77 Listen to Understand
When people express themselves verbally, they generally want evidence of at least two things: they’ve been heard and they’ve been understood. A good communicator tries first to be a good listener. We advocate five steps toward good listening.
The first step toward good listening—introduced in the last lesson—is blending. How does someone know that you’re listening and understanding? In essence, it’s through the way you look and sound while the person is talking. Rather than distracting a difficult person with puzzled looks, interruptions, or statements of disagreements, help him or her to fully express his or her thoughts and feelings. You do this by nodding your head in agreement, making occasional sounds of understanding. ...
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