Are there barriers for effective listening?

ABSOLUTELY!

Have you ever been in a meeting with a client and had a horrible time trying to listen or even concentrate on what they are saying?  Whether it’s a physical, personal, verbal or a non verbal barrier, they can all make it hard to pay attention to what is being said.

Did you know that most people speak at about 125 words per minute?  Amazing I know, so how are you supposed to pay attention when you have these barriers to deal with every day?

We have physical, personal, language problems, nonverbal distractions, thought speed problems, faking attention and Grandstanding.  How we can overcome one of them is by improving our areas of active listening by doing the following:

You can become an active listener by providing feedback, take selective notes, STOP TALKING, control your surroundings whenever possible, keep an open mind, listen for main points, listen between the lines, judge ideas, not appearances, establish a receptive mindset and above all BE PATIENT.

If you follow those tips you will be on your way to being an active and effective listener instead of the person that looks ridiculous in a meeting when asked for his or her opinion.