Welcome to the inaugural post of the Needs Aren’t Services Blog by Choices, Inc. We are the gatekeepers, so to speak, but this is YOUR blog. It is our goal to provide you with a venue to discuss the Phrases that Pay, wraparound values and systems of care topics. We plan to bring together a diverse group of guest authors to share their ideas about these topics and we invite you to visit with us, collaborate, network and share successes of your own. Each post will include an option for you to post “comments” to each other, to Choices, or to the story’s author. Our first post focuses on the Phrase That Pays Listen, Listen and then LISTEN.
Learning to be a good listener is the most basic skill required for the helping professions. In practice, we often see well-meaning helpers politely listening until the client’s first pause. When the client stops to take a breath, the helper often jumps at the opportunity to tell the client how they might fix their situation. This Phrase that Pays is to remind us to first listen to be a successful helping professional.
As a professional it is important to resist the urge to “fix” people and instead devote our time and talents to listening. Even when you feel the impulse to talk, resist doing so and listen some more. Remember, that listening is an aquired skill that requires you to tune out all the self talk inside your head and consciously pay attention to what the client is saying, how they are saying it, and all aspects of the message delivery.
When this happens the listener is not just hearing with the ears and mind, they are listening with the third ear – the heart. And when that happens people move from telling you their problems to telling you their solutions. This is also where Needs Aren’t Services begins to be understood.
Doing what is most important upfront will pay off in the end: smoother transitions and success for clients and professionals alike!
- Brent Matthews, Chief Operating Officer, Choices, Inc.
The Phrases that Pay
This blog is dedicated to the Phrases that Pay; we’ve called it Needs Aren’t Services because it’s a concept that even the most seasoned professional must constantly work to achieve. It is one of the most uniquely challenging Phrases that Pay to learn and can be equally difficult to “live” as well.
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