Listening and speaking are vital skills in today’s business environment. Often overlooked, listening plays an important role in our personal and professional lives. In business, it encourages the sharing of ideas, enhances teamwork, eliminates mistakes and misunderstandings, and reduces stress. It may impact how we connect with others more than speaking does.

Active listening requires you to understand the difference between hearing and listening and to focus on the message from the speaker’s point of view. You can enhance your effectiveness as a listener by paraphrasing the speaker’s words, interpreting the words for meaning, deciphering nonverbal clues, and providing feedback to the speaker. Because communication takes place on many levels, it is important to understand the influence of nonverbal communication on the communication process. Although most people were born with the ability to hear, they have to develop the skill of listening.

Similarly, most people were born with the ability to talk, but they have to develop the skill of speaking before an audience. By building on the basics for communicating effectively and by developing effective delivery techniques, you can enhance your speaking skills.

Both speaking and listening are skills that are developed only through practice.