International Listening Day
Did you know that July 18th is International Listening Day?
How do you rate your listening skills?
Having higher levels of self-awareness can help you to be a more effective communicator and help you to avoid falling into some of the common pitfalls when it comes to listening and hearing the message being communicated, as it is intended to be heard.
Generally speaking, most of us are not good listeners.
The Jigsaw Discovery Behavioural Framework can help you understand more about your communication style and increase your awareness of how well you listen. Here are just a few examples, of how our communication preferences can impact on our ability to listen.
Eva Reddy– doesn’t even start to listen, if it is not immediately evident as to how the communication is going to contribute to the things that are important to them
Ray O’Sunshine– gets bored easily and their minds will tune out unless they are actively involved in the communication
Carey – because of their interest in helping and supporting other people, can be very good listeners. However, if the communication is overly focused on tasks and procedures rather than people, they will lose interest and their minds start to wander
Mr Huey Blue – becomes overly focused on internally processing the first part of the communication and constructing their questions and responses in their mind, that they stop listening to the rest of the message
Here are our FIVE top tips to help us all become a better listeners:
- When a colleague is speaking to you adopt a generous attitude by giving this person the gift of your full attention and the gift of airtime.
- Remind yourself that because this person is so valuable to you, he/she is entitled to all your attention and all the space and time they need to express themselves.
- As you listen, give full attention to the speaker – if your mind wanders guide it gently back to the speaker
- Try to refrain from speaking, asking questions or leading the speaker. You may acknowledge with facial expressions, nodding your head or saying “I see” or “I understand”
- Allow space for silence when the speaker finishes speaking do not jump in immediately. They may have more to say and just need thinking time.
Watch Communication in a hybrid world, to find out more about communication preferences and how you can avoid some of the common communication pitfalls that can hinder your message from being heard!
Contact us now if you would like to discover more about how the Jigsaw Discovery Tool and Learning Experiences can help your team to be more effective communicators
