How to develop Active Listening Skills

In today’s fast paced world, communication is extremely important. In fact, in business it is critical. However, communication is equally important at home when interacting with your own near and dear ones. It is also important during social interactions, when you meet people. There is no doubt that your speech should be very articulate. The speech will communicate the ideas that you want to convey. However it is even more important to be an active listener!
Communication is always is a two way process. Your articulate speech will go in vain if you are not listening to the person you are speaking to. You can even listen to the person with your eyes. Body language tells all. Facial expressions clearly denote whether the opposite person is listening to you or not. This means that the best vocal capabilities will not be effective until these are matched with equally attentive listening abilities.

Now let us examine how to be a good listener. Some of the qualities of a good listener are as under:

1. You should listen as a friend. Often your opinion will be different from the person who is speaking. We are all individuals and therefore no two persons think alike. Listening as a friend enables reconciliation of contradicting opinions.
2. Further more, it is necessary for the listener to make the speaker appreciate that you are an attentive listener. When somebody is speaking try not to fidget with anything on your table. You should not gaze at the news paper / magazine on your table. Even looking at the speaker with a lost expression, will convey an impression that you are brooding over something else and not listening to what is being said. Thus you should not only listen actively but you should also show to speaker that you’re listening actively.
3. Encourage the speaker to join you in the comfort zone. When you have removed all distractions and you make the speaker aware that you are listening to them, you must encourage him to open up by your friendly nodding of the head smile wherever desirable and maintain a comfortable eye contact. While speaking on telephone you can use words and expressions like – ‘yes’,‘go ahead’, ‘hmmm’… etc. These are the voice symbols which tell the other person that you are actively listening during the phone conversation.
4. Act but never react. Whenever the discussion is held around heavy states one as to be extra careful. If the speaker raises the voice it is necessary for you to maintain calm. However you must never give an impression that anybody can take you for granted. This can be achieved by not reacting to any unsavory remarks by the speaker. Instead you should use such words and expressions which will make it explicit to the intruder that you are unshakable. It is this state of calmness which will unnerve your opponent. The expression with ‘Act never react’ simply means to use your mind and reply appropriately, firmly but without raising your voice if the opponent has raised his.
5. You need to comprehend whatever you have listened. It is always a good idea to summarize and repeat briefly the points you have just heard. It will help you to understand all the points clearly; and in case there is any confusion the same will be clarified there and them.
6. As a good listener you have a right to ask questions to the speaker. The speaker will never object to relevant questions which are briefly asked.

To conclude, good listening skills is not a rocket science. It just requires an empathetic attitude and an attentive mind, and forms that basis for long lasting relationships.

Steps to making meetings work

Lots of meetings are conducted by each organization every week. Often the participants are senior/middle level executives. The cost of the time spent by the participants is very high. Besides, if a meeting is a not successful in achieving the objectives, the frustration and interpersonal conflict add to the cost.

However, if meetings can be held effectively, these are invaluable techniques of taking strong decisions after thorough discussion. It’s necessary to understand for the coordinators and even the CEO’s to have adequate knowledge of how to make meetings effective and productive. The chairman of the meeting plays a very important role for the efficacy of the meeting. Besides, meetings must give a satisfaction of openly discussing the ideas which you may have but you may not find an opportunity to express. Thus while on the one side we find that the poor meetings can be waste of expensive time of the executives, on the other these can be very helpful. If the meetings are organized effectively, they can be tools for resolving many managerial issues. These can thus be very helpful for the Management. The first important question, therefore, is the real need for the meeting. The coordinator has to clearly workout the objectives of the meeting. He or she has also to clarify how best the objectives can be achieved.

In order that we make the meetings productive and helpful we should attend to the following points which are often ignored:

1)      Planning and preparation: we should define the objectives of the meeting.

2)      We should select the participants and prepare a list of the proposed attendees. We may also invite their suggestions on the proposed agenda.

3)      The organizer needs to set the ground rules off the meetings in consultation with the chairman. In his brief introduction before the meetings starts the chairman can explain these ground rules. These could be summarized as :–

a)      Participants should speak precisely and avoid verbosity.

b)      Only one person should speak at time.

c)      The point which is already made by one participant should not be repeated by the other and

d)      No one should take the discussion on a personal level.

4)      The organizer must contemplate on what could be the problems. Necessary steps to avoid these problems should be taken.

