Shaun Parker is a leading business expert with many years of experience in the communications industry. Find out more about 0845 numbers at http://www.blueboxtelecom.com

Dominic Donaldson is an expert in the communication industry.
Find out more about two way radio and why they may benefit companies more than using mobile phones.

If you are looking for a new way to go about making your phone calls to your customers, you should really look into an auto dialer. This is a technology that will allow you to build your own call list that will fit to what kind of phone calls you are making. Such as if you where a church who needs to contact their members about a certain event that is coming up, you get an auto dialer put in the list of church members record your voice and your message then all you do is hit a button and as simple as that your auto dialer will begin working.

How about if your school needs to call parents about a PTA meeting? It’s a lot easier for an auto dialer to be set up with the list of numbers and to go and make all those calls for you. It’s either that or tie up an employee’s time making calls that can add up to a huge amount of time. So you can see where an auto dialer here would be a great idea.

Or a business who might make deliveries to people, it’s so much easier for you to have an auto dialer set up to call the customers who are getting a delivery within the next few days then for an employee again to waste their time. With auto dialers the time that an employee could be wasting making those phone calls might add up to finishing a lot of work they need to finish.

With this time that the auto dialer is saving you and your employees who can then be working on something else for you. You will see an increase in your bottom line, or your profit line which any business will of course like and want to do.

You can see the clear advantage of auto dialers to business in just this little article. Plus it’s such an easy product to use and set up for use that training time on it is pretty much nil. The fact that you can record your voice for the messages gives it a more personal touch then an automated voice. And also the cost of a lot of auto dialers isn’t that outrageous and you can see with the employees not having to do the calling how you will be able to recoup your cost very effectively and quickly.

Ron Subs is a public relations consultant who works with Voicent. More information about Voicent can be found at Voicent.com

There is a popular opinion that is the great minds of businessmen that make or break a company. There is a philosophy that suggests that these great thinkers and great problem solvers are the answer to a successful career, that they carry ideas forward and project them into the minds of followers and bring about great changes in the world of commerce.

I would like to argue this fact. I think that, granted, these high fliers may have ideas, but what carries it all forward it the humble ink cartridge. Hugely under-valued and over looked, this little device is the saviour of many an idea that has only been formed in the mind.

Granted, we now have computer generation and email that can transport pictures and text across the globe and take ideas from one person to another in an instant. But there is no substitute for the tangible element that a piece of paper and an ink cartridge can bring.

All the best ideas make it into print for the needs of people who want to go over the printed concept. Printed documents are also much more widely trusted than an electronic version and how much easier are they to distribute at a meeting as opposed to setting everyone up on a laptop of computer and then trying to discuss and bandy about the options and ideas.

Books have always been the perfect subject for printing with ink cartridges, albeit the industrial size. Of course, with our technological age, we now have electronic books but I don’t know how popular these will be.

Of course, they are easier to get hold of, just simply download your required title from the internet, even back titles can be easily sourced, and away you go. This will take up less space than a book collection but whoever didn’t love their book collection?

There’s nothing quite like the satisfaction to be gained from the reading of a proper printed book. First you experience the immediate visual pleasure of artistic or thought provoking covers. Then there is the texture. The feel of the paper is somewhat satisfying as you turn each page to uncover the next instalment.

Books also have a smell that an electronic book will miss out on. I’m not weird and I know I’m not the only one, but I love the smell of a book. Many a Saturday afternoon I can be found between the shelves in a book shop or library sniffing pages, it immediately takes me back to my childhood. The way the ink cartridge has transported idea into visual text, the style and size of the font, all manner of things about the way a book is styled will subconsciously play into your imagination and help create a character within your mind.

Reading from a normal book brings a satisfaction beyond what you would get from an electronic version. There is something inherently enjoyable about holding and handling that book, about being able to put it on your shelf amongst the others and know that at any point you can simply pick it up and know that as soon as you begin reading, you will remember how the characters appeared in your minds eye. You know they will be exactly as you imagined them the first time you read the book, even if it was a childhood book.

