By Hannah Celinski<\/p>\n
Have you ever found yourself saying this during a conversation with a colleague or a friend? In recent months, I have sat on a variety of committees and panels where I have experienced or observed obstacles to communication. I have also found myself misunderstood on occasion, and I\u2019ve realized that part of the issue is not being clear, it\u2019s being heard.<\/p>\n
I facilitate 3-day sessions called Instructional Skills Workshops<\/a>. I often run an exercise on the second day, where I have people pair off. First, they sit back-to-back and Speaker A tries to tell Speaker B a quick story. The room is loud, they can\u2019t see each other, and the message quickly becomes garbled. When the pairs debrief, only small sections of information are retained.<\/p>\n Then they switch partners and Speaker B tries to tell a story, while Speaker A does everything they can, short of leaving the room, to avoid what they have to say. Again, not much is retained, and Speaker A often admits that they were so busy trying to get out of the room, they didn\u2019t pay any attention to what Speaker B was saying.<\/p>\n Finally, the speakers sit face-to-face and engage in Active Listening<\/a> techniques. The message clears up immediately, and information is exchanged fluidly.<\/p>\n The next time you find yourself sitting in a meeting, thinking only about what you are going to say next, consider doing this instead:<\/p>\n Use Active Listening to Coach Others<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n