Of the many free online resources available on Active Listening, I enjoyed John Grohol’s helpful, readable article, which touches on the several aspects of this essential modern-day skill in a point-by-point format.  The U.S. State Department also has a fine, brief summary; I liked the State Department’s emphasis on the use of silence — which, in contrast to Grohol, does not always need to be a comfortable silence.  Sometimes a slightly uncomfortable silence is the best way to encourage a person to say more.  Finally, the University of Colorado Boulder returns with a useful article including many links for further reading.

I recommend a study of Active Listening to every professional who deals with people.  Active Listening is an essential skill set for therapists, teachers, diplomats and police, but even if your job doesn’t center around listening, Active Listening skills come up constantly in all of our professional and personal lives.

The first resource on integrative negotiation, positions and interests should be William Ury, Roger Fisher and Bruce Patton’s classic Getting to Yes: Negotiating Agreement without Giving In.  A close second would be Ury’s sequel Getting Past No: Negotiating in Difficult Situations.  I strongly recommend these two books to the professional library of every negotiator.

Free online explanations of interests and positions are plentiful and can be found with a search.  Among the better articles I came across are these by Cinnie Noble, the University of Colorado Boulder, the U.S. Institute of Peace, and Watershed Associates; I liked the latter’s many helpful charts.  Note the ubiquity of the orange story (and the lack of citation of it — if only I knew who originated it!).