John Adair's 100 Greatest Ideas for Effective Leadership

Idea 83: Being a better listener – developing listening skills

Listening skills centre on the following five attributes:

1. Being willing to listen.
2. Clearly hearing the message.
3. Interpreting the meaning (the speaker's meaning, not only your interpretation).
4. Evaluating carefully (suspending judgment at first but then assessing value and usefulness).
5. Responding appropriately – remembering that communication is a two-way street.

In active listening you must be prepared to:

• Ask questions.
• Weigh the evidence.
• Watch your assumptions.
• Listen between the lines (at what is not said and for non-verbal elements such as facial expressions, tone, posture, physical gestures etc.).