What did they say? What did they mean?

Do you realize that effective listening requires you to be active, not passive? Are you willing to journey toward being a better listener?

Lu opines that listening is an important and integral component of human interaction. She also states that failure to listen is probably the cause of more interpersonal problems more than any other aspect of human behavior. (Lu 2005) I believe that to be a good listener you need to be actively involved in the process. To learn to be a better listener, you need to know where to begin. Take a listening style inventory to know where to start your journey. You may find this survey link a good starting point.

Reading this week's assignments, reminded me that I continually need to work on this skill. In this age of technology listening is not simply auditory. Personally I use many mediums to "listen". It is important to my position that I work to continually improve my listening skills. Learning my current listening style, by completing an inventory, I can now set improvement goals. Interestingly, when taking the time to think about listening, I see how by any improvement will be beneficial to my continued growth.

Berry succinctly states, effective communication is critical to most organizational processes (Berry 2006). The use of computer-mediated asynchronous communication (CMAC) has changed work environments drastically and there does not seem to be a sign of returning to face-to-face and only paper communication.

I think mastering listening skills will be a lifelong journey.



References

Lu, Jianying. (2005). The listening style inventory (LSI) as an instrument for improving listening skill. Sino-US English Teaching, 2 (5) 45-50.

Berry, G. R. (2006). Can Computer-Mediated, Asynchronous Communication Improve, Team Processes and Decision Making? Journal of Business Communication, 43(4), 344-366.