News You Can Use                            8 Tips to Better Listening Volume 1 - Number 1 If “listening better” is one of your goals, the 8 tips below can help.  Tip #1    Eliminate distractions.  Noise or movement near you and the person you are talking with can interrupt your ability to hear.  The same applies to “internal distractions” such as thoughts on another topic (i.e. your vacation, the next meeting, etc.). Tip #2    Get in the right mindset.  Realize that active listening is hard work. Tip #3    Enter the speaker’s reality.  “Position” yourself to hear where the speaker is “coming from”…put aside your needs and recognize the speaker’s point of view. Tip #4    Stop talking.  We all listen better when we are not talking or thinking about what we are going to say next (another internal distraction). Tip #5    Listen for main ideas.  Focus on main points.  Try not to be distracted by extra dialogue.  Tip #6    Summarize and question.  Repeat back some of the main ideas you heard for verification and to learn more/encourage further discussion.  Nothing tells a speaker you are listening better than asking a well thought out question. Tip #7    Listen for feelings too.  Look for the nonverbal messages being sent by the speaker.  These can be body language, eye contact and tone of voice. Tip #8    Use pauses to reflect.  When a speaker pauses, use this time to try and “tie” the main thoughts together and make mental associations with what was already said. Copyright 2007 A. Turetz - The Concepts Group, LLC.