Partial versus Full-bodied Listening

When we listen to someone in a full-bodied way, we not only hear the words, we pay attention to the tone and inflection, and non-verbal communication. In essence, we capture 100 percent of the message. To make certain we are really communicating, we must pay attention to whether all three elements of the sender’s message—words, tone and inflection, and non-verbal or body language—are in sync. Partial listening will cause problems almost all the time. At the very least, someone in the conversation will probably walk away feeling less valued.