In this hustle-bustle world of ours, the art of listening is often lost in the rush to prepare reports, conduct meetings, develop new strategies and meet those tantalizing goals. Regardless of whether our role is that of a parent or of a CEO, the more effectively we listen, the more smoothly and effectively things seem to flow.

D.A. Benton discusses the importance of effective listening in “Lions Don’t Need To Roar.”

“Top people listen more than they talk, and when they listen, they really listen. They know that the only way to have an effective dialogue with someone is to listen effectively.

“Effective listening involves more than making eye contact and keeping your mouth shut. As you no doubt know, you can do that and look attentive without actually being attentive. By allowing your attention to be diverted, you not only run the risk of missing important information but also leave a less than favorable impression on the person with whom you are conversing.”

Here are some of D.A.’s and my suggestions to become more effective listeners:

• Remember to pause - allow long enough so that all parties have ample time to digest and comment upon what is being said.
• Silence internal dialogue and inner critic chatter. Breathing helps.
• Repeat what you hear for clarification, but not so often that it is distracting.
• Encourage the speaker to continue, i.e., “Fascinating, tell me more!”
• Resist the temptation to jump in and speak as soon as the speaker makes a great point or takes a breath - silence is golden. Allow them to continue their stream of thought.
• When appropriate, refer back to something that was said earlier in the conversation to reassure the speaker that you were listening and that what they were saying was in fact important to you.
• Show gratitude for their contribution at every given opportunity.

Enjoy the many, many benefits of purposeful and effective listening this week.

Have a great week!!

Ann

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Permission is granted to either reproduce copy or distribute "Your Success Thought for the Week for January 25, 2006" as long as this copyright notice and full information about contacting the author is attached. The author is Ann Golden Eglé, Golden Visions Success Coaching, LLC, 541.385.8887, 21775 Rickard Rd., Bend, Oregon 97701, www.GoldenVisionsSuccess.com