The other day I found myself part of a discussion on the following story:
“Once upon a time,” an ancient story tells, “the master had a visitor who came to inquire about Zen. But instead of listening, the visitor kept talking about his own concerns and giving his own thoughts. After a while, the master served tea. He poured tea into his visitor’s cup until it was full and then he kept pouring. Finally the visitor could not bear it any longer. ‘Don’t you see that my cup is full?’ he said. ‘It’s not possible to get anymore in.’ ‘Just so,’ the master said stopping at last. ‘And like this cup you are filled with your own ideas. How can you expect me to give you Zen unless you first empty your cup?’”
We began discussing the impact of not listening; maybe it’s a societal thing because we were all guilty of it. But what exactly do we do when we’re not listening? Same thing I do, scurry about my day, more worried about myself than others, multitask (code for not paying attention to one person while you try to do something for someone else, kind of like being at a party talking to someone while you spend the whole time looking around for someone else more important to talk to). If at work, tacking another item to a growing to-do list, wondering how to get caught up. Like a teacup overflowing, when we stop listening, we wind up with a big mess that we have to clean up later.
What’s it like to stop for a second, when I begin listening to you? Things suddenly come into focus, in a way I never pictured before.
- I’m no longer satisfied when search is working “correctly”. By keying in on problems that you have searching for answers to your questions and the way you search, I begin seeing things from a whole new perspective. Once I’ve done that, I can make the changes needed for you to find what you’re looking for more easily, and reduce the frustration you feel when you can’t find things. Thank you for allowing me to partner with you in making search better for the next person.
- The feedback you provide us through our online surveys is impactful. Of course, there are glowing comments, but you’re also really, really good at expressing what’s not working for you. Sometimes I think people submit feedback assuming it goes nowhere. That’s not the case. I personally cringed when I read one customer state “I am very frustrated and probably need to leave this (online transaction) for awhile to calm down”. We were able to go back and offer help to this poor person, but feeling that frustrated is not a good feeling, I hope their day ended better than that. By focusing in on what you’re telling us, we’re more quickly able to move on things when they’re not working for you.
The forums are my empty teacup. I actively participate in other forums, enjoying the freedom of asking questions to a group of people in a way that they’ll understand, not the way a product expert would describe the situation, and enjoying sharing what I know, happy for the chance to give someone else the “a-ha moment” that I’ve needed so often in the past. I see the same qualities here.
So for now, I’ll stay the empty teacup, ready to learn from whatever you’d like to teach me. Feel free to post suggestions. And don’t worry, people who blog tend to secretly have big egos, I’ll check out everything you have to say.
Peace,
Lisa
