Communication Skills

3.1.5.How to develop listening skills

Good listeners make good communicators. They listen carefully to what others say. Here are some suggestions to improve your listening skills:

1. Stop talking sometimes. Most communicators tend to talk too much.

2. Put the audience at case. Show them that you respect their opinions.

3. Concentrate on what someone is saying.

4. Don’t allow others to talk and to distract you from listening

5. Avoid making assumptions. Don’t assume that you know what someone is going to say to you.

6. Look for hidden or deeper messages.

7. Ask questions. Questions will often prompt students to respond better.

8. Listen actively; restate and rephrase what has been said to you before responding.

Are you a good listener

Give score 1 for Yes and 0 for No

As you Listen:

1. Do you ask questions and wait for an answer?

2. Do you respond quickly and directly to the questions that are asked?

3. Does the other person feel that you are listening actively to him/her?

4. Do you give an occasional nod, or an ‘uh-huh’ or an “I see” while you listen?

5. Do you shift your posture or lean forward in the chair and at appropriate moments smile or shake your head meaningfully while you listen?

6. Do you maintain strong eye contact with your conversation mate?

7. Do you go ahead and ask a question that follows closely from what was just said after the other person comes to a break in his or her talking?

8. Are you mentally “with your speaker” every moment?

9. Are you tempted to interrupt the speaker in between if you disagree with him on an issue?

10. Do you listen patiently with an open mind?

11. Do you encourage your speaker to express his ideas fully?

12. As a listener are you able to take time away from your most important focus yourself?

Scoring

Correct answers: ‘Yes’ answers for all questions except no. 9 are correct answers.

Interpretation

8 and above: You really are a “people’s a person”. You are a good listener and intelligent enough to understand that listening intently to people is one of the highest compliments we can pay anyone. So, you have others think of you as really interested in them when in reality you simply listen to them and encourage them to talk. This way you learn things and people respond to you since you listen to them. You are thus an effective communicator and can become a successful leader. Keep it up!

Less than 8: You seem to be too preoccupied with your own self to listen. Come out of your self-centred approach. You have to learn to listen to others – your employees, customers, friends, family as well as your critics. Get involved in others. People must be treated as individuals. They’re people first, employees second. This is a special motivation technique. So get set and step outside yourself to discover what’s important to someone else.