4. Listening in the Workplace Listening skills are important for career success and organizational effectiveness. Considered one of the soft skills, listening skills allow you to improve the effectiveness of your communication with supervisors, colleagues, and customers. To become a more powerful listener, you can employ a variety of techniques. For example, if you're having trouble focusing on a message, you could identify key facts Read the following situation, and then answer the questions. focus on interesting details fake attention You are a member of a project team revising your company's ethics policy. The team has representatives from four divisions: Software Engineering, Business Systems, Demand Planning, and Corporate Communications. You are the Corporate Communications representative and the team's leader. Audra, a member of the project team, comments that the team is not performing as well as it could. Then she suggests that the team review a new draft of the ethics policy. She believes the policy will have positive effects on the team and on the organization as a whole. What is the most important message your colleague is trying to deliver? She wants to present a new draft of the ethics policy. The other members of the team are ineffective. She is concerned that her work isn't being valued. What can you do to listen more effectively to your colleague? Remain objective. Agree with her assessment. O Prejudge her remarks.
You and a coworker, Nicola, disagree over how to address a problem your team has encountered. You often don't understand Nicola's arguments and have the opinion that she is not always well informed. However, this is an important decision, and you know the situation requires you to consider all options before proceeding. What can you do to make sure you understand Nicola's argument? Check all that apply. Keep an open mind. Challenge Nicola's position. Assume Nicola is incorrect. Separate facts from opinions.