EFFECTIVE LISTENING

EFFECTIVE LISTENING. Miracle Nduka.

INTRODUCTION. At the end of the class, we will be able to: Describe the importance of listening Identify the barriers of listening well and implement steps to active effective listening Uncover hidden message, listen well in tense & emotional situations Know how to improve the information flow, therefore improve teamwork and productivity at work.

IMPORTANCE OF LISTENING.

Why Listen? *Why does listening matter? *Think about a time when you felt someone was really listening to you? What was the situation like? How did you feel? *Now think about a time when you were listening to someone else. *What was the situation like? How did you feel?.

BENEFITS OF LISTENING. So why do we listen? We listen to learn, understand, connect and enjoy. Listening provides a wide variety of functions and benefits. Listening helps to : Build relationships Increase productivity Solve problems Improve our ability to Persuade, negotiate or influence Enables us minimize or eliminate conflicts & misunderstandings.

Ineffective Listeners. Now lets talk about what separates an ineffective listener and an effective listener. A poor listener is easily distracted and allows his/her mind wander Allows grammar mistakes and other minor corrections to catch their attention Tune out when the speaker has a distracting delivery style, speak slowly, or is discussing a dry (“uninteresting”) topic Quickly lose focus Shows no outward evidence of listening Tend to interrupt Lacks emotional intelligence Can be over-stimulated; tend to seek and enter arguments –Prematurely Listen for facts alone and miss out on the complete message, often because they are too busy taking notes to observe the speaker’s body language.

Effective Listeners. On the other hand of the spectrum are Effective listeners. Their behavior essentially opposes the poor listeners They: Fight distractions, see pass bad communication habits & know how to concentrate Think about what they are hearing and mentally summarize, taking into account the speakers tone of voice and body language Allow the speaker to complete his or her thoughts Taking notes but not excessively—just enough to recall the message later Suspend judgement until they understand the full message Maintains focus despite grammar mistakes or other delivery errors Maintains eye contact and help the speaker along by appearing engaged Listen for the entire.

Barriers to Listening: Bad habits There are barriers to listening and we are prone to certain habits occasionally. Review the 5 habits listed here and lets decide whether any of them apply to you. If they do, you need to concentrate on eliminating them and improving your listening skills * Are you convinced the topic is boring even before listening to the speaker * Do you focus on the delivery style and appearance of the speaker * Do you only listen for the facts and not the entire message * Do you allow emotionally charged words to affect your listening * Are you focused more on what you want to say than what the speaker is saying?.

Test your Knowledge Read each item and decide if its effective or ineffective.

STEPS TO ACTIVE LISTENING.

Overview of the five steps. Now that you have an understanding of why listening is so critical. Lets discuss the steps to effective listening OR rather the 5 Rs READY: Prepare yourself physically and mentally RECEIVE: Hear the message REVIEW: Evaluate the message RESPOND: Show the speaker that you understand the message REMEMBER: Transfer the information you have heard from you short-term memory to your long term memory Perhaps, most importantly be available. You may be the best listener in the world, but you are perceived as “too busy” others will stop trying to talk to you in a meaningful way.

Ready: Prepare physically. Even if you think you can listen well while multi-tasking, the speaker will not feel listened to and in fact is you will not be giving the speaker full attention Simply; Find a quiet place to talk to the speaker if possible. Eliminate as many distractions as you can, such as noisy machines, talkative colleagues and so on. Stop all activities that aren’t relevant to the conversation. Make sure that you body posture and body language id inviting throughout the conversation..

Ready: Prepare Mentally Once you have prepared physically, its time to prepare mentally.. Eliminating mental distractions is actually more difficult than physical distractions.

Receive. The next step in effective listening is to hear or receive the message. Remember the message isn’t just words alone; it also consists of the speaker’s body language and tone of voice Interrupting is a waste of time The speaker needs to feel heard, interrupting will only make the speaker repeat what has been said before INSTEAD: Allow the speaker to finish sharing their thoughts Suspend judgement Show respect and Empathy.

Receive: Show you are Listening Aside from not interrupting, there are other ways you can show the speaker that you’re listening carefully. You can provide verbal and non-verbal responses. Non verbal: Head nod, hand gestures, open body posture Verbal: uh-huh, go on, really, and then, yea….

Review: Evaluate the message. Here are some steps to evaluate the message objectively: * Ask clarifying questions if you are not sure of something the speaker said * Use your critical thinking skills * Separate facts from opinions and inferences * Identify assumptions and determine their validity * Assess the credibility of the information.

Respond: Show you understand. When the speaker has finished speaking .. pause before you reply. This will give you time to carefully process what your response will be, before you say it. Its helpful to paraphrase what the speaker has said.

Respond: Determine appropriate answers. It’s also important to determine the type of response the speaker is looking for. Does he/she want a straight forward answer? Guidance or advice? Help with brainstorming options? Or does he/she just need support but not answer While you may have an opinion about something, don’t give unsolicited advice. This could rub the speaker off the wrong way. They may feel you are trying to change them. Finally, always be respectful and honest. Remain composed and honest..

Remember: Make it memorable. Its important to also move what you have heard to your long-term memory. Here are some ways to transfer information from your short-term memory to long term memory * Focus and concentrate * Paint a picture in your mind * Repeat the information back to the speaker * Jot it down * Attach a feeling. We remember things better when we associate emotions to it * Use all your senses. Repeat a name while shaking hands and making eye contact.

Test your Knowledge Can you put the steps of active listening in the proper order?.

CONGRATULATIONS. By now, you should be able to: ** Discover the importance of listening ** Identify barriers of effective listening ** Understand the steps to active listening Please put into practice in your daily operations with clients and internal staff!.

THANK YOU!.