Art of Listening

​Those that know me well, will tell you I tend to be facetious at times, for example, when asked "Hello, how are you?" I will at times reply, "terrible," just to see whether they are listening, and sometime their answer is "that's good.”

Given all the listening that we do, you would think we would be good at it! In fact, most of us are not, and research suggests that we only remember between 25 percent and 50 percent of what we hear, as described by Edgar Dale's Cone of Experience.

Effective communication skills require an elevated level of self-awareness. Understanding your own personal style of communicating will go a long way toward helping you to create good and lasting impressions with others.

The way to improve your listening skills is to practice "active listening." This is where you make a conscious effort to hear not only the words that another person is saying but, more importantly, the complete message being communicated.

You cannot allow yourself to become distracted by whatever else may be going on around you, or by forming counter arguments while the other person is still speaking. Nor can you allow yourself to get bored and lose focus on what the other person is saying.

If you are finding it particularly difficult to concentrate on what someone is saying, try repeating their words mentally as they say them. This will reinforce their message and help you to stay focused.

To improve your listening skills, be personable, make sure to let the person know that they have your full attention by having good eye contact and nodding when appropriate. Make it obvious they are not speaking to the proverbial wall.