Are you a good listener?

Communication skills are extremely important for litigation support professionals to master.  There are many blogs and articles devoted to the subject… we cover it in all three of our classes at LitWorks. Today, I’m interested in discussing the lost art of communicating in person. Some might refer to it as interpersonal skills or the art of conversation… In our classes, we discuss the responsibilities of the “sender” and the “receiver” and asking lots of follow up questions.  Sending e-mails around to our case teams provides us with the security of a virtual paper trail and project documentation. However, sometimes we must step out of our comfort zone (and our cubicle) to meet face-to-face with an attorney or paralegal to discuss important technology decisions for the litigation matter.

The bottom line is that if you really want to effectively communicate something, especially if it is important and will need some discussion, there is nothing as good as face-to-face communication. If that is impractical, if you really want to communicate, pick up the phone and talk. My guess is that many people avoid these two methods because they find it more difficult, and places them outside their “comfort zone.” Effective communication necessitates doing what is necessary, and not simply developing a dependency on these less effective, but certainly easier techniques. Continue…

Be sure that you completely understand all of the options available and have prepared possible answers to your follow up questions before you engage in a face-to-face meeting. Then you will be ready to listen. Listening or “receiving“ information is just as important as “sending” or speaking.

Click here to read more about being a good listener.