Become a Good Listener

         If you listen with care you will learn so much more.

         Hearing is with the ears, but listening is with the mind.

         You cannot listen if you are talking – and if you are talking you are not learning.

         Opportunity sometimes knocks very softly.

         Listening to clients and to staff is one of a manager’s most important tasks.

         Many surveys have shown that leaders who listen are the most effective – and the most popular! People who listen badly understand badly.

A Handful of Tips to help you improve your listening skills

* Concentrate on the speaker

         Turn off your cell phone. Shut the door. Watch their face and their body language.

* Make encouraging noises

         Listen to the activity. Nod in agreement, smile, or make Mmm… noises to encourage the speaker.  This is especially important if the speaker is nervous or under stress.

* Reflective Listening

         This is a skill worth mastering. It requires intensive and sensitive involvement.

         You can help people clarify their thinking, particularly after a long rambling discussion.

         By interpreting body language, paraphrasing, classifying, summarising, or mirroring, you will help clarify your own thinking as well as that of the speaker.

* Some Basic Reflecting Skills

You can restate words. “So you think the advertising is inappropriate. Why is that?”

You can focus on the speaker’s content.

“As I understand you are making three main points. They are …..”

You can reflect the feeling of the speaker.

         Listen for feeling words and signs of emotion and by observing body language. After you have interpreted them, try mirroring the feelings back to the speaker. “So you are not happy with your new job. Why is that?”

Geoffrey Moss(mossassociates.co.nz)

” A good listener is a silent flatterer.”