Career Center Listening SkillsMaster listeners already know that empathy is key for any productive exchange of ideas. Not only should listening enable you to acquire a great deal of intellectual content, you should also be able to gouge what the person’s feelings are as well.
The emotional data of a conversation is acquired not only through the content of what the person is saying, but in the body language they use to convey it. In your response, you should be careful to validate both the ideas they have expressed and their feelings – even when you do not necessarily agree with either.
Some people have a problem where they just grow cold when someone else is discussing their emotions. They thus “tune out” and stop listening to what the person is trying to say.
But the emotional content of a conversation is ultimately just as important as the intellectual content – or more so. This is why learning how to empathize with others is key in becoming a master listener. Empathy is quite easy when you think about it – it is just trying to put yourself in the other person’s shoes, imagining how you would feel if you were in their position.
If you feel that you are not being properly listened to, you can start over, use a different tactic, or suggest you talk at another time.
This latter is a strategy that even some master listeners do not take in to consideration. But it has proven to be highly effective in a number of situations. By suggesting a later time or date to meet and discuss something, then you know that both partners will be fully involved in the conversation – because the explicit purpose of the meeting is to discuss a particular matter. That way, everyone knows in advanced that they have to be focused – with their listening skills in sync.
First Page: Listening Skills - Master Listener
