What helped me was to start with the assumption that the other person is just as intelligent as myself.
The worst is when you start making suggestions after listening to two sentences. If you assume that the other person is as intelligent as you are, then something you came up with after two minutes of listening is not useful -- they have probably considered this already.
It's different from your job, because at work you probably are a specialist and it's possible you know the solution after two sentences.
But for the problems we face in everyday life it's not so easy -- there usually are no easy solutions, and most people have a similar amount of experience.