5)      Getting results and action: minutes of the meeting should be written sooner than later, these should be circulated among the participants with or without a note by the chairman.

6)      There should be follow up action plan and the action need to be monitored.

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Lets remember Lala Lajpat Rai - The Lion of Punjab

Lala Lajpat Rai  pronunciation (help·info), (28 January 1865 – 17 November 1928) was an Indian author and politician who is chiefly remembered as a leader in the Indian fight for independence from the British Raj. He was popularly known as Punjab Kesari meaning The Lion of Punjab also known as "Sher-E- Punjab" in Hindi. He was part of the Lal Bal Pal trio.^[1] His other close associates were Lokmanya Bal Gangadhar Tilak from Maharashtra, and Bipin Chandra Pal from Bengal. He was also associated with activities of Punjab National Bank and Lakshmi Insurance Company in their early stages.

He sustained serious injuries by the police when leading a non-violent protest against the Simon Commission and died less than three weeks later. His death anniversary (November 17) is one of several days celebrated as Martyrs' Day in India.

Lets us remember one of India's greatest sons on his birthday!

Please visit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lala_Lajpat_Rai for more!

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Remembering Netaji Subas Chandra Bose on his birthday!

January 23 is an important Day for our Country. One of the greatest leaders of India was born on this day in the year 1897. Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose had devoted his life to only one cause and that was Freedom at all costs!

Netaji was an embodiment of courage and an ardent motivator. One man could create a great army which may not have been very large in number but was an army that had a very strong indomitable will. Each of his solider was a symbol of courage. That was the power of his motivation. 

He was a great leader with a strong conviction. He was President of the Indian National Congress for two consecutive years. He was liked by a great many leaders. However, he did not hesitate to relinquish his post of President on a matter of principle. The strength of his conviction did not allow him to compromise his firm beliefs. When Mahatma Gandhi, the father of the Nation was practicing and propagating non-violence, Netaji strongly believed that for total freedom of the country, a non-violent struggle was not enough. Many believe that the events that followed the Royal Indian Naval Mutiny of 1946 led to the British leaving the country and that Netaji's contribution for the cause of freedom has been seriously undermined. Please visit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Indian_Navy_mutiny

Netaji was a great negotiator and had the unique capability of influencing the mighty and the powerful. He even garnered support from Hitler, as well as from the Emperor of Japan at a time when these two leaders were most powerful and fighting the rest of the world. 

On his birthday, we must pay our gratitude to one of India's most patriotic (but sadly forgotten) sons.  

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Image Courtesy: http://www.columbia.edu
 

Lal Bahadur Shastri – India’s Proud Son and a paragon of honesty, simplicity and patriotism

Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan – these words immediately conjure the name of Lal Bahadur Shastri – one of India’s greatest leaders and a noble soul who inspired the entire nation by this imaginative, bold and patriotic slogan.  Pandit Nehru had passed away in May, 1964. There was one question on everyone’s lips – After Nehru who?

The country’s reins passed into the hands of this diminutive- little figure. Shastriji was short in height but really tall in stature. That was a time when the country was low in spirits and nursing the wounds of the demoralizing defeat at the hands of the Chinese. It was a time when the nation was suffering cruel food shortages. The situation was so bad the nation was dependent upon food aid – sub-standard wheat shipments were sent by the US with many strings attached.

Shastri’s initiatives later on spurred the Green Revolution in India. In fact he is the leader who said to have motivated Hindi film industry’s famous actor Manoj Kumar to produce the patriotic film “Upkar”. It is a film which motivates people of this land to be prepared to sacrifice anything for the love of our motherland.



Again it was Shastri who visited Anand in 1965 and announced the formation of the National Dairy Development Board. It happened to be the first national agricultural body set up and headquartered outside New Delhi.

In 1965 Pakistan thought of taking advantage of India’s military weakness and launched an invasion on the Western Sector. They probably could not visualize the inherent strength of this great simple looking leader. He gave them an iron fist. With full freedom given by Shastri, the Indian Armed Services pulverized the enemy and pushed to very gates of Lahore!

It was only extreme pressure applied by US and allies that forced Shastriji to enter into a ceasefire agreement in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. Shastriji’s untimely demise shocked the entire nation and deprived this country of a leader who would transformed the entire country, if he would have got just five years to lead our nation.



Let us all pay homage to the great soul.