Being an Active Listener

Being an Active Listener

Learning to Listen

Listening is a skill

What is the difference between listening and hearing?

Listening and hearing

• Hearing is a natural ability; your ears pick up sounds

• Listening means directing your attention to what you're hearing and trying to make sense of it.

Multiple Choice

Listening is

• your ability to perceive noise and sounds.

• sympathizing with someone who is complaining.

• your talent for identifying different sounds.

• hearing and trying to understand things.

Why it's hard to listen even when you are interested-------

People speak at about 125 words per minute; however, they think at about 400 words per minute.

Multiple Choice

It's often hard for people to listen because

• they think faster than people speak.

• they process much slower than people talk.

• they are eager to talk themselves.

• they don't care what others have to say.

What is the answer?

become an ACTIVE listener

How to become an active listener

• While someone is talking, ask yourself questions about what the person is saying and then try to answer the questions. --What is the speaker telling me? Do I understand this? What don't I understand about what I'm hearing? Does this make sense to me?

• Try to picture what the person is saying. Mental pictures are especially helpful for people with a visual learning style.

• Every so often, summarize what the person is saying. --What are the main points of what's already been said?

• Make sure your posture is open and interested (e.g. no slumping).

Continued

• Nod occasionally.

• Smile and use other facial expressions.

• Encourage the speaker to continue with small verbal comments such as "yes" and "uh huh."

• Paraphrase what you're hearing by saying, "What I'm hearing is. . ." and "It sounds as if you are saying. . .

• If you find yourself responding emotionally, say so and ask for more information. "I may not be understanding you correctly, and I find myself taking what you said personally. I thought you said ____. Is that what you meant?"

Multiple Choice

To be an active listener, you should do all the following EXCEPT

• ask yourself questions about what the speaker is saying.

• stop the speaker frequently to interject your own ideas.

• summarize what the speaker has already said.

• try to picture what the speaker is talking about.

Multiple Choice

To show you are listening, you should do all the following EXCEPT

• make sure your posture is open and interested.

• smile or nod.

• use verbal comments such as "yes."

• move the speaker's chin so you are eye-to-eye.

Other ways to improve your listening skill:

• Look at the person who is speaking. Make eye contact if possible.

• Listen first, judge later. Listen to everything the speaker has to say before you decide how you feel about it. If you begin to react in the middle of listening, then you may miss what the person says next.

• Take notes if you need to remember what has been said.

Multiple Choice

All of the following are ways to improve your listening skill EXCEPT

• take notes.

• argue with the speaker.

• make eye contact.

• listen first and judge later.

Video to watch on YouTube

Active Listening from GCFLearnFree.org from January 29, 2019