Shut up and listen
When I was a kid I was a total chatterbox.
I mean, I never. stopped. talking.
One day I distinctly remember mum picking me up from school and I enthusiastically regaled her with the gossip from the classroom; how so-and-so had clobbered me in hockey, that Mrs XX has a new haircut, what we learned in history and a full run down of …
“FOR THE LOVE OF GOD SHUT UP”
I was stunned and sat back in my seat blinking back the tears.
Looking back, this kind, gentle woman regularly suffered crippling migraines, and I was probably the last thing she needed to listen to after a challenging day.
And she was right.
It’s no surprise that 15 years later I found myself behind a microphone getting paid to talk. Radio DJ’s don’t need to listen much, they just need to fill the space between the songs, the news and the adverts.
Now, older and wiser, it’s all change. As a freelance infographic designer, I HAVE TO listen. I have to listen to the client explain what they want, why and how … because if I don’t I’m liable to:
misunderstand the client / company / ethos
misunderstand their specific needs and the brief
give them bad advice
bully then into the wrong solution
waste the clients time and money
get a bad reputation
It’s hard but going into those early client conversations with no agenda or defined outcome means I’m more likely to give the best advice.
If I go in with a single solution already planned, then I’ll ignore ALL evidence that does not support that. As an infographic designer it would be easy to assume that infographics are the perfect solution. Sometimes they’re not. (remind me to tell you, one day, about the time I talked a client OUT of hiring me).
The answer is to have a wide range of ingredient-ideas floating around in a big puddle-pot in my head, instead of a few fully-baked ideas at the forefront. These ingredients can be mixed up, combined, removed, popped it back in stirred up as the client talks. Then, I can make sensible suggestions.
You can’t help if you don’t listen.
This post was prompted by reading this article (Listening as a Radical Act - Atmos)
“… believing that they, as outside “experts” knew all the best solutions (which they didn’t) and operating in such siloes that they were unable to address the actual interconnected challenges that the communities faced.” Kinari Webb, Cofounder Health in Harmony