(50a) "You were born with Two Ears and One Mouth for a Reason...": The Art of Listening for Understanding (A GROW University Workshop)

We spend about 70-80% of our waking hours in some sort of communication, 45% of which is listening! However, we are often listening with the intent to break into the conversation with our reply rather than to first truly understand. This workshop was originally part of a grassroots professional development series at Dow (called GROW U) that took the concepts found in Stephen Covey’s Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, but looked at them in fresh ways. The workshop is centered on the concept of empathic listening from the 5^th habit and will help you discover how to be an effective listener at work, leading to understanding of the real problems that need to be addressed in order to drive towards effective solutions.

The session will also provide an overview of how a group of Dow women and interested men (with management support) initiated a monthly workshop series called GROW University focused on personal and professional development. The topics are chosen by the group and the content of each workshop is developed and presented by small teams. This grassroots training program elevates the entire organization through the highly interactive workshops (which are open to everyone), while providing opportunity for individuals to demonstrate leadership, teaching ability, and passion for their chosen topics. The ultimate goal is to engender a higher level of satisfaction and productivity within a diverse and inclusive community. This concept was originally launched at one Dow site and has now gone global, indicating the inherent need for these types of growth opportunities.