Learning Engineering Practice

Chapter 5

Listening

This is a brief introduction to learning accurate listening: the most important communication skill.

Engineers spend between 20% and 25% of their time listening, on average; that’s far more than any other single activity they perform.

Accurate listening and note-taking do not come naturally. These are acquired skills that need to be learned and practised. It is hard work, just like physical fitness training. Improving your listening skill is one way to improve your ‘emotional intelligence’, a term used by psychologists to assess your ability to collaborate with other people.

There are many engineering performances that completely depend on accurate listening; below are two examples.

First, gaining finance: nothing is possible ...