So, it would seem that as much as we all love our gadgets and gizmo’s there really is no alternative to the humble ink cartridge.

Shaun Parker is a leading printing expert with many years of experience in the publishing industry. Find out more about ink cartridges at http://www.inksave.co.uk

A recent announcement by Google came with much fanfare and excitement from most Gmail users. The introduction of voice and video chat capabilities is viewed by most as an exciting step forward for the already “feature-rich” Google e-mail interface. Slowly but consistently, Google is creating a centralized portal for users to communicate with the world through a multitude of mediums. The addition of Google voice and video chat is simply another addition to what is most likely a growing list of upcoming additions.

However, instead of considering the new features a positive step in multi-media experience, the real truth is that most Gmail users should consider it an invasion of personal productivity and have the right to feel an ever increasing sense of disappointment and concern. There’s 3 reasons why the addition of Gmail voice & video chat should concern most users.

Reason #1: Personal Productivity
The first involves the growing “Email Monster” phenomenon that attempts to destroy daily productivity levels. Let’s face it, e-mail is a great communication tool but it is not today what it was intended to be when it was created. Or maybe it is and people just do not care. But the use of e-mail in your personal and work environments hinders productivity no matter how it is measured. The time savings realized through immediate communication are more than offset by unproductivity through the reading, writing, sending, and receiving of SPAM, non-value add information, and the urge to remain on the lookout for “that” e-mail.

The announcement by Google to integrate voice and video chat into Gmail simply furthers the concern for additional productivity loss. The fact that voice and video exist at all is enough of a scare as it will pull people away from what they should be doing. HOwever, the fact that they exist within an e-mail interface is even scarier as the time spent in your Gmail inbox will no doubt increase.

Reason #2: Additional Distraction
A huge problem with e-mail involves its role as a distractor. How many times have you logged in to check an e-mail only to check a second, third, and many more? It’s generally hard for anyone to not check an unread e-mail and this leads to an ever increasing number of distractions and opportunities to be pulled away. It does not take long before an e-mail leads to a website or another article that you read and ultimately compound the distraction issue. Effective productivity is lessened by distraction and e-mail is enough of a distraction by itself. Unfortunately, the addition of voice and video chat serve as additional distractors that can only have a further negative affect on your time.

Reason #3: Increased Pressure To Login
One of the most important ways to combat the Email Monster is to “unplug” from e-mail altogether. However, human nature and curiosity often gets the better of a mental war of most people. The pressure to log into your e-mail account is already high. Yet the additional of voice and video chat will only contribute to the problem and make it increasingly difficult for those users who have made the important decision to “unplug”.

Overall, Google has demonstrated an great sense integration and centralization of its tools and has rolled them out in a way to enable faster and more widespread communication. However, this same integration and centralization is poised to have severe and negative consequences on Gmail users when viewed from a perspective of personal productivity and daily accomplishment.

If you are spending more than 20 minutes each day managing your e-mail than your productivity is being destroyed by the “Email Monster” – destroy this monster by watching this short, 2 minute video absolutely for free at http://www.EmailMonsterMovie.com

I doubt whether you have ever opened a conversation with the words: I know that I am more to blame for this than you are; I know I do not have all the facts; and I know that what I am about to say makes no sense at all!

One of the hardest parts of planning for a difficult conversation is to think through how your own behaviour may have contributed to the problem. Think of some typical examples.

You are a manager and one of your employees is not making his target. Your manager is pushing you to achieve the target for your department. All it takes is that everyone pulls their weight, but this one person is letting you down. He is causing the problem.

But is he entirely to blame? Are you sure you have made the target clear? Has he ever reached the target? Did you give him positive feedback when he succeeded? Do you give him immediate feedback when he does not make target? Have you ensured he has all the resources he needs to get the job done? There is any number of ways that you, the manager, could be part of this problem.

