[muse] The Manhattan Effect

Just read this article titled The Manhattan Effect. Great article about giving and receiving feedback, ideas, and suggestions. He said:

Getting the message across doesn't depend on articulation, or eloquence, or the impeccable logic or your argument, but on the emotional context in which the message is being heard.

I have the same rules, but my version uses only small words (though doesn't come with a wonderful story like his does):

1. If someone doesn't want to listen, you can't make them hear you.
2. Once you realize that they don't want to listen, pretty soon you'll stop trying.
3. Once you stop trying, both of you end up at a worse place than before.

I live by this set of rules everyday, and am therefore obsessed about delivering the utmost positive experience to anyone reporting through our internal feedback system --- I cannot risk having our staff "stop trying" to tell us what's really going on out there.

But every once in a while, we all find ourselves feeling like we want to stop trying. What to do then?

When someone doesn't want to listen, the only strategy that has worked over and over again for me is --- Time.

Time really does change everything. A little patience goes a long way ...