Guidelines for effective listening

Guidelines for effective listening

There are several obstacles to effective listening such as noise, inattention, bias, focus on the speaker’s personality, poor speaking style, to much information, talking while listening,, etc.  Some tips to remove these obstacles and hence ensure effective listening are as follows:

(i)                 Stop talking as it is impossible to talk and listen at the same time.

(ii)               Fight off all distraction(Interruption)

(iii)             Be patient and let the speaker say whatever needs to be said

(iv)             Be empathic and appreciate the emotion behind the speakers words

(v)               Be fully attentive

(vi)             Create a positive listening environment

(vii)           Use feedback mechanisms to check understanding

(viii)         Withhold judgment until you have heard fully

(ix)             Ask questions and seek clarifications where ever necessary

(x)              React to message, not to person.