Think of a family situation. Your teenage son, who now has a driving license and has been allowed to drive your car, comes home way after the times you agree. He started out by being only fifteen minutes late, then thirty, now it is often an hour or even more. You have spoken to him, said that you worry when he is late and he promised to be on time. But he comes in later and later.

Can you see that you are part of this problem by allowing the deadline to slip further and further out? You have allowed him to come home late without any effective sanction, so you have taught him that your standards are flexible. He has learned that he can stretch them, and can do so without consequence.

When you step into a conversation convinced that you are in the right and that the other person is wrong and is entirely the cause of the problem, you feel as if you own the moral high ground. Clearly, if the other person would just see things and do things your way, there would not be a problem. So when you raise the issue with them, you tell them what you see happening, you explain how strongly you feel about it, and then you tell them what you want them to do about it.

All you need is their agreement to your solution, and since you are pushing so hard for it, the easiest thing for them to do is to agree. And they do! You think you have obtained their commitment, and you expect that they will change their ways. Which they do not!

So you broach the subject again, only this time you explain the problem more forcibly, you say more strongly how you feel, and you threaten dire consequences if they do not do something about it.

At best, things will improve for a time, then relapse.

Going into conversations in the belief that the other person is entirely responsible for the problem, and with the intention of getting them to fix it by agreeing to do things your way, has little hope of obtaining the behaviour change that you want. In situations where you do not have any power or authority, this conversational style has no chance of success at all.

Think how ineffective it would be in a conversation with your mother-in-law over her interference in how you raise your children, with your boss when you think you have been unfairly treated, or in a conversation with a friend whom you feel has behaved inconsiderately.

In preparing for conversations on issues like these, you need to realize that feeling strongly about something does not mean that you are in the right about it! Maybe you had strong feelings but you did not speak up, and you have helped create the problem by giving tacit approval to things as they were. Perhaps there are many legitimate views of what happened and yours is just one. You might also be plain wrong!

Accepting that you may be part of a problem allows you to step off the moral high ground, and helps you hold back on telling others how you want them to change. It helps you go into a conversation without arrogance, and gives you a much better chance of hearing all sides and of finding a solution to which everyone can commit.

Maureen Collins trains people how to handle difficult conversations, on difficult topics, with difficult people in her consulting practice, Straight Talk. She has a B.Sc. degree in Psychology from Edinburgh University and over 25 years of consulting experience. She consults in communication in the workplace. In Straight Talk, Get free Straight Talk Tips. http://www.straight-talk.co.za

If you have an abusive boss, one who criticises or belittles you, and shows no respect for your abilities or concern for your development, you may decide to hold your tongue, keep your head down, and get along as best you can until you find another position. But you dread getting up for work every morning.

Alternatively, your sense of outrage may take over and one day you explode in frustration and anger. Afterwards, the disciplinary process that you have to undergo and the difficult relationship you have created between you and your manager make what had been a bad situation even worse.

There is a better way! If you follow the steps below you have every chance of creating a conversation that gives you the positive outcome you need.

Consider a situation where you have a very competent manager who has a lot of experience and company service. Your problem is that when you raise an idea of your own she shoots you down before she has heard more than a few words of what you have to say. You are becoming more and more frustrated and feel that you not being allowed to grow or develop in your job.

You need to speak up, but to do so in a way that does not result in accusation or argument, achieves a change in the behaviour of your manager, and enables you to keep your job. When your power base is low, the stakes high, and you want to broach a difficult subject with the least possible risk to your relationship, and your job, proceed with care.

Use the steps below.

Open the conversation by setting a tone that does not accuse, but does signal that something serious is to follow. Avoid getting into any detail at this stage. You can start with a general question or you can label the issue more specifically. The question form is respectful and also allows the manager to say if the time or place is not suitable for the conversation.

A useful general question is: Can we talk about something that is concerning me. Alternatively you could be a little more specific by asking: Can we talk about something that is getting in the way of our working together.

Then describe exactly what happens that is causing your frustration. Be very specific. It helps if you refer to a recent incident that the manager may also recognise.

