Soft Skill: The Ability to Listen

Listening well isn’t just about hearing information. Listening well builds relationships. Remember this crucial role of communication and you may be motivated to do away with some of these common annoyances that sabotage relationships:

1. Distracting yourself—texting, picking up, straightening things— when someone is speaking.
2. Interrupting because you are suddenly reminded of something “more important” to say.
3. Showing impatience by responding to the speaker before information has been completely conveyed.
4. Listening only enough to grasp the nature of a problem and ignoring the speaker’s need to tell the story.
5. Asking the speaker to hurry up and finish.
6. Ceasing to listen when you hear something with which you disagree, and instead starting to think of how to respond.

Global Administrator | 1/4/2016

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