Article by: Shale Paul

Most people spend roughly 70% of their waking hours in some form of verbal communication. Yet, how many of us have ever had any formal training in the art of listening? Here are ten things you can do to improve your listening skills.

1. Approach the listening experience from a state of centredness.
2. Never rule out any topic of discussion as uninteresting.
3. Accept the speaker's message
4. Listen for the whole message.
5. Don't get hung up on the speaker's delivery.
6. Avoid structured listening.
7. Tune out distractions.
8. Be alert to your own prejudices.
9. Resist the temptation to rebut.
10. Take notes sparingly.

Article by: Rick Fullerton, Ph.D., Professional Coach

Consider what normally occurs as you listen to someone else speak. If you are like most people, you have a continuous narrative running inside you. I call this my 'little voice'. When I am in a typical conversation when others are speaking, my little voice gives me a steady stream of messages like "I really like that outfit"; "Nice idea"; "She seems very confident"; "He missed my point"; "I wonder where this discussion is leading"; "I must remember to pick up the kids"; "I'm bored"; and so on. In a similar vein, perhaps you have assessments, questions, or random thoughts crossing your mind at the same time as you are looking at the words on this page or computer screen? If so, you will recognize that the same thing happens as we read - at least some of the time. Unless we have taken advanced training, most of us are unable to stop the 'little voice' - it just continues its commentary on what's happening.

by Dr Hilary Armstrong, Director of Training and Research, Institute of Executive Coaching, Australia and Hong Kong

Have you ever reacted suddenly in a way that you regret and afterwards cringed at the thought of what you said, or did? Have you ever stayed silent, when in retrospect you know you should have said something but you went blank? Have you left a situation that you just could not cope with but later regretted leaving? If you answer yes to any of these things then you are in the midst of what Daniel Goldman (1998) termed an 'amygdala hijack'. Why this is important is that often, in coaching, we come across people who tell us stories that fit the signals of an amygdala hijack.

Adapted by Michelle Gabbe from an article excerpted from a trilogy of books on Ontological Coaching authored by Alan Sieler (http://www.newfieldaus.com.au/)

In recent years coaching, in the form of Organisational Coaching and Life Coaching, has emerged as a professional practice. The long- term public acceptance and commercial viability of any professional practice means that it must be grounded in a substantive discipline and rigorous methodology, which produces positive results for people. The emergence of the discipline Ontology of the Human Observer provides the substantive basis for an ontological approach to coaching. The discipline represents a new understanding of human beings and human interaction. In this article, the essence of the methodological framework of Ontological Coaching will be outlined.

published in South China Morning Post on June 28, 2008

Being the best in today's competitive world is a priority for many of us. In the pursuit of success and greater happiness, life and executive coaching are important tools to attaining these goals.

MPNLP (ABBNLP), (ANLP), C.Hyp (ABH)

How long have you been involved with HKICC?

I've been involved with HKICC in one way or another since it was originally conceived and set up as the HK Coaching Community and have watched it evolve into what it has become today. However, my active involvement has only been very recent when my organization joined as a corporate member at the start of this year. Shortly after that, I accepted a position on the Executive Committee as VP-Finance.