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Become a Master in Listening

Written by: Susana Lange

Article Overview: Did you know that the Chinese symbol for listening consists of 10 distinct elements? They combine meanings like “king, ear, eye, heart, sense and respect” into one symbol. What does that tell you? Obviously the entire culture of the Far East perceives listening as extremely valuable and is trained to get a lot of information beyond the spoken word: Context, emotion, cultural background or intentions. As a sharp contrast, our Western culture emphasizes verbal and written expression, powerful speaking, articles and books as part of individual development. This cultural underpinning is subconscious and might impact our readiness to listen effectively.

Become a Master in Listening

How do you listen to your employees, clients friends and family members?

Did you know that the Chinese symbol for listening consists of 10 distinct elements? They combine meanings like "king, ear, eye, heart, sense and respect"
into one symbol.


Listen With Your Ears, Eyes and Heart

What does that tell you? Obviously the entire culture of the Far East perceives listening as extremely valuable and is trained to get a lot of information beyond the spoken word. When you listen with your ears, eyes and heart you can understand much more far beyond the spoken word. You can understand the other person's context, emotion and intentions.


Offering Advice is Not Enough

As a sharp contrast, our Western culture emphasizes verbal and written expression, powerful peaking,
articles and books as part of individual development. This cultural underpinning is subconscious and might impact your readiness to listen effectively.

To what degree do you listen to your business partners, friends and family members? Do you mentally prepare your answer while they speak and before it is your turn to talk? What might your child really want to tell you if you hear the same story over and over again? What might your business partner tell you if they don't follow through? How beneficial would it be to listen and understand the clues for these scenarios?


Here is the #1 step to becoming an expert listener:

Next time you listen to your employee make a conscious effort to be present and give them your full attention without verbalizing a response while they speak. Then take a pause before you respond. Finally, respond with a question instead of an answer. Select a question that asks them to further clarify the situation. Or, ask them for how what they just told you makes them feel. If what they were telling you involved a problem, ask them how they want to solve it instead of offering advice.

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Article Tags: business partner, business partners, chinese symbol, conscious effort, distinct elements, ear eye, ears, emotion, family members, far east, friends and family, full attention, individual development, listener, offering advice, scenarios, spoken word, underpinning, western culture, written expression



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