

		Listening Strategy and Skills In this topic: Becoming a Better Business Listener (this section) Part I: Strategies for Business Listeners Part II: How to Listen (Attentive Listening Skills) Part III: Asking Questions / Listening Self-Study 5 Steps to Poor Listening: The IT Professional's Guide Help For Those Who Talk Too Much

Becoming a Better Business Listener

Your skill as a listener can make or break your success in leadership, teams, customer relationships, and negotiation. This topic, taking a fresh look at how you can become more effective as a listener, was written by businessLISTENING.com editor Bruce Wilson, a business coach for executives, professionals, and entrepreneurs.

Part I, Strategies for Business Listeners sets out a simple model explaining how an effective listening style changes ordinary conversations. The central premise is that you will get more out of conversations by first knowing your conversation goals, then narrowing your focus to 3 choices: talk or listen; focus or clarify; and listen attentively or not. More....

Part II, How to Listen (Attentive Listening Skills) provides the nuts-and-bolts tactical complement to the listening strategy proposed in Part I. Subjects include: "Get Over Yourself, Give Them A Solo", which speaks to the power of not interrupting in any one of a multitude of ways; "Stop Multi-tasking", about the importance of focus; and finally, "Recap Regularly", "Use Supportive Words", and "Use Body Language" which show how to establish a tangible connection between yourself and the person you talking to. More....

Part III, Asking Questions / Listening Self-Study covers the art of asking non-leading questions which contribute to, rather than morph, what a speaker is saying. Part Three also provides exercises and resources you can use to sharpen your listening skills. More....

Technology consultant and author Paul Glen shares the tried and true path to becoming an ordinary IT professional in his contribution, 5 Steps to Poor Listening: The IT Professional's Guide. More....

Help For Those Who Talk Too Much: Seven Points To Help You Stop Yourself, and Others, From Rambling At Work. How often have you wished for a tried and true cure for an all-too-common business malady variously known as "an inability to simplify," "a lack of organization," or (less politely) "running off at the mouth"? Find the uncomplicated solution from Bruce Wilson here. More....



		Worst case scenario: The pointy-haired boss in the Dilbert comic strip is amazingly aggravating because he already has all the answers and is impervious to others' ideas. We all know somebody like that. What's worse, at times we may BECOME Dilbert's boss without even realizing it--maybe with a co-worker, maybe with a customer, maybe within a negotiation.



		The question of WHY one benefits from better listening is discussed both in this topic and in the section Practical Benefits of Better Listening for Leaders and Teams in the Leadership topic of businessLISTENING.com.

next section: Part I: Strategies for Business Listeners

top: back to the beginning of this section

Overview

Home Page

Detailed Description of Topics

Topics

Leadership
and Teams

Customer Relationships
and Marketing

Conflict Resolution and Negotiation

Listening Strategy and Skills

Resources

Listening Books

About Us

Contributors

Editorial

summary of site contents:

Sponsored Links:


businessLISTENING.com is produced by Wilson Strategies, consultants for leadership, customer relationship, and group process development. Discussions of any author, business, business method or personal practice on this site are not endorsements, but are instead intended to provoke critical thinking and individual learning about the role of listening in business.

©2003-2005, all rights reserved. "businessLISTENING.com" is our trademark, all other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

Listening Strategy and Skills

Becoming a Better Business Listener

Worst case scenario: