Overview of the Article Take Time to Listen by Diane Cole - Essay Example

Introduction to communication- Listen to me!- discussion Diane Cole ed the article, ‘Take time to listen,’ which USNews published on December 20, 2007. The author establishes failure to listen as a concern and notes disadvantages that this may have on the speaker, such as negative effects on assignments, and on the listener, such as being a victim of disrespect. In addition, the author notes some of the strategies to becoming an effective listener (Cole 61). I believe that the author is right in identifying the listening problem as a significant problem in the society, because of experience in being a poor listener and interacting with poor listeners.

In addition, communication is a strong foundation for interactions in social setups and transfer of information and command in organizational setups and failure to listen to compromises effectiveness of communication. Personal experience and learned communication skills concur with the author’s opinion that distractions, such as multitasking and lack of sufficient time are key barriers to effective listening and managing these can offer a solution (Cole 61). In addition to the informative scope of the article, it is effective its content that identifies the significance of a problem and offers a solution.

It is, therefore, able to influence positive change in people’s communication by helping people to minimize distractions during communication. Developing a link between listening and attention that an individual acquires, when the time to be listened to comes, also facilities effectiveness of the article in improving listening effectiveness. The level of simplicity of the article is also commendable because it is neither complicated nor too simple to be boring (Cole 61). Consequently, the author is informative and is an agent of change for effective listening and communication.