Rediscovering the Lost Art of Listening

It’s estimated that people screen out or change the intended purpose of what they hear in over 70 percent of all communications. The biggest factor contributing to such miscommunications is our listening approach. Behavioral research shows that people listen with a preferred listening approach.

Good communication is one of the most valued skills in the workplace. And effective listening is crucial to communicating productively inside the organization and meeting the competitive challenges outside the organization. This one-day program helps people become active, purposeful listeners in a wide variety of situations for more productive communication.

Expected Outcomes:

  • Upon completion, participants should be able to:
  • Describe how the Listening Process Works
  • Identify their listening distractions and plan steps to minimize them
  • Identify the behaviors that reflect active listening
  • Use questions to gain a full understanding of the speaker's message
  • Confirm understanding of what has been
  • Respond effectively

Audience / Perquisites:

Anyone who has to listen. / Willingness to try new techniques and to change.

Structure:

Since no one likes to be told they have a problem and have to be fixed, this program uses the Personal Listening Profile® from Inscape Publishing as a self discovery tool. One the learner has completed the Personal Listening Profile, the program will move through the issues and practices to reinforce change.

The use of the Personal Listening Profile will also provide a framework that ensures a more consistent message across the organization by providing:

  • Common language
  • Common solutions
  • Common understanding

Content:

  • Identify which of the following are your listening strengths:
    • Appreciative: Listens in a relaxed manner, seeking enjoyment, entertainment, or inspiration
    • Empathic: Listens without judging, is supportive of the speaker, and learns from the experiences of others
    • Comprehensive: Listens to organize and make sense of information by understanding relationships among ideas
    • Discerning: Listens to get complete information, understand the main message, and determine important details
    • Evaluative: Listens in order to make a decision based on information provided and may accept or reject message based on personal beliefs
  • Discover your natural approach to listening
  • Capitalize on your listening strengths
  • Learn how different listening approaches impact listening effectiveness
  • Improve your ability to understand the purpose of different communications
  • Use listening approaches appropriate to the situation
  • Overcome listening barriers and reduce conflict
  • Enhance individual and team performance
  • Learn to interpret body language

Through out this program exercises will be used as appropriate to reinforce the learning.