{"id":10697,"date":"2015-05-27T01:09:40","date_gmt":"2015-05-26T23:09:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.targettraining.eu\/?p=10697"},"modified":"2018-06-06T12:29:31","modified_gmt":"2018-06-06T10:29:31","slug":"learning-to-listen-lessons-from-baseball-ted-talks-and-an-alien-life-force","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.targettraining.eu\/de\/learning-to-listen-lessons-from-baseball-ted-talks-and-an-alien-life-force\/","title":{"rendered":"Learning to listen: lessons from baseball, TED talks and an alien life form"},"content":{"rendered":"

How well do you listen?<\/h2>\n

Sound matters. In work. In life. Sometimes we forget that. I heard a story recently that was told by a former Major League Baseball player. He talked about a manager he once played for. During practice, the manager would put players in the outfield with their backs to home plate<\/em>. A batter would stand at home plate and have someone pitch the baseball to him.\u00a0Baseball bats are made of wood and are roughly 30-34 inches long. The\u00a0cork-filled, leather-covered ball is\u00a0thrown\u00a0anywhere from 80-100 miles per hour. The batter would swing the bat and hit the ball. Now\u00a0here is the important part:<\/p><\/div>\n

Free download<\/strong>\"alf\"

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Because the player in the outfield had their backs to home plate they had to train their ear to know what part of the field the ball was travelling to, based on the sound created when the baseball made contact with the bat. If you\u2019ve ever seen a baseball game (or cricket) you know you can hear when a ball is hit solidly. But you can\u2019t determine where it is going to travel. This manager wanted his players to\u00a0hear the contact, and make a split-second decision to race to the\u00a0position they believed the ball was going, without even seeing it<\/em>. With practice, players knew exactly where the hit ball was going.<\/p>\n

They had to learn to listen<\/em>. <\/strong><\/p>\n

Are we „losing our listening“?<\/h2>\n

TED<\/a>, the great, freely accessible online source for learning, has what I think are two of the best talks around on how to achieve excellent communication. Both are by Julian Treasure, author of an excellent book on the impact sound has on our working lives called \u2018Sound Business<\/a>,\u2019 and both are well-worth watching. In one, he talks about speaking well and in the other, the one I suggest below, he talks to us about listening.<\/p>\n