|
| LIstening Skills |
 Before speaking you have to establish eye and face contact with your speaker and then you must react to the speaker by sending out non-verbal signals. Your face must move and give the range of emotions that demonstrate whether you are listening to what the speaker is saying. You can better focus on what the person is saying when you turn your face to the source of information. Your face must become an active and formed receiver of information.
It is very difficult to accept information when your mouth is moving information out at the same time. A good listener will stop speaking and use receptive language instead. Try to use words and phrases that follow and inspire your speaker's train of thought, such as I see . . . un hunh . . . oh really. This makes you to react to the information sent out, rather than the person. It is better to ask questions then give your opinion on the information being produced. It is a very good listening skill to employ your mouth as a moving receptor of information rather than a broadcaster.
A final skill is to move your mind to focus on what the speaker is saying. You cannot fully hear their point of view or process information when you argue mentally or judge what they are saying before they have completed. An open mind is a mind that is getting and listening to information.
You should feel tired after your speaker has finished if you are really listening earnestly. Efficient listening is an active rather than a passive activity.
When you find yourself drifting away during a listening session, change your body position and focus on using one of the above skills. Once one of the skills is being used, the other active skills will come into place as well.
It is possible to define weather you are a good listener or a good deflector by your body position. Good listeners are like poor boxers: they lead with their faces. The speaker can not transmit the meaning as a material substance. It must also be stimulated or aroused in the receiver. To complete the cycle of communication the receiver must therefore be an active participant.
|
|
