When two people are communicating with each other, it is very safe to say that there is a joint action taking place. What this means is that the two or more parties are aware of some goal of the joint activity and of some form of common ground. Now what that common ground may [...]
What is speech? What’s the big deal about being able to talk? Very rarely do we stop to think about how amazing the ability to speak to someone really is. Could you imagine a world where there were no language, no writing and no other form of communication outside of grunts and yelling and [...]
Today we are going to finish our 4 part professional listening series by talking about quality listening habits that you can begin developing right away and we will look at skill preparation and development at the Macro and Micro levels.
First let’s talk about developing quality listening habits. There is simply no silver bullet for doing [...]
In revisiting part 1 of our series, effective listening is really about gathering information and the trick is in focusing your attention in a way to acquire the appropriate information. So what is the appropriate information? To help focus your mind let’s define “appropriate information” as whatever information will help advance your own interests in [...]
As we determined in the previous post, when we reduce “listening” down to its purest form, it is the process of gathering information. When a communicator begins to CONSCIOUSLY determine for what purpose the information is being gathered AND what information specifically is being gathered is where they truly become an effective listener.
Before going any [...]
Literally, the most difficult challenge in communication is in ACCURATELY representing the concept or feeling that you are. Without extensive analysis and research, the average person is completely unaware of how INACCURATELY they are communicating their thoughts.
Thanks to evolved processes such as heuristics, metaphoric and analogical, stereotypes and predictive categorization that occur during experiential and [...]
Effective communication is a lot more than simply choosing the right words. Being persuasive, forming the right communication strategies and speaking effectively are just a few of the components necessary for people to communicate effectively.
One important component that is often overlooked is mental energy reserves. Now, I understand very well that the concept of mental [...]
I am introducing my 4 part miniseries on professional listening and the effective usage of listening strategies.
