W9 - Discussion Question # 2

We are all guilty of selective attention – listening only to the bits and pieces of a message that are of interest to us. One area in my life where I continually struggle with selective attention is at work. In my current position, my primary responsibility is to ensure that the operational integrity is upheld to our company standards and also making sure that my staff is also in compliance. However, with the economic downturn we have been focusing on sales in order to help us grow the business and stay afloat. Because I have not had a hand in helping to increase our sales or participated in training my staff in sales, I have lost touch and have become indifferent to the sales aspect of our business. I have found that in meetings or in discussions with my peers that I tend to zone out when they mention sales and yet I will pay very close attention to anything that deals with the operations side of my job. I think the main reason why I have this selective attention when it comes to discussions about sales is because I have no interest in the subject. Within the recent months, I think I have gotten a lot better about not automatically tuning anything out that is related to sales because I have begun to understand the importance of sales as it relates to operations and the overall growth and stability of our business. I think it is helpful for anyone to improve on their selective attention if they are able to understand the importance of what is being said.