How Are Your Listening Skills?
National Business Etiquette Week
Good listening skills are a very important social and professional skill. As we discussed earlier, career success many times hinges on professional etiquette and poise. One skill that can NEVER be over-rated is the art of listening. Listening is truly an art. And a “science”. And just good plain business-sense! Some tips for better and more effective listening skills…Tips for Effective Listening:
- Maintain eye contact with the person talking
- Give them your undivided attention. Do not multi-task.
- Focus on content, not delivery
- Learn to tune out distractions
- You must care or value what the person is saying. Note: You don’t have to agree.
- Value the opinion of others
- Suspend judgment
- Suspend the need to “know it all”
- Seek first to understand
- Let the speaker finish before you talk. Do not continuously interrupt.
- Ask questions if you need clarification
- Repeat ideas that you “heard” back to the speaker
- Listen with your whole face and body, not just your ears. Let them know you are listening.
“To listen well is as powerful a means of influence as to talk well, and is as essential to all true conversation.” Chinese Proverb
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Judy W Bell
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Tags: Effective Listening Skills, Judy W Bell, Listening skills, National Business Etiquette Week, Tips for Effective Listening