Poor listening means hasty conclusions, erroneous decisions and weak teamwork. Piya Mukherjee suggests you listen before you speak.

Ever caught yourself saying any or all of the following statements?

* “Having a boss who listens attentively to my plans and suggestions would be great.”

* “Wish the people at office would truly listen to one another; we all talk of our own expectations but fail to understand problems faced by others.”

* “I have some terrific ideas for improving the way we do things, but it’s tough getting the top management to listen.”

* “It’s extremely irritating when costly mistakes are made on account of messages not being correctly understood.”

Impressive words may steal the limelight. But if you’ve felt similar to these statements, you are aware of the importance of an oft-neglected trait — good listening.

TAKE NOTES
* Any communication process is complete only after the listener understands the message of the speaker and gives a response.

* Listening allows the leader-in-the-making to understand, connect and empathise with those around. In a study titled “What do successful, real managers do?” Luthans, Hodgetts and Rosenkrantz, charted time spent by managers on various activities.

The study reveals that routine communication takes up 29 per cent of the manager’s time, while networking claims another 19 per cent, leading to a total of 48 per cent of work time actually spent on talking and listening! Given the large chunk of time spent on communication, it makes sense to get the most of the process by carefully honing one’s listening skills.

HOW DO YOU HEAR?
Managers can usually categorise their listening into one of the following modes:

* Marginal listening: When you’re not interested and you ‘switch off’. If you do this often, you might miss out crucial inputs.

* Evaluative listening: When you’re constantly judging and evaluating what is being said. This might lead to a distorted perception of people and situations.

* Active listening: Genuine and non-evaluative listening, with focus and concentration. This calls for constant awareness of one’s level of attentiveness and the will to bring the distracted mind back on track, if need be.

* Projective listening: A really evolved form of active listening, where the listener projects himself to the speaker’s paradigm, to under-standing not just what is being said, but why. This is necessary for good leadership.

SWITCHING BACK ON
Enhancing listening skills:

* Focus on the message and the communicator. Learn to silence the chattering mind, ignore distractions and concentrate on the words and the non-verbal language of the speaker.

* Get to the core of the message, cut out the hype. Content must take precedence over style, accent and other contextual factors.

* Don’t interrupt too frequently, this may impede the flow of communication. However, do ask relevant questions to understand the message better.

* Use simple non-verbal gestures. Nod to communicate that you are listening.

* Put yourself in the speaker’s shoes, to understand the rationale of his message.

* If the speaker is a subordinate and likely to be awed by your higher position, put her at ease to ensure no part of the message loses out on account of status inhibitions.

*Try to suspend biases and avoid judging the speaker or the message, till the entire message is carefully received and understood.

When You Are The Speaker