#FOR MANAGERS GOOD LISTENING BEGINS WITH HOW TO#

Once you recognize these barriers and how they might impact your listening skills, you can work on improving your effective listening skills. However, if you are looking at your phone while someone else is talking, you cannot listen effectively.īuilding positive relations is an important part of leadership, and listening is a critical part of building good relationships. Multitasking: With advances in technology, there are more opportunities to multitask than ever.Without this awareness, it can be difficult to determine the nuances and motivations of what someone is saying. Misunderstanding cultural cues: As our lives become increasingly global, it may be hard to understand the culture of the person you are talking to, or at least understand how it may be different.If you do not pay attention to the emotions behind the facts, as well as expression through body language, you might miss what is driving the message. This makes it even more crucial to embrace effective listening. Listening just for facts: Communication is primarily conveyed by words, tone, and body language – but research has shown only seven percent of a message is expressed by words.Fulwiler notes that refraining from doing this requires a lot of discipline, because “most of us are active problem solvers.” Formulating a response or rebuttal before someone is finished with their message: If you are thinking about how you will respond to someone before they’ve completed their thought, you’re not listening to their complete message.However, these judgments can get in the way of truly listening to the message the person is trying to deliver. Prejudging the person you need to listen to: People often judge others on qualities such as their appearance, background, or language barriers.According to Fulwiler, some of the most common are: However, there are many barriers to effective listening, particularly in our modern world. This is particularly true in fields such as environmental health and safety, where technical skills are often emphasized over soft skills, such as communication.

Being able to listen effectively – and then use these skills for influential leadership – is a skill that must be learned and practiced.

#FOR MANAGERS GOOD LISTENING BEGINS WITH HOW TO#

How to Listen EffectivelyĮffective listening is not something that comes naturally to many people. It means going beyond someone’s words by paying attention to body language how the words are spoken (music) and putting this into the context of what you know about this individual.īeing able to listen effectively is a skill that must be learned and practiced. This is what listening with your entire body is about. “It requires much more energy than just passive listening, but you will not be as successful without effective listening skills.”Įffective listening, according to Fulwiler, is about words, dance, and music – the other person’s words, tonality, and body language. Chan School of Public Health, and the former Director of Health and Safety Worldwide at Procter and Gamble. “The overarching principle of effective listening is to seek first to understand, then to be understood,” says Rick Fulwiler, PhD, CIH, CSHM, President of Transformational Leadership Associates, a program director at the Harvard T.H. While you hear with your ears, you listen with your entire body, including your ears, eyes, heart and brain. What is Effective Listening?Įffective listening, a more active form of listening, is a process that goes beyond simply hearing. Determining the best way to meet the needs of your colleagues and employers, as well as enlisting them to help you meet your goals, takes effective listening. But while those technical skills are crucial, making the right decisions goes beyond this knowledge. Share this: Facebook Twitter LinkedIn RedditĮvery day, environmental health and safety professionals make a myriad of decisions using their technical skills, which have far-reaching impacts for both organizations and the public at large.

For managers good listening begins with