Improved listening skills for managers

You can't listen if you are talking.
You can't listen if you are planning what your next response is going to be.
Turn off your desire to talk too much and decide to be a receiver, not a transmitter.

Focus you mind on the speaker. Watch the others mouth and eyes. Search for the true meaning behind the words. Be active not passive. Think about the other persons view.

It is certain that the other person will omit information. They cannot tell you everything about a situation.
Ask questions to elicit the missing information.
For example:
If the person says:
It was not very good"
You might ask:
"In what way, not very good?"

Many people talk too quickly for a listener to mentally keep up with the flow of information.
Don't be afraid to slow the speaker down to your speed.

Say:

"John, I didn't catch the last thing you said because I was still absorbing the first thing. Could you repeat that last point again?"

All communication takes place in a setting.
Some settings are not conducive to the conversation.
The setting might be too noisy, too public, or distracting.
If the setting for your conversation is wrong:

• Go to a different setting
• Change the circumstance (turn the radio down)
• Delay the conversation.

Form the habit of rephrasing and checking the person's message in your own words.
In this way, you are minimising the danger of a mis-communication.

If in doubt, ask the other to sum up in their words by asking:

"Steve, how would you sum all that up, in a nutshell?"

Up to a certain point, we all think in pictures.
For example if I say to you "Think of the back of your house. How many windows are there?"
You will have to create a mental image in your mind's eye in order to answer the question.
It is because we think in images.
So try to consciously turn the words you are receiving into mental images. This act will improve:

• Your comprehension
  
• Your memory
• Your interest in the others message.

Even the best memory fades. So take written notes if you think there is a possibility you will have to refer to the conversation again.

All engineers, police officers and senior managers have the habit of recording conversations in notes books.

Why not join them? It is an excellent habit.

Think on paper

Cultivate the pleasure of listening to others.

See how long you can resist the temptation to be the centre of the conversational attention.

The wise are those who

speak but little

and

listen longest

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