Watz up, dude?

Being good at Writing and Speaking doesn't make you a good communicator. You have to be equally good at Listening. Information is an intangible substance that must be sent by the speaker and received by an active listener.

Listening is an active process with three basic steps. Hear, Understand and Analyze.

The workforce is going global and with colleagues from different culture, it is important to understand what they speak, their accent. Since physical presence is not required to be part of a conversation, you have to listen well to be active. Obviously, you don't want to embarrass yourself in middle of a conversation.

The first skill that you might need to practice is to act like a good listener. Then use other bodily receptors like eye contact with the speaker. This might help you to catch the non-verbal signals that he/she might sent out. Then you should start reacting to the speaker like by showing emotions on face.

Your body position defines whether you are a good listener or a deflector. Lead with your face. If you feel you are drifting away, try changing your body posture.