The next step is to describe how you feel abut the situation. Remember, this is your interpretation and your manager may see it quite differently. You could say: Maybe I am being too sensitive, but I am beginning to feel you do not want any input from me.

Finally, ask for feedback: I am wondering if there is anything I can do to share my ideas with you more effectively. This is a safe way to minimize defensiveness and encourage dialogue.

If you use these steps you will help your manager understand how her behaviour is affecting you. You have not been accusing or given her any reason to become defensive, so it is unlikely that the conversation will result in argument. In the event that she was unaware of her behaviour, she may appreciate that you spoke up and will be more sensitive in future.

Remember that the best way to make sure someone continues with a behaviour is to give them positive feedback, so if your manager changes her behaviour even a little, for the better, be sure to acknowledge it. Everyone enjoys positive feedback!

When you approach difficult conversations using this process, you will open the door to healthy dialogue and better working relationships.

Maureen Collins trains people how to handle difficult conversations, on difficult topics, with difficult people in her consulting practice, Straight Talk. She has a B.Sc. degree in Psychology from Edinburgh University and over 25 years of consulting experience. She consults in communication in the workplace. In Straight Talk, Get free Straight Talk Tips. http://www.straight-talk.co.za

In any conversation where you speak up on something that is upsetting you it is important that you get your facts straight and that you use them to open the conversation. This is not as easy as it might sound.

When your emotions run strongly, it is difficult to separate facts from feelings and you are likely to open the conversation with an emotionally charged statement that will probably sound like an accusation to the other person.

Consider what should be a straightforward conversation between a manager and one of his people about use of an office telephone for private calls. The manager knows that the employee is aware of the limit on personal calls. They have spoken about it before. The facts are clear. The manager is looking at a phone bill that is ten times over the limit. He is furious.

He goes to the employee at his desk in the open plan area. What is going on here, he says, raising his voice, and waving the telephone bill in the air. This is ridiculous! You know the rules! People close by look up.

The accusation is unmistakable. The employee defends himself, says he did not know that he had made so many calls, and that he had forgotten about the limit. He mumbles something about being sorry and that he will not do it again. He goes back to work.

The manager thinks that because he has spoken to the employee about the problem, he has solved it. But the employee, instead of thinking about his use of the telephone, is feeling angry and resentful about the way his manager accused him in front of his colleagues.

There was no effective conversation about the behaviour of the employee. The manager opened with an accusation, in a public area. He did not find out what was going on and he did not in any way hold the employee to account for what he had done.

Consider how the conversation sounds when the manager uses the facts to hold the employee accountable.

Can we talk about this telephone bill he says, to open the conversation, as he puts the document on the desk.

Then he introduces the facts. There are three.

I have told everyone about the limit on personal calls.
Last month I pointed out that you had gone over the limit.
The figures for this month show that you are nearly ten times over the limit.

With the facts on the table, he explains how he feels about the situation. I am really concerned about this. When we talked about this before, you undertook to limit the number of calls you make.

Now he invites the employee into the conversation, to account for his behaviour, with a simple, open question: What is going on?

With this approach, there is no accusation, and nothing is said that creates defensiveness in the employee. With the facts on the table, the accountability cannot be avoided. The conversation that follows has a good chance of uncovering all sides of the story and the manager has the best chance of gaining commitment from the employee to change his ways.

When you want to get to the bottom of a problem, you need to create a conversation in which the other person feels safe to speak up. After all, there are always two sides to any story. If you start out with an emotional and perhaps insulting accusation, you do not create a safe environment for open dialogue: you never find out what is really going on: and the problem is never properly resolved.

Open conversations with facts: they make it safe to talk.

Maureen Collins has a B.Sc. degree in Psychology from Edinburgh University and over 25 years of consulting experience. She consults in communication in the workplace. In Straight Talk, she trains people how to handle difficult conversations, on difficult topics, with difficult people. Get free Straight Talk Tips. http://www.straight-talk.co.za

In our fast changing world, concentrating on strategic planning every three or five years is simply not enough. In the 21st century school principals and school boards must be constantly aware of education trends and grasp opportunities for their schools quickly. This is why providing time for strategic thinking is so important. Here are some ways school management can encourage creative, innovative ideas.

