The following excerpt is from Jill Schiefelbein’s book Dynamic Communication. Buy it now from Amazon | Barnes & Noble | IndieBound
Hearing is the physical act of recognizing sound. Just because you can hear something doesn’t mean you’re listening. My elementary schoolteacher’s voice haunts me to this day: “You aren’t listening to me!” she said, before taking away our recess time. And she wasn’t wrong. We weren’t listening.
Related: Listening Is an Art, and Mastering it Will Make You a Great Leader
Hearing is a physical process. Listening is a mental process. You can have the most beautifully crafted, well-written, exquisitely organized message in the world. But if nobody is listening, it’s moot. Got it? Good. Now let’s dive into why this information is important to communication and how it can ultimately impact your bottom line.
You’ve likely heard the phrase “active listening” before. With active listening, you listen to someone and then repeat what you comprehended in your own words back to them. Essentially, you’re paraphrasing. The idea is that you create mutual understanding so that there are no ambiguities in interpretation. This concept of mutual understanding is central for driving action in many communication strategies
The true magic of active listening lies…