to waiting in gift listening might attract procrastinators or filibusterers, who engineer great delays in decision-making. A culture of listening trains the team to help the late planners and to bust the planners of evil.

A team committed to trusting its members to know or discover their own solutions might encounter some who choose to leave the team or to make poor or hurtful decisions. A culture of gift listening is the best possible launch pad for them.

A team committed to gift listening is first committed to keeping safe, to protecting the culture of gift listening from those who would abuse it or hijack it. Keeping a safe space for listening requires both vulnerability and vigilance, constantly.