Active Listening:

Active, effective listening is the foundation of effective communication. Active listening intentionally focuses on who you are listening to in order to understand what he or she is saying. As the listener, you should then be able to repeat back in your own words what they have said to their satisfaction. You do not have to agree with, like, or fix the problems that you are hearing. Your job is simply to convince the other person that you understand what they're trying to say. A good web site on this technique can be found at: http://www.taft.cc.ca.us/lrc/class/assignments/actlisten.html