You may be surprised, but it is my very strong opinion that the single most important
communication skill ever made is the ability to listen.
We have many “arguments” about this subject in my team.
Some say that the most important communication skill is your smile & some say that
interesting knowledge is the most important communication skill.
Some say that being calm & non-judgmental in an argument is the best communication skill, & that is quite true.
But let me explain why I think that listening is the most important communication skill
EVER.
You see, Dale Carnegie said that the sweetest sound a person can hear, is the sound of
his\her own name.
Hence this, the thing a person loves the most is to speak about…HIMSELF.
When you listen to somebody, & don’t speak, you are operating the strongest
communication skill because you learn exactly what there is to know about this person.
You are acting on a high degree of communication skill because this other person will think
of you fondly when he will remember you, because he felt good by the fact you listened to
him without interruptions.
He will think to himself that you got an amazing communication skill, when in general all
you did was…not doing anything!
In the world of communication, around 70% is being conveyed to your communication
partner by your body language.
Around 23% is being conveyed by the tone of your voice, & only 7% is conveyed by the words you say.
So when you are listening you actually use a communication skill that is both un-threatening by your body language & voice tone.
Leave the other person running free, using a different communication skill of his own when he\she shares interesting knowledge & smiles.
Now do you understand why I believe that the best communication skill is “listening”?
It is said that god gave us two ears & 1 mouth so we could listen more & talk less.
That is quite a communication skill by itself by the way.
This listening communication skill is very important also when you need to learn new information about a particular subject.
This communication skill will allow you to have people open up to you & share their own information.
It is not only because you want other people to like you because you operated this communication skill, & listened.
Learn about good Time Management Skills