Resolving Conflicts on the Job, Second Edition

Chapter 4. Ways to Listen

Most of us think that we are good listeners. Most of us aren’t. Listening is not the natural process we think it is because of the time difference between the relatively slow rate of speech and the much faster rate of processing. On average, we speak at approximately 125 to 150 words per minute, depending on the culture we were raised in and where we currently live. For example, if we’re from the city, we may tend to talk very fast; if we’re from the country, we may tend to talk rather slowly. However, no matter where we’re from, our processing rate is four to six times our speaking rate. In short, most of us can process much faster than someone else can talk.

This leaves us with a lot of free time to do other things while ...