Page 191 - Effective Communication Soft Skills Strategies For Success by Nitin Bhatnagar, Mamta Bhatnagar

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Communication Skills | 179

audience. Organize your thoughts, decide on a style that suits the occasion
(for example, formal or informal, lecture or conversation) and your audi-
ence (supervisor or assistant, client, or colleague), and edit your remarks
mentally. Perhaps the most important thing you can do is to remember the
‘you’ attitude, earning other people’s attention and goodwill by focusing on
them. Try to predict how the other person will react and organize the mes-
sage accordingly. Your audience may not react the way you expect, so have
alternative approaches ready. As you speak, watch the other person, judging
from verbal and nonverbal feedback whether your message is making the
desired impression. If it is not, revise it and try again.

Listening

Speaking is, of course, only one side of the oral communication story.
In fact, you spend over half your communication time listening. Generally,
miscommunications stem from a failure to listen to and understand the
needs of the others.
Listening is a routined, everyday activity and only few people think of
developing their listening skills. Yet, unlike hearing, listening demands total
concentration; it is an active search for meaning. ‘Many people confuse hear-
ing with active listening,’ notes one communication consultant. ‘Hearing is
an automatic, physical function. Because you heard the words doesn’t neces-
sarily mean you were listening to the message.’ It is not that we do not mean
to listen with our full minds in gear. It is just that most of us have so many
things pulling at our brain cells at once that we often do not give our full
attention. You must have learned a great deal about listening skills in your
spoken English chapter.

The Seven Dos of Good Listening
i. Listen caringly.
ii. Listen with your body.

iii. Listen with your eyes.
iv. Listen with your ears.
v. Listen with your heart.
vi. Listen with your mouth closed.
vii. Validate and confirm the message.

The Seven Don’ts of Good Listening
i. Don’t interrupt.
ii. Don’t contradict. (May do it politely, but only after the speaker
c ompletes his/her statement.)

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