A few tips to help master the art of listening: 1 Listen with a purpose: Cultivate the habit of listening with a purpose to stop your mind from wandering when the other person is speaking. The purpose could be to gain new knowledge, understand a different perspective, follow instructions, empathise with the speaker and share feelings or solve problems. 2 Use gestures: Maintain eye contact with the speaker to focus your attention on him. Gestures such as smiles and nods keep you tuned in to what the speaker is saying. 3 Show interest: Encourage the speaker by using statements like “Your have an interesting point there…”. Ask for clarifications if you have any doubts and never try to subdue or undermine others while they are speaking. 4 Never be in a hurry: When you listen in a hurry you may not gain complete understanding of what is being said. Allow the speaker the time to complete what he is saying so that you properly understand his message. Jot down important points when ever possible. 5 Summarise: Some times we may not interpret the speaker correctly. Our own mental filters, judgments, assumptions, beliefs and feelings come in the way of proper understanding of the message conveyed by the speaker. So the best thing to do would be to repeat what you understood from the speaker’s words to check if both of you are on the same page. Always think of listening as an active pursuit and you stand to gain immensely. You motivate the speakers to give you as much information as they can. You grasp problems, situations and instructions well and this helps you to perform well. People will listen to you in return and cooperate with you better. Costly mistakes and conflicts can be avoided. Successful people understand that to listen well is a powerful means of influence just like the ability to speak well. They value listening as an essential element of conversation that makes communication meaningful. ~~ Hindu, February 13, 2008 and my two bit too. listen and silent are anagrams. coincidence ?
Posted on: Mon, 16 Sep 2013 16:02:13 +0000
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