Listen Fully

Recently, our crew watched video concerning listening by John “Gucci” Foley, speaker and motivator for elite teams.  He explained 4 ways we listen:

1)      Don’t listen

2)      Listen to Respond

3)      Listen to Understand

4)      Listen to Appreciate

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gWW-Vk5d-74

As Foley pointed out in his video, we want to stay away from the first two—not listening and listening to respond in order to get to the two higher levels—listen to understand and listen to appreciate. Listening to understand is really trying to feel what someone is telling you. Foley further explained that listening to appreciate takes listening to understand and bottles it with appreciating and recognizing fully what someone is telling you.

Specifically, in officiating, ask yourself where do I land with these 4 ways to listen? In crew meetings, are we distracted and not listening or are we fully engaged to understand and appreciate what our crewmates are saying and how they feel? When coaches speak to us, are we thinking of how to respond only? When players give us information about potentially being fouled, do we ignore and not listen or do we understand and appreciate?

To achieve the level of listening to appreciate and understand, we need to emulate James 1:19: “Understand this, my dear brothers and sisters, you must all be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to get angry.” 

• Be quick to listen: Listen to understand and appreciate, not just to respond.  
• Be slow to speak: Don’t speak right away; think about your response and do it with respect. 
• Be slow to anger: Control your emotions; in doing so, we have a greater chance to earn the respect of those speaking to us.

In summary, James 1: 19 provides a framework for listening. Hear the heart and perspective of a person speaking without judging or making assumptions. The key ingredient for listening is a spirit of humility. What does listening with humility look like in officiating? When coaches, players, and/or fans are yelling at and refusing to hear our input, we must choose to listen first.

In his FCA devotional, Richard Isaiah-FCA Division Vice President, used the old adage that “God gave us two ears and one mouth; therefore, we should listen twice as much as we talk.” This saying makes the point that we should strive to hear from others before they hear from us. Proverbs 18:2 provides insight of those who desire to speak more than to listen: “Fools have no interest in understanding; they only want to air their own opinions.”

Consider this prayer when striving to listen to appreciate:

“Father, as I seek to grow and learn from others, give me a heart that desires to learn, ears to listen, and bridle my tongue to speak as You lead me to speak so that I don’t become angry without cause. Thank You, Father, for always listening to me. In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.” Richard Isaiah

https://fcaresources.com/devotional/hope-and-healing-principle-listening