Tip 1: Be explicit about your strategy. Many personnel in schools, and certainly school principals, complain there is not enough time to think. Make clear to staff that you value and encourage thinking as much as you value completion of day to day tasks. Encourage staff to read and present new ideas as a regular session in staff meetings. Present ideas yourself and lead staff discussions. Provide an ideas box for students and staff. Gather information all year round so you constantly have relevant and timely data to inform decision making.

Tip 2: Provide time. Often school staff meetings begin with information sessions with time for thinking and professional development tacked on the end if there is time. Much of the information could be supplied on paper, via email or in one on one conversations to the relevant people. If information can be delivered by alternative means, it should not be included in the staff meeting. Turn staff meetings on their head! Start with professional development, reports from staff who have discovered an interesting piece of educational research or with a group reading of an article relevant to professional learning. If there is time left over, then provide information, although not if can be provided some other way.

Tip 3: Reward your creative thinkers. Look for ways to reward your creative and strategic thinkers. Provide opportunities for them to lead an important change. Provide time for them to attend meaningful professional development that focuses on ideas. Provide release time from class to follow up on a piece of important research.

Tip 4: Review board priorities. How much of the time of your school Board is focused on strategic matters, including monitoring the progress of strategic projects? How much time is spent in hearing verbal reports on matters already supplied in written reports? How much time is spent on operational matters which are not the business of boards? Look at your board agenda and change it to a strategic thinking focus. Allow questions about reports but do not allow the complete presentation of a report that board members should have already read. Listen to board concerns about school operations but continually remind board members that operations are the responsibility of the principal, not the board. Make central to each board meeting, one of the strategic priorities of the school. Provide a report on progress and reassure the board that strategic targets are on track while also discussing as a group the issues that might face the school in future.

Tip 5: Communicate. How much of what happens in your school is communication, and how much information giving? Review the information that leaves the school and the meetings and conversations that take place. How much is providing information that could be conveyed in some other way? How much goes to all people, when only a small number really need the information? Almost every review done in every school finds that one of the major problems perceived by stakeholders is no one communicates! And this is largely true. Schools generally supply an inordinate amount of information, but do not provide meaningful communication. And where there is little meaningful communication schools miss the opportunity to collect all of the ideas and strategic thinking that is out there. Encourage strategic thinking by constantly providing forums for the exchange of ideas and opportunities for meaningful dialogue which sparks creative solutions to issues facing your school.

Robyn Collins is a former school principal and passionate about education. She wants every school to be the best it can be.
Find out more about school improvement through strategic planning at: http://www.strategicplanning4schools.com

How often have you made decisions only to find out that you were missing critical information? Have you ever jumped to the wrong conclusion because you did not have all the facts? How many times have you thought you had commitment to a plan only to be told, much later, that everyone else had reservations?

Poor decisions, incorrect assumptions and action plans that do not produce action are the inevitable result of conversations in which people do not speak up and information is not properly shared.

The bottom line is that people only speak up when they feel it is safe to talk. There are many factors that cause people to feel unsafe in conversations, some of which you cannot control.

If you are a senior person in your organisation; if you are known to be the technical expert in your field; if you have authority to make decisions that have consequences for others; then in many situations you will find that people will be reluctant to speak up to you.

You can however control the way you behave in conversations and whether you create a safe space in which others feel able to speak up. Some behaviours set a tone that make it very difficult for people to speak up.

Are you behaving in any of these three ways that may be causing people around you to hold back when they are talking to you?

1. You think you have all the answers!

For most of our lives we are rewarded when we get the answers right. As we grow older, become more experienced and hold more senior jobs, we get used to being paid and promoted for getting it right.

It can be hard to accept that when you go into a difficult conversation, believing that you have all the facts actually prevents you getting to the bottom of the problem. When there are several sides to a story you must make others feel safe in speaking up with their facts, their opinions and their feelings about the situation.

