Active listening is everything related to building rapport, crystal clear understanding, and trust. It is the listening with a purpose when receiving and interpreting the sound in the environment, creating and understanding the meaning carried by this sound. Within the work environment it is important to know that how well the one listens has a major impact on job effectiveness and on the quality of the working relationships with the colleagues. However the very first and important step into the world of active listening is to have a high level of self-awareness. In order to become a more effective listener the one has to place himself or herself in the position of the other person which will help to approach listening with an open mind. The person perception should not be blocked by inward thinking. When employees, colleagues etc. look at the other person's perspective, they would have seen their way through the problem much faster. Moreover an active listener tries to avoid comparing the person's experience to the own without trying to help immediately, because concentrating on what the person says at face value is very …show more content…
Employee becomes more competent and capable. This means that by effective listening the individual will obtain an exact information needed to perform the task while avoiding undesirable mistakes. Furthermore, employee's know-how deepens and becomes stronger leading to successful completion of job requirements. The employee becomes better team player which can be achieved through taking time to listening to each other in the workplace, listening to the suggestions, advice, warnings in order to avoid misunderstandings causing inconvenience while building beneficial working relationships. Active listening if executed with knowledge lowers the risk of conflicts leading towards peace, respect and most importantly saves time and allocated budget which are fortifying the success of the
The purpose of this self-assessment is designed to help me establish my strengths and weaknesses on various dimensions of active listening (McShane & Von Glinow, 2016, p. 250)
According to (Talking therapy 2014) active listening means using a set of skills that encourage the person you are listening to talk, to help them feel heard and understood. It is called ‘active’ because you intentionally do things to help them feel able to talk, and because you engage with all your attention on what the speaker is saying, how they are acting, and how they are feeling.
The theories of counselling, listening skills sessions, offered the opportunity to learn and exercise the practical application of listening skills. Such skills involved actively listening to the speaker and asking forth bringing questions. The knowledge attained throughout the theories of counselling module, was applied in these practical sessions. Even though the students in these listening skills sessions were supposed to work in mock therapeutic session, it was made clear that these exercises did not provide the necessary training for the students to become professional counsellors. Nevertheless this does not mean that these practices were not helpful. We were provided the possibility to gain a better and newer understanding of the subject by practicing our listening skills and conducting these practical exercises. While we took on the role of an active listener, it was important to show a deeper understanding of both positive and negative features that the speaker had to deal with in the speaker-listener interaction. It was important that the listener made the speaker feel comfortable with what they were saying and that active feedback was provided to the speaker.
Listening is how we interpret both the verbal and non-verbal messages sent by others. Active listening shows customers and employees that there is genuine concern for them and this can provide an opportunity for resolution of a problem and ease a negative situation. Here's an example of actively listening. A customer comes up to you and you can clearly see that he is upset, he mentions to you that he has been to two other stores looking for a particular product and goes into detail. (At this point you may want to nod your head to signify that you are following him). He called your store to confirm this product was in stock. He explained to the person over the phone that he was driving 30 minutes out his
Active listening is a skill that can be learned and practiced. The following points may be useful:
Theoretical According to listening expert and researcher Dr. Ralph Nichols, "The most basic of all human needs is the need to understand and be understood. The best way to understand people is to listen to them”. Listening, as Nichols points out, is both necessary and an integral aspect of the communication process and is one of the most important skills one can acquire. Although critically important in everyday and professional affairs, the specific skill of effectively listening unfortunately is lacking in most people.
Listening is an aspect of communication that vital the building of understanding and of a relationship between individuals. Listening can be an active
The Egan model consists of three stages and its’ objective is to help the client achieve lasting change and empower them to manage their own problems more efficiently, while also developing unused opportunities (Egan, 2014).
In applying the skills to a case scenario, I found it difficult to focus and use my active listening skills. I do know that in an ideal situation, I will more than likely be one on one with my client and will generally conduct the interview in a quieter atmosphere, allowing me to focus better on what the client discloses. However, with continuous practice I believe I will be able to overcome becoming distracted by background noises.
Listening is a process in which the listener pays attention to another party. Listening is a skill and an art, as it depends on complex mental processes. Due to the need synergy of thinking and hearing with each other. Listening can be a challenge if we do not pay attention to what's being said in a proper way. Because how we interact with others define who we are. Listening skills can help us deal with confusion and prevent misunderstanding. In my view, paying attention, asking questions, understanding, and advising are the foundation of good listening.
Let’s explore why listening is so critical. “Adam listened to Eve. In that first spoken word message and all since, no communication occurred until there was a listener. It follows, then, that there has become a much-heightened need to listen. We must understand the fundamental relationship involved, we cannot escape it” (Mills 1). The characteristics of good listening skills can be best understood by using the acronym MASTER. The “m” refers to mental. Mental is the ability to slow down and strategically control our ability to listen. “A” refers to active. Being active utilizes constructive listening responses and constant practice can keep this sharp. The “s” refers to sustaining attention. Experienced concentration is crucial for sustaining attention. “T” refers to target. There are four types of potential listening targets; responsive listening, implicative listening, critical listening and nondirective listening. Responsive listening is the agreement between listener and speaker. Implicative listening involves carefully understanding what is implied by hearing what is said. Critical listening is the process of coming to the point of a subject by clearing away all the non-important information. Nondirective listening is fully hearing the speaker out. The “e” refers to eliminating t...
Listening is an important form of communication. Unfortunately, many people who do not know how to listen believe they can listen well. They often say "I have been doing this all of my life of course I can listen". Listening is not inherited, or a personality trait, it is a skill that must be worked on and practiced.
Most all human beings utilize some form of effective listening strategy throughout every conversation they are faced with. On the one hand it is accurate to say that all humans attain knowledge by employing effective listening strategies; however, not everyone gains information from the same strategies. No matter what culture one comes from, in order to attain information from conversations, one must seek and apply fundamentals from a list of effective listening strategies.
In all aspects in life effective listening plays an important role in our lives, both professionally and personally. As many of know from experience listening is never easy in fact it can be difficult to understand what is being said by the speaker. Because of laps in attention we tend to misunderstand some of the messages that are being relayed to us or disregard them altogether. Effective listening is important for receiving the correct feedback from those you’re speaking with and requires a focus that should be central to what is being said or what topic is being discussed.
Listening is one of the most powerful tools of communication and is a process that is used to receive, convey a meaning, and respond to both verbal and nonverbal messages. It is what we choose to do and it requires more work than speaking. Oftentimes, people simply misunderstand the difference between listening and hearing. Hearing is a passive process that takes in sounds and noises and listening is what you choose to do. This selective process includes 5 phases that can be acquired for us to become effective listeners in the future. The 5 phases are attending, understanding, remembering, critically evaluating (listening), and responding. Once the 5 different areas are understood, we will become aware of what needs to change and how we can change them. This will also allow us to improve our listening skills in the workplace, school, at home, etc.