How to Become a Better Listener with Note-Taking

Meetings can be frustrating and ineffective. People can interrupt one another. People may introduce new ideas when they should simply be building on a conversation. Someone may repeat someone else’s statement because they simply were not paying attention. This all can lead to wasted time, energy, and interoffice conflict. How can this all be avoided? With listening!

However, as simple as it sounds, listening is very hard for most people. Many times, we listen simply to interrupt, contribute our own ideas, and offer rebuttals. We also may worry that we will forget our own ideas if we listen to others for too long. We tend to focus on ourselves rather than the person talking. However, improving listening can improve the quality of meetings. Listening can also make meeting time more productive by reducing repetition and misunderstandings.

A recent Harvard Business Review article highlighted an excellent technique that you can use during meetings to improve your listening skills via note-taking. This technique, titled Margin Notes, allows you to think, process information, make connections between different points of discussion, and ask effective questions. Try doing the following during your next meeting:

• Create a wide margin. In the main body of your notes, write down only what the other person is saying. It does not have to be elaborate—just the main points.

• In the wide margin you have created, jot down your own ideas, judgments, rebuttals, and questions. By placing your own contributions in the margin, you separate them from what others say.

• When it is time for you to contribute, only mention items that you noted in the margins that have not yet been addressed. As you address each item, cross it off in your notes. If you are unable to bring them up during this meeting, highlight or underline them for follow-up next time.