English Communication Skill: Do Your Best Listening

Communication is connecting with people, making relationship.  Half of the story is listening.

Do you want to be a better listener so the other other person knows you are truly in the same space with them?

What to do? First, clear away the clutter. Noise clutter, desk clutter, even mind clutter.

•  When you talk to someone, don’t just mute the device, turn it off.
• If you have something else on your mind, write it down before you enter a conversation. Thus you won’t worry about forgetting to address the issue – and you’re free to focus on the rest of the conversation.
• Clear your desk of whatever is between you and the speaker – -so you concentrate on what the speaker is saying.
• Don’t accept phone calls or texts while you are talking with someone else. Interrupting a conversation to take a call or review a text makes the person in the room with you feel unimportant – and makes what you have to say seem unimportant. If you think the call is an emergency, state it might be an emergency or family member, ask the person on the other line if it is OK if you call back after your meeting. Then get back to the person you are with,

Second tip, count to three.

This slight delay enables you to absorb and understand the last statement before you respond. You absorb the message, and you give the other person one last chance to modify the statement or question.  Even if your response is simply that you must consult with your client, spouse, or boss, pausing for three seconds helps you better understand and remember what the other person said.

Be sure to watch our English Speech Tips videos and Accent Reduction Tip videos  for more English pronunciation and accent reduction exercise.