Good Communication Starts with Listening

Ever thought what is Listening and why is it so Important?

 

Listening is the ability to accurately receive and interpret messages in the communication process. Listening is an important key to all effective communication. Without the ability to listen, effective messages are easily misunderstood – communication breaks down and the sender of the message can easily become frustrated or irritated.

Richard Branson frequently quotes Listening as one of the main factors behind the success of Virgin. Not only Richard Branson, but most of the Leaders and entrepreneurs of the world credit their success to Listening skills. Communication is a two way process: One is a Listener and other is a Speaker. If any one of the either communicator fails to communicate effectively than the message is not conveyed properly and is easily misunderstood. Understanding how to practice good communication even in your day to day life, among friends, family, and significant others, is important for a number of reasons: fostering good self-esteem, maximizing productivity, improving relationships, and even becoming a better speaker. It’s easy to mistake listening as a simple, passive task, but it requires more than just the ability to absorb information from someone else. Listening is a process, and an active one.

Generally, Listening is mistaken as Hearing. Let me tell you, Listening and Hearing are two very different concepts. Hearing refers to the sounds that you hear, whereas listening requires more than that: it requires FOCUS. Listening means playing attention not only to the story, but how it is told, the use of language and voice, and how the other person uses his or her body. In other words, it means being aware of both verbal and non-verbal messages. Your ability to listen effectively depends on the degree to which you perceive and understand these messages

TO DEVELOP GOOD LISTENING SKILLS PRACTICE LARSEN:

A Good Listener:

Looks at speakers:

Establishing eye contact with the speaker is important. In any communication, when a Listener makes an Eye contact with the Speaker it means that he is ready to listen with full attention.

Asks questions when necessary:

Asking questions reassures the speaker of the listener’s genuine interest on the subject and his attempt to understand what speaker is saying. It also acts as a clarification to ensure that the listener understands of what the speaker is saying is correct.

Responds regularly & frequently:

Listener should respond frequently during the conversation so that the speaker understands that the message is effectively communicated. Your facial expressions reflect your interest, so Non-verbal communication is useful to respond frequently during the conversation.

Stays on subject:

When asking questions to speaker during a conversation, stay on the subject and don’t change the direction of the conversation. Try to be on the same page with the speaker.

 Emotions under control:

Try to be impartial.  Don’t become irritated and don’t let the person’s habits or mannerisms distract you from what they are really saying.  Everybody has a different way of speaking.

Never interrupts:

Relax. Focus on the Speaker. Never interrupt a speaker when he is speaking. Wait for him to complete or pause and then put forth your view.

 

“The most basic and powerful way to connect to another person is to listen.  Just listen.  Perhaps the most important thing we ever give each other is our attention.”

–           Rachel Naomi Remen