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When a person speaks to you, he or she expects, or needs to know that you are paying attention, listening, and, most importantly, understanding their meaning. Find out what active listening can do to enhance your communication skills. When you can prove to a person that you are attentive, listening and truly understand them, they are much more likely to see you as easier to work with. They are less likely to become aggressive with you. Even in the midst of an angry interchange, listening can be a great tool for cooling off a situation. When someone speaks to us, we often prepare a response while they are speaking, and offer that response immediately when it is our turn to talk. What we need to do is apply the following pattern: attend, listen, understand, reflect (paraphrase back), then add our own comments. To make active listening REALLY work we need to do our best to pay attention and hear what is said, and avoid formulating a response while the other person is talking. Then we need to understand it (in our heads) to determine what is really being said. After that we reflect back our understanding, and then, and only then do we respond with our own comments. If you do it that way, you are much more likely to get a positive response from the other person, and a constructive outcome.
This is an exerpt from Conflict Prevention In the Workplace. For more detailed help on workplace conflict, click here.
You can learn more about cooperative communication, by looking at a free preview of the Communicating Cooperatively In The Workplace helpcard. |
Communication Skills 
