Listen up!

This is a really great read for all those who want tips on how to improve their listening skills. It came to my attention that suddenly I had horrible listening skills. Then all of a sudden I recieved emails or other communication that told me how to improve my listening skills. It was like 5 articles at once! Anyway, I was glad to have advice. Maybe it can help you!

Source: Ellen Reddick - Impact Factory www.impactfactoryutah.com


Listening Well – A Critical Soft Skill


The ability to listen well is a crucial soft skill, especially for a leader. It's easy to realize its absence in others but perhaps not as easy when it comes to ourselves. In the business best seller The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, listening is one of Stephen Covey's crucial seven habits. He writes, "Seek first to understand, then to be understood." It's no coincidence that many leading companies, especially leading innovators, are noted for their ability to listen to customers.

Too many people fail to realize that real communication goes in both directions." Listening well may help you discover new markets or find new ways to innovate, but you must first listen well to your staff. Ineffective listening leaves staff feeling unappreciated, and research shows it can result in low morale, absenteeism, turnover and other ill effects. On the other hand, improving one's ability to listen can improve your leadership skills and, in turn, the skills of those you lead.

Good and Poor Listeners
What are the characteristics of good and poor listeners? A study conducted of 900 college and military students ages 17 to 70 in the 2003 showed the following traits of good and poor listeners (in order of importance).

A good listener:
Uses eye contact appropriately.
Is attentive and alert to a speaker's verbal and nonverbal behavior.
Is patient and doesn't interrupt (waits for the speaker to finish).
Is responsive, using verbal and nonverbal expressions.
Asks questions in a non-threatening tone.
Paraphrases, restates or summarizes what the speaker says.
Provides constructive (verbal or nonverbal) feedback.
Is empathic (works to understand the speaker).
Shows interest in the speaker as a person.
Demonstrates a caring attitude and is willing to listen.
Doesn't criticize, is nonjudgmental.
Is open-minded.

A poor listener:
Interrupts the speaker (is impatient).
Doesn't give eye contact (eyes wander).
Is distracted (fidgeting) and does not pay attention to the speaker.
Is not interested in the speaker (doesn't care; daydreaming).
Gives the speaker little or no (verbal or nonverbal) feedback.
Changes the subject.
Is judgmental.
Is closed-minded.
Talks too much.
Is self-preoccupied.
Gives unwanted advice.
Too busy to listen.

Similar studies done over the last two decades by Fortune 500 trainers and business consultants have found similar results.

Be Active
On the way up the career ladder, your listening skills should improve. Hourly employees may spend 30 percent of their time listening, while managers often spend 60 percent, and executives 75 percent or more. Does effective listening lead to promotion, or do higher-ups learn to listen better because they must? It is probably a combination. Essentially, to be more successful, you must be a better listener. Better listening is also active listening.

To be an active listener, you must begin with awareness. When do others get angry with you for poor communication? When do you have problems communicating? How were you listening at these times? It takes guts, but ask others what you could do to become a better listener. Others see our faults much better than we do.

Power Listening
To be a successful listener, you must also believe that listening is power. Because our society places so much emphasis on speaking as the way to win friends and influence people, good listeners can quietly have a powerful and subversive impact. You should also remember that speakers have little power without listeners. Speakers share their wisdom and try to persuade, but listeners make meaning of what is heard -- they make the ultimate decision to act on what they hear.

Soft skills set us apart from the competition
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