In order to achieve anything in an organization or in life in general it is important to listen. Note that I'm not just talking about your Management chain. Listening to people shows Respect and that you care. Care enough to listen because you can build relationships, increase your knowledge and refine or generate ideas.
This should be pretty common knowledge to everyone who has ever worked in a project because you first have to listen to understand what the requirements are. Only after you understand the requirements you can start working on solutions. Now this doesn't always seem to be the case in our day to day communications. Do you remember a situation where you just waited to respond. You basically stopped listening and prepared your response. When you stopped listening you missed a chance to learn more about the other person. If you want to relate well to others you have to be willing to focus on what they have to offer. That also means to stop focusing on yourself. Stop being preoccupied with your thoughts. Focus on the other person, listen to what they have to say. Really listening is not easy and you will need quite some practice to get really good at it but the good news is you can practice every day.