Do not operate as a know-it-all, no matter how experienced and skilled you may be. It merely serves to shut others down. Put effort into being curious. Ask people for their input and listen without interrupting as they give it to you. When you do it well, you will be amazed to find out what you did not know.

2. You blame and accuse!

When people feel blamed and accused, their natural reaction is to defend themselves. They start to focus on protecting themselves, not on sharing what they know or think. When we feel strongly about the rights and wrongs of a situation, or when we feel someone has done us wrong in some way, our accusation comes across as much in the way that we speak as in what we say.

Our eyes seem larger and darker, our hands wave, and fingers point. Voices become loud, their pitch rises, we might even shout. We stand when we should be sitting. All of these non-verbal signals convey accusation.

If your intention is to find out what happened, as opposed to accusing someone of doing wrong, then you have to be aware of what you say, and even more importantly, how you say it. If the person hears an accusation, you have little chance of hearing exactly what happened or why.

3. You assume you know what people think!

You can never know what is going on in the head of another person. No matter how well you know someone, you can never know exactly why they behaved in a certain way. When you second guess the intentions of others, you make it very difficult for them to speak up with their own input.

It can be hard to keep an open mind, especially when you feel wronged. However, sometimes you have to decide whether to go with your own interpretation of a situation or to find out how others see it and why they behaved as they did. Learn to ask: Why, and then listen without judgment to the answers.

When you deal with facts openly; when you avoid blame and accusation; and when you do not assume you know the intentions of others, you will find out much more about what is going on around you. That gives you a better chance of getting to the bottom of problems and finding solutions.

You may have to decide if it is more important to be right or to fix it!

Maureen Collins has a B.Sc. degree in Psychology from Edinburgh University and over 25 years of consulting experience. She consults in communication in the workplace. In Straight Talk, she trains people how to handle difficult conversations, on difficult topics, with difficult people. Get free Straight Talk Tips. http://www.straight-talk.co.za

There are difficult conversations in our lives; and then there are the really difficult ones! Conversations between a manager and employee about poor performance at least have the advantages that roles are clear, and that performance can be measured and recorded. Conversations become a lot more difficult, and require a lot more skill, when you are talking about issues of respect, attitude and relationships in a team.

Consider how you would handle a conversation with a team whom you felt was not accepting you and was perhaps being discriminatory toward you.

You were recently appointed to the senior management team. Everyone has been very civil to you, they co-operate when you need information, include you in meetings and in task teams. But you cannot help noticing that in the three months you have been in the team, you have not been able to build any close working relationship with your colleagues. You never seem to be included in the general banter around the office or in casual conversations. No-one comes to hang around at your desk as they sometimes do with each other.

You have been trying not to be overly sensitive. After all, it has only been three months. However, you realize that you are the only woman in a team that has been together for many years. You also know that you do not have the length of experience or the depth of general technical background that most of the other managers have, although you are more than qualified to do your own job.

How could you approach a situation like this without seeming to over-react and perhaps make the situation worse than it is?

Dealing with this problem means first dealing with the voices in your head.

These are the voices that say: They do not like me: They will think that because I am a woman I am being emotional: They are not being fair: They should give me a chance. When you start to hear voices like these in your head, the first thing you should do is notice the data you have that supports your feelings. What exactly has happened? Who said what? Who did not include you? When and from where exactly did your feelings arise?

You may find you have made a generalisation from one instance or from one person, to include the whole group. Maybe you have exaggerated what has been happening. On the other hand, maybe you have been expecting too much, too soon. It can take some time before an established team accepts a newcomer, particularly one without their own background and experience: in other words, someone who is different. The wisest step may be to wait and notice some more. You might find that the voices go away.

At the same time you need to ask yourself if you have been part of the problem. Have you been waiting for people to approach you? Could you be more outgoing, offering friendship to others before you expect them to offer it to you? You could try to gently change your behaviour to see if others respond. All it may take is that you offer to meet people a little more than half way, to start breaking the ice.

