Listening with Understanding and Empathy
It is the province of knowledge to speak and it is the privilege of wisdom to listen.
-Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr.
It has been said that listening is one of the most important, but least taught of skills. I suspect that for many people considering listening as a skill, rather than a passive act, would come as a bit of a surprise.
This Habit of Mind is about the skill of listening. Successful people are very good at listening to other people. Steven Covery, in his best selling Seven Habits of Successful People, discusses this as his 5th Habit - Seek First to Understand and then to be Understood.
On the other hand, many people believe a conversation works something like the cartoon below. Skills of paraphrasing what is being said, being able to pause and ask questions are examples of effective listening skills.
-Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr.
It has been said that listening is one of the most important, but least taught of skills. I suspect that for many people considering listening as a skill, rather than a passive act, would come as a bit of a surprise.
This Habit of Mind is about the skill of listening. Successful people are very good at listening to other people. Steven Covery, in his best selling Seven Habits of Successful People, discusses this as his 5th Habit - Seek First to Understand and then to be Understood.
On the other hand, many people believe a conversation works something like the cartoon below. Skills of paraphrasing what is being said, being able to pause and ask questions are examples of effective listening skills.