Communication Style

I’d improve my listening skills by doing the following:

• Learn to concentrate. I will give the speaker full attention and let the speaker know I am listening by giving verbal clues such as “yes”, “I see”. I will also acknowledge the speaker’s feelings and making him/her feel I understand about the situation. If I find it difficult to concentrate on what someone is saying, I will try to repeat the speaker’s words mentally to reinforce the message and help me control my mind drift.

• To become an active listener. I will listen carefully so that I will be aware of the verbal and nonverbal messages. I will also listen attentively so that I will be able to understand, analyze, relate, comprehend and evaluate a message.

• Be mentally and physically prepared to listen. I will put other thoughts out of mind, think of the speaker entirely and control my emotions. I will listen for a purpose, and constantly summarizing the speaker’s message by repeating key words in my mind. I will take notes to identify the speaker’s main points with key words, and ask the speaker to restate the items if I do not understand. Recalling key words will trigger my mind to recall related facts as well.

• Make eye contact. I will face to the speaker, lean slighting forward and eye contact. I will use my body language (nonverbal language) to show my interest or concern, and try to understand the situation from the speaker’s point of view.

• Avoid interrupting and stop talking. I should be courteous during the entire time and not to interrupt the speaker.

• Avoid prejudice. Since we all have prejudices, and these bias will affect the information we process from the speaker. To become a good listener, I should listen to information objectively first and avoid stereotyping.