Sometimes this is not enough to make the voices go away. Now you have to go further into considering whether you have actually been creating the problem. Have you been acting out your feelings of unacceptance? Does your eye contact or tone of voice betray you? Is there anything in your behaviour that subtly communicates your negative feelings to the group? Could their behaviour be a response to negativity in your own behaviour?

If possible ask for feedback from one of the group, perhaps someone with whom you have formed some relationship. Then use it to change your behaviour.

If none of this makes the voices in your head disappear, it is time to plan a conversation that will clear the air. Choose a safe place and time. Do not start with your feelings! Start with your observations of how the team behaves. This allows others to understand the source of your concern. Let them know that you accept your share of responsibility for becoming a full team member. Explain how you feel. Then ask if you can talk it through.

Although a conversation like this will not be easy, having it is the only sure way to clear the air so you can start to build up a good working relationship with your colleagues. Dealing with those voices in your head first, is the only way to make the conversation safe so you and the team can openly discuss any real issues that may exist between you.

Maureen Collins has a B.Sc. degree in Psychology from Edinburgh University and over 25 years of consulting experience. She consults in communication in the workplace. In Straight Talk, she trains people how to handle difficult conversations, on difficult topics, with difficult people. Get free Straight Talk Tips. http://www.straight-talk.co.za

If as a school we want to develop relationships with stakeholders that encourage genuine input to the schools strategic direction we, first, have to learn to listen.

When another person speaks, we are usually listening at one of four levels:

Ignoring, not really listening at all;
Pretending, Yeah, Uh,huh. Right;
Selective listening, hearing only certain parts of the conversation;
Attentive listening, paying attention and focusing on the words that
are being said.

It is a rare person, indeed, who really listens with intent to understand. Listening with the intent to understand what another person really wants, feels and wishes to convey is so powerful because it gives accurate data to work with.

Effective communicators constantly practice good listening skills because they:

Listen to understand. Many of us listen simply until we can get our chance to speak. So our brains are only on half gear as we think up our response while the other person is talking. Turning off the impulse to get our words in as soon as we can gives the speaker our undivided attention. If you have ever been in a conversation with that rare person, the good listener, note carefully what he or she does and practice what you observe.

Listen without interrupting. Many people only listen so they can speak. They cannot wait to get their bit in and may interrupt before the person has finished speaking. Quite often this means we only get part of the conversation, as many people often need to talk their way to understanding. Sometimes people do not even bother to have a meaningful conversation because before they start they know they will be interrupted. Others constantly feel misunderstood because they have not had a reasonable chance to have their say.

Suspend judgment. Some listeners think they know what the other person is trying to say before they finish saying it or they jump to the conclusion that what the person is saying is wrong and they cannot wait to set them right. Allowing people to complete an opinion and then genuinely trying to see their point of view before jumping in with a judgment or criticism allows respectful dialogue to occur. Making a quick judgment and being sure of your own rightness, can generate ill feeling, cause an argument and, almost certainly stop ongoing conversation.

Remain open. It is impossible to have a meaningful conversation with a person who has already closed his or her mind to another point of view. Remain open to the viewpoints of others; welcome feedback; accept discussion, critique and probing questions as opportunities for learning and growth. It is obviously difficult to accept criticism without getting defensive or taking the comments personally. A good listener tries to stay open to meaningful dialogue and feedback and to accept differing points of view as an opportunity to learn.

Validate the speaker. Good listeners acknowledge what they have heard with positive reinforcement. This might include open body language (regular nodding of the head, for example); simple responses (yes, I know what you mean, I agree); and positive acknowledgement (thank you; I appreciate you sharing that with me). If the listener has a differing point of view use a response like, yes and, and then give your differing point of view. Avoid, yes but, as this immediately implies judgment and discounting of the viewpoints of others.

Robyn Collins is a former school principal and passionate about education. She wants every school to be the best it can be.
Find out more about school improvement through strategic planning at: http://www.strategicplanning4schools.com