Listen up or Lose Out: How to Avoid Miscommunication, Improve Relationships, and Get More Done Faster

  • 4h 35m
  • Dorothy Grover Bolton, Robert Bolton
  • AMACOM
  • 2018

Want better results? Talk less and listen more.

Listening might seem like the easiest thing in the world to do. But most people retain only a fraction of what they hear, resulting in miscommunications and lost opportunities.

When you actively listen, you learn to gather perspectives, bridge differences, and resolve problems. Absorbing what a person is saying, thinking, and feeling sets the stage for dramatically improved relationships and increased professional success.

Listen Up or Lose Out pulls this underused tool out from the shadows and highlights its role in effective communications. Step by step, the book breaks down listening into a set of learnable skills, explaining how to:

  • Avoid the urge to criticize, question, or advise
  • Focus on the speaker’s point of view
  • Ask the right questions, in the right order
  • Restate the speaker’s key points and keep the conversation moving
  • Read people’s feelings and reflect them back
  • Find solutions together

Skilled listeners experience fewer conflicts, make better decisions, and discover opportunities that others might miss. No amount of talking beats great listening!

About the Author

ROBERT BOLTON, PH.D., is known for his expertise in training trainers. He is a cofounder of Ridge Associates, a training and consulting firm that serves many Fortune 500 companies, and the author of several books.

DOROTHY GROVER BOLTON, ED.M., are known for their expertise in training trainers. They are cofounders of Ridge Associates, a training and consulting firm that serves many Fortune 500 companies, and the authors of several books including the perennially popular People Styles at Work . . . And Beyond.

In this Book

  • Introduction—What This Book Will Do for You
  • Chapter 1: Quality Listening Enhances Work Relationships
  • Chapter 2: Listening Well is Good Business
  • Chapter 3: A Good Listener is a Rare Find
  • Chapter 4: Quality Listening Strengthens Personal Relationships
  • Chapter 5: Trouble Spots in the Talking–Listening Process
  • Chapter 6: Identifying Your Listening Missteps
  • Chapter 7: Reducing Major Missteps
  • Chapter 8: Skill-Based Listening
  • Chapter 9: Whose Turn is it?
  • Chapter 10: Focus Your Attention
  • Chapter 11: Be a Great Asker
  • Chapter 12: Creating and Sequencing Productive Questions
  • Chapter 13: Reflective Listening—Antidote to Miscommunication
  • Chapter 14: Paraphrase What's Important
  • Chapter 15: Listen Through the Pauses
  • Chapter 16: Why Listen to People's Feelings?
  • Chapter 17: “Read” People's Feelings
  • Chapter 18: Reflect Feelings and Meanings
  • Chapter 19: Wrap it up with a Summary Reflection
  • Chapter 20: Results-Focused Listening
  • Chapter 21: The Listening Spirit
  • Chapter 22: Make Great Listening Part of Your Everyday Life
  • Epilogue
  • Endnotes
  • Free Sample from People Styles at Work… and beyond
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