I like to listen. I have learned a great deal from listening carefully. Most people never listen. ~ Ernest Hemingway
It has taken me many years of conscious practice to develop my listening skills. But taking the listening skills test has shown there is room for improvement.
Are you a good listener? Do you know that you can improve your listening skills? or are you of the assumption that since we have ears, hearing is synonymous to listening.
Take the Listening Skills Test
Listening vs Hearing
Hearing is one of the physical senses we have as human beings. It helps us to be aware of or to perceive sound. Once we have achieved this awareness, we have a choice to pay attention to what we are hearing; that is to listen or not. It is only by listening that meaning can be made of the sound we hear.
Benefits of Listening
You can make more friends in two weeks by becoming a good listener than you can in two years trying to get people interested in you~ Dale Carnegie
Is there any milage in learning to listen? If you are the kind of person who likes to dominate the conversation or feels that he or she has an important point to make, then you may already know all you want to know about listening. For the rest of us, here are some of the benefits of improving our listening skills.
#1. Improved Relationships
Think of all the heated arguments you have had with friends and relatives that has ended up on strained relationships. If one of the parties had stopped talking and listened, it is quite possible that the relationship would not have deteriorated.
Improving your listening will go a long way at helping you improve your relationships at home or at work. You become the go to person when others have something to say. This helps you make huge deposits in other peoples emotional bank accounts. When you have something to say, everyone listens to you and you increases your chances of being heard and understood.
Steven Covey in his book the Seven Habits of Highly Effective People talked about the principles of Empathic Communication of which Empathic Listening is a component. With Empathic listening, you seek first to understand before being understood.
#2. Improved Learning
As a life long learner, you will increase your knowledge when you become an avid listener. Like a sponge soaking up water, you absorb everything that is said and you position yourself to acquire knowledge and improve learning.
Think back to all the meetings, seminars and training you have attended and all the tips, contacts and sales leads you picked up at conversations during the breaks and over lunch.
Think of the conversations you have on the bus, train or airplane. Do you learn anything new by listening? If you do, then keep on listening and keep on learning. You never know what gem you will pick up next.
#3. Improved Problem Solving
If you have ever been part of a brainstorming session, you will know that to get the best solution for a problem, you need to come up with many ideas. This means you have to create an atmosphere where participants are free to talk about their ideas without being interrupted or judged.
One feedback I got from the listening test was that I have to be willing to listen to some remarkably bad opinions and silly ideas without making a judgement or interrupting.
How good are you at allowing others to freely express their opinion especially when it is contrary to yours. The solution to that problem that has plagued your business for a long time may be contained in that out of the box and out of this world idea that is being expressed.
Why not take the listening test and get some feedback on your listening skills.