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Communication - Listening
To
be able to listen well is the most important point in communication.
Improving our listening skills will improve our speaking
skills. Listening is the accurate perception of what is being
communicated.
However, be warned, ‘listening is a
natural
process that goes
against
human nature.’ (from ‘Effective Listening –
Kevin J. Murphy.)
♦ When a problem
arises, do you often react before gathering all the facts?
♦ When you receive an
answer to a question and the other party begins to speak about an
unrelated subject, do you lose interest?
♦ Do you sometimes
daydream at a meeting after making your statement or presentation?
♦ Do you often finish
sentences for the slow, deliberate speaker?
♦ Do you think
listening to a personal anecdote is a waste of time, rather than an
opportunity to gain some insight into the speaker’s personality?
♦ Do you feel
uncomfortable asking if people understand your instructions?
♦ If you were told
that a problem had developed, would it occupy your thoughts for the
remainder of the day?
♦ When a problem is
confusing, do you hesitate to ask questions that may clarify the
situation?
♦ Are you nervous or
apprehensive in the presence of top leadership?
Are you
a good listener?
The Four Stages of Listening . 
If you answered ‘yes’ to
any
of the first nine questions, your natural
tendencies are inhibiting your ability to listen under the pressure of
day-to-day activities.
If you answered ’no’ to
all
of the first nine questions and, are not the
chief executive officer of your company by now, you should either inform
a company’s owner of your nearly super-human abilities or take a
polygraph test.
Anxiety, preoccupation and pressure, can undermine the
abilities of the best ‘natural’ listener. Would you like to try again?
Now -
Are you a
good listener?
Do you want to be a more
effective
listener?
Remember, listening is not synonymous with hearing.
However, sensing the sender’s message is basic to the other three
activities involved in listening. If a listener doesn’t receive the
message aurally, nothing can be done about it.
Once the message is sensed, the second activity comes
into play – accurate interpretation. At this point listeners need to
understand what the message really means. Effective listeners are aware
that “words have no meaning – people have meaning.”
Active listeners now advance to the next step –
evaluation. Do we agree or disagree? What conclusions do we reach? If we
begin this step too early, and do not hear the full message, then,
sensing and interpretation stop – and, so does listening.
To be complete, the listening process must result in
some response, verbal or non-verbal. This shows the speaker that the
listener has received the message.
If there is a breakdown at any stage, it will not be
apparent until the response stage.
 “Friends,
Romans, Countrymen! Lend me your ears! I come to bury Caesar, not to
praise him.”
Did Brutus get it right? Do you think the Roman
people received the correct message? Did the senate miss the
messages being sent by Caesar? Did he orchestrate his own death?
Communication - Spoken
 Communication
means more than the transference
of data to, and from another.
Good
communication is based on discriminative and analytical listening.
Listening is the
accurate perception of what is being communicated. A leader should also
know how to listen.
“The meaning of a word is the action it produces” -
(Ashley Montague.)
When communicating, a leader must make sure that the
import of his/her words are clearly understood. The Speaker should not
be saying one message and the listeners hearing a different one.
A good leader knows that being 100% ‘accountable’ is
accepting how much his words impact on others.
Answer these two questions before you speak:
What message do I want to send?
How do I want people to feel?
(Dr. Loretta Malandro. Ph.D)
“Developing excellent communication skills is essential
to effective leadership” – - - - “If a leader can’t get a message across
clearly and motivate others to act on it, then having a message doesn’t
matter.”
( Gilbert Amelio,
President and CEO of National Semiconductor Corpn.)
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Planning your
presentation
Do you have difficulty deciding what information
you want to use in a presentation or speech? How you should
format it? Which order will you put the information in, and what
will you use to ensure the correct time?
Planning presentations and speeches can be
effortless and uncomplicated using a method that involves
Post-It Notes.
Read on ...
What is the Accreditation Program?
The Program is designed to assist ITC members
"to attain a standard of knowledge and competence [which]
involves ….. a planned process of measurement or assessment
against a pre-determined standard". (POWERtalk
Master Manual)
It provides –
. stimulation and motivation
. milestones of achievement
. growth in listening, speaking and
organisational skills
... more
When we respond to a work of art, that is, when some
sort of meaning comes through for us, even if it is not quite the
meaning that the artist intended, then we can claim that art is
communication. Of all the art forms, poetry is one that can speak out to
us, because it has words
as its essential tools, as its very life-blood in fact. Of course, not
all poets set out to communicate a clear ‘message’, but I am referring
to poetry here as a powerful means of speaking to a reader or audience.
... more
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