7 tips for effective listening: productive
listening does not occur naturally.
It requires hard work and practice
- Back To Basics - effective listening
is a crucial skill for internal
TO BE SUCCESSFUL AT THEIR job, internal auditors
must be able to write, speak, and listen effectively.
Of these three skills, effective listening may be the
most crucial because auditors are required to do it so often. 
,
listening also may be the most difficult skill to 
.
Effective listening is challenging, in part, because
people often are more focused on what they're
saying than on what they're hearing in return.
According to a recent study by the Harvard
Business Review, people think the voice mail they
send is more important than the voice mail they
receive. Generally, senders think that their
message is more helpful and urgent than
do the people who receive it.
Additionally, listening is difficult because people
don't work as hard at it as they should.
Listening seems to occur so naturally that
putting a lot of effort into it doesn't seem
necessary. However, hard work and effort
is exactly what effective listening requires.
Internal auditors must listen to explanations,
rationales, and defenses of financial practices
and procedures. They are constantly
communicating with fellow employees whose
backgrounds range from accounting to finance
to marketing to information systems. In addition,
explanations by fellow employees of any "unusual"
practices often pose a significant challenge to an
internal auditor's listening skills. Auditors can use
the following techniques to improve these skills.
1. CONCENTRATE ON WHAT OTHERS ARE SAYING.
When listening to someone, do you often find
yourself thinking about a job or task that is
nearing deadline or an important family matter?
In the middle of a conversation, do you sometimes
realize that you haven't heard a word the other
person has said? Most individuals speak at the
rate of 175 to 200 words per minute. However,
research suggests that we are very capable of
listening and processing words at the rate of 600
to 1,000 words per minute. An internal auditor's
job today is very fast and complex, and because
the brain does not use all of its capacity when
listening, an auditor's mind may drift to thinking
of further questions or explanations rather than
listening to the message at hand. This unused
brainpower can be a barrier to effective listening,
causing the auditor to miss or misinterpret what
others are saying. It is important for internal
auditors to actively concentrate on what others
are saying so that effective communication can occur.
2. SEND THE NONVERBAL MESSAGE THAT YOU
ARE LISTENING. When someone is talking to you,
do you maintain eye contact with that person?
Do you show the speaker you are listening by
nodding your head? Does your body language
transmit the message that you are listening?
Are you leaning forward and not using your
hands to play with things? Most communication
experts agree that nonverbal messages can be
three times as powerful as verbal messages.
Effective communication becomes difficult anytime
you send a nonverbal message that you're not
really listening.
3. AVOID EARLY EVALUATIONS. When listening,
do you often make immediate judgments about
what the speaker is saying? Do you assume or
guess what the speaker is going to say next?
Do you sometimes discover later that you failed
to interpret correctly what the speaker was
telling you? Because a listener can listen at
a faster rate than most speakers talk, there
is a tendency to evaluate too quickly. That
tendency is perhaps the greatest barrier to
effective listening. It is especially important
to avoid early evaluations when listening to
a person with whom you disagree. When
listeners begin to disagree with a sender's
message, they tend to misinterpret the
remaining information and distort its intended
meaning so that it is consistent with their
own beliefs.
4. AVOID GETTING DEFENSIVE. Do you ever
take what another person says personally
when what her or she is saying is not meant
to be personal? Do you ever become angry
at what another person says? Careful listening
does not mean that you will always agree with
the other party's point of view, but it does mean
that you will try to listen to what the other
person is saying without becoming overly
defensive. Too much time spent explaining,
elaborating, and defending your decision or
position is a sure sign that you are not listening.
This is because your role has changed from one
of listening to a role of convincing others they
are wrong. After listening to a position or
suggestion with which you disagree, simply
respond with something like, "I understand
your point.
We just disagree on this one." Effective
listeners
can listen calmly to another person even
when that person is offering unjust criticism.
5. PRACTICE PARAPHRASING. Paraphrasing is
the art of putting into your own words what
you thought you heard and saying it back to
the sender. For example, a subordinate might say:
"You have been unfair to rate me so low on my
performance appraisal. You have rated me lower
than Jim. I can do the job better than him, and
I've been here longer." A paraphrased response
might be: "I can see 
your rating. You think it was unfair for me to
rate you as I did." Paraphrasing is a great
technique for improving your listening and
problem-solving skills. First, you have to
listen very carefully if you are going to
accurately paraphrase what you heard.
Second, the paraphrasing response will
clarify for the sender that his or her
message was correctly received and
encourage the sender to expand on what
he or she is trying to communicate.
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- 1
lindaabrams09
09/10/09 | Reported as spam
RE: Internal Auditor
Listening is not only hearing the words
that what the other one speaks about
but a full understanding on the content
of the topic. Sometimes this is neglected
by other people. It is like when you read
a story aloud. You'll just notice that you
get a better understanding about the story
the next time you read it. You're much
focused that time.
Thanks,
Lindatradestocksamerica.com/stock-charts.
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- 2
qa123
11/23/09 | Report as spam
RE: Internal Auditor
Listening should not be overlooked
as a very important skill.
- 3
amir saeedi
03/06/10 | Report as spam
RE: Internal Auditor
it was useful for me and i would like to
add that those who think are intelligent
they usually conclude quickly and it is not
ofcourse a sign of intellegency
- 4
hsaini
04/30/10 | Report as spam
RE: Internal Auditor
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