Spicy art of listening...!!

I never imagined listening as a skill to be acquired till i landed at my first job 6 years back. However, there is lotta hulla-gulla about listening in professional arena, and most people assume that they are good listeners (me, too). Nevertheless, listening doesn't mean waiting for others to shutup so that you can speak...

By listening right, we can explore unused potential to our maximum advantage. The historical reason for poor listening skills: Gap in training in school days- focus was more on reading!!

The other common cause for poor listening is 'spare thinking' ( Thinking rate is much faster than speaking rate) For instance, day-dreaming about Penelope cruz when the professor is teaching about 'Long term strategy in media industry' :)

However, we can use spare thinking efficiently to avoid side tracks
- Anticipate what the speaker is going to say
- Listen like you are reading a CR question. Is the evidence valid?
- Periodically review what the speaker is saying
- Listen between lines: is he avoiding something- looking for non-verbal cues

Also, listen for ideas -rather than facts. (The facts serve only for constructing the ideas)

Take care of emotional filters - hear the man out (requires lotta self-control)
- Withhold evaluation
- Hunt for negative evidence

More importantly, remember "talking is sharing, listening is caring..!!"

Tata..Satish.