They really try to control your focus, and they will often use terms that are tied to something legitimate, such as "being present" to describe what others call active listening.
Active listening is a great skill. It helps people in both business and in their personal lives.
The problem occurs when they bend such a concept to the extreme, where they are asking you to ignore things that need your attention. This might be something that is going on in the room, or an obvious glaring flaw in what is being said. If you try to point that out, they will tell you to not interrupt, or if you try to excuse yourself to deal with an occurence in the environment, they might say that you are not being present to whomever is speaking to you.
I felt that it derailed my ability to deal with things as needed, and though I understand the need to not interrupt, when someone is speaking, it does bring up fleeting thoughts in our own minds. Sometimes I felt the need to pause the conversation and deal with that thought, and to not allow that snags processing. It was as if I was being forced to ignore my own, often logical thoughts, and as a result, I would lose those thoughts; they would seem to fly from my mind. I always felt as if the person speaking to me was in control of the conversation.
Active listening is a great skill. It helps people in both business and in their personal lives.
The problem occurs when they bend such a concept to the extreme, where they are asking you to ignore things that need your attention. This might be something that is going on in the room, or an obvious glaring flaw in what is being said. If you try to point that out, they will tell you to not interrupt, or if you try to excuse yourself to deal with an occurence in the environment, they might say that you are not being present to whomever is speaking to you.
I felt that it derailed my ability to deal with things as needed, and though I understand the need to not interrupt, when someone is speaking, it does bring up fleeting thoughts in our own minds. Sometimes I felt the need to pause the conversation and deal with that thought, and to not allow that snags processing. It was as if I was being forced to ignore my own, often logical thoughts, and as a result, I would lose those thoughts; they would seem to fly from my mind. I always felt as if the person speaking to me was in control of the conversation.