Muchos programas enseñan a hablar, pero pocos a escuchar.

Incluso antes de la era de las distracciones digitales, las personas sólo podían recordar un 10% de lo que se decía en una conversación cara a cara tras una breve distracción, según un estudio de 1987 que sigue siendo un indicador clave del recuerdo conversacional. Los investigadores creen que la capacidad de escuchar ha decaído desde entonces en medio de un aumento de la multitarea y las interrupciones. La mayoría de la gente puede pensar más del doble de rápido de lo que habla, lo que permite a la mente divagar.

No escuchar bien no sólo prolonga las reuniones y discusiones, sino que también puede dañar las relaciones y la carrera profesional. Sin embargo, es posible mejorar la capacidad de escucha: en primer lugar, tomando conciencia de las formas en que uno puede ignorar a los demás.

Algunas personas están ocupadas pensando en lo que quieren decir a continuación. Un vendedor instó repetidamente a un cliente a concertar una reunión con los responsables de la empresa, cuenta Paul Donehue, que entrenó al vendedor. "El cliente dijo que sí, y el vendedor repitió: 'Si pudiéramos programar esa reunión'. Se veía que no lo había conseguido", dice Donehue, presidente de la consultora de gestión de ventas Paul Charles & Associates, de Londonderry, New Hampshire.

Otros sólo escuchan lo suficiente para averiguar si los puntos de vista del orador coinciden con los suyos, dice Bernard Ferrari, autor de "Power Listening" y decano de la Escuela de Negocios Carey de la Universidad Johns Hopkins, en Baltimore. Otros interrumpen para proponer soluciones, a menudo antes de haber identificado el problema, dice Ferrari.

A major obstacle to listening is a common tendency to filter and judge others’ talk based on pre-existing assumptions, expectations and intentions, says Julian Treasure, an author and speaker on conscious listening. Many people listen in a critical way, brushing off information from people they think have little to offer, says Mr. Treasure, chairman of the Sound Agency, of Surrey, England, which helps companies link their brands with sounds or music.

A 2011 study in Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes found that the more powerful the listener, the more likely he is to judge or dismiss advice from others.

With such filters in place, “I’m listening from a kind of concrete bunker that I’ve built many years ago, that I’m not even conscious of,” Mr. Treasure says.

People may be getting less practice in listening. A 2006 study of college students showed they spent about 24% of their time listening to others face to face or in groups, down from 53% in 1980, when a comparable study was conducted, says Laura Janusik, an associate professor of communication at Rockhurst University, in Kansas City, Mo. Many people don’t try to remember what they hear, because “we can always Google it and find it again,” she says. “Our ability to communicate face to face has decreased a lot.

After years of training in speaking and presentation, Ella Morgulis, a product manager in Palo Alto, Calif., for SAP, a maker of business-application software, had training in “mindful listening” last year. Participants sat in pairs and took turns focusing for three minutes on their partners’ words, body language and emotions without interrupting or reacting, then repeated back to the speaker what they heard, says Peter Bostelmann, the company’s director of mindfulness programs, who ran the listening program. The program is based on a 2012 book by Google engineer Chade Meng-Tan, “Search Inside Yourself.”

Ms. Morgulis says she learned not to react if she disagrees “but to absorb things, and to get into this calmer state.” She also learned to think positive things about other participants before starting a meeting or conversation. She has noticed that she feels closer to co-workers, and “people go out of their way to help me with my projects.”

Improving listening skills can help teams work more smoothly. Anne Hardy’s 20-member team at SAP encompasses 14 nationalities, and it is sometimes hard to get them to listen to each other, says Ms. Hardy, an SAP vice president. After she had the group take the training in January before a three-day team meeting, colleagues listened better, as well as “paying attention to emotion and trying to calm down before they responded to someone.” The session was unusually productive, she says.

To prepare for an important conversation, write a list of things you want to say or questions to ask. This “relieves the brain of that burden of thinking about what you’re going to say next,” Mr. Donehue says. “When the conversational thread comes to a natural end, instead of panicking about where you’re going to go next, you have it written down.”

Barbara Miller, an Austin, Texas, communications skills coach, recommends doing a brain dump on paper before a conversation—writing down all the thoughts that might distract you from listening and setting the paper aside until later. She also advises asking clarifying questions during a conversation, such as, “What do you need from me right now?” This “makes people focus their gripes.”

Taking notes or making eye contact can keep the mind from wandering, Mr. Donehue says. Setting a goal for a talking-to-listening ratio also can help, such as talking 25% of the time and listening 75%, he says.

During a conversation, Mr. Treasure recommends keeping in mind an acronym, RASA—for receive, by paying attention to the person; appreciate, by making little noises such as “hmmm” or “oh”; summarizing what the other person said, and asking questions afterward.

Employees who don’t believe their bosses are listening to them are less likely to offer helpful suggestions and new ideas, says a 2007 study of 3,372 workers in Academy of Management Journal. They’re also more likely to become emotionally exhausted and quit, according to another study, published recently in the Journal of Business Ethics.

In many workplaces, talking is more valued than listening—or at least that is what people assume. For a long time, Bill Gamelli thought his job as a manager was to do most of the talking “and come up with an answer for everything,” says Mr. Gamelli, senior vice president, customer services, for William Raveis Real Estate, Mortgage & Insurance, in Shelton, Conn.

Working with a coach, Amy Ruppert, Mr. Gamelli learned to listen “at a deeper level, not just for words but for the feeling and meaning behind them,” says Ms. Ruppert, chief learning officer in Chicago at Coaching Out of the Box, a training firm. Ms. Ruppert advises focusing closely on the speaker, watching facial expressions and tone of voice, asking probing questions and using pauses to draw out more information. “People will tell you so much to avoid the discomfort” of a long silence, she says. Mr. Gamelli believes the techniques have enabled him to solve problems, give the kind of feedback employees need and retain some valued managers who otherwise might have quit.

Click here to see the video and article by Sue Shellenbarger, Wall Street Journal.