Developing Effective Listening Skills

1. Developing Effective Listening Skills Gil Michelini, ACS, ALB Fishers Toastmasters Club

2. My purpose is to • create awareness of why listening is important • explore why listening is difficult • identify barriers to effective listening • present methods of overcome barriers to effective listening

3. What is Effective Listening • Effective listening is a skill of using multiple senses to comprehend the messages being sent by the speaker.

4. What is Effective Listening • Effectively listening 25% of the time • Other 75% we are disengaged

5. Why Are You Here

6. Why Is Effective Listening Important

7. Why Is Effective Listening Important • Effects of poor or ineffective communication • We have a desire to be heard and—more important—to be understood

8. Why Is Listing Difficult

9. Why Is Listing Difficult • Hearing vs. Listening • Hearing means your ears were engaged • Listening means your brain was engaged

10. Why Is Listing Difficult • Sender and Receiver

11. Overcoming Barriers To Listening

12. Barriers To Listening • Attitude • Physical • Distractions • Emotions • Judgment • Interpretation • Interrupting • Confusion • Recall

13. 1) Attitude • You will listen as much as you want to • You must want to understand • You must take the responsibility for getting the information the sender is providing

14. 2) Physical • Look the sender in the eye • Body language • Lean toward the sender

15. 3) Distractions • Our minds need something to do • Remove distractions • Visually and mentally focus

16. 4) Emotions • Powerful driving forces • Emotions and feelings • How emotions affect listening • Emotions and stereotypes

17. 5) Judgment • Our empathy can be a benefit and a barrier to listening • Is the speaker asking us to make a judgment and give advice or just listen

18. 6) Interpretation • Words don’t have meaning • Oxford English Dictionary definitions: • “set” 464 • “run” 396 • “go” 368 • Ask for the speaker’s meaning • Sarcasm • Inflection, facial gestures

19. 7) Interrupting • When done correctly • Ask clarifying questions • Don’t interrupt mid-thought • Seek out feelings • Ask questions about what the speaker said to keep them talking • Don’t tell your story; they want to talk about theirs

20. 7) Interrupting • When done incorrectly • Change focