businessLISTENING.com
Listening Flow Chart for Business
The following flow chart shows a series of choices that you face in conversation starting with the most basic: whether to talk or listen. Your mission is to identify, and support, your goals for having this particular conversation in the first place.
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
You talk. |
|
Do you focus? |
|
No. Say what comes to mind. |
Yes. Take a moment to structure what you are going to say. Decide how much detail to go into. If you are going to say a lot, it will help both you and your listener(s) to briefly summarize what you plan to say and list your sub-points first. If you aren't certain what structure works best, try clarifying before you start. |
|||||
|
|||||
|
|||||
|
|||||
Do you clarify? |
|
No. Use your best guess about what's important to them and what they already know. (But beware of rambling and pedantry.) |
|||
Yes. Ask whether they want to hear what you want to say. (If someone starts looking uninterested or upset while you are talking, try clarifying.) |
|||||
|
|||||
|
|||||
|
|||||
|
You listen. |
|
Do you listen attentively? |
|
Yes. Take steps to minimize distractions. Think and react, verbally and using body language, to help synchronize yourself with the person talking. |
No. You can either... |
|||||
...half listen, and think about or do something else at the same time, with the risk that you will offend them and/or miss part of what they are saying; or |
|||||
...ask to reschedule the conversation to a better time for listening. |
|||||
|
|||||
These choices repeat over and over as your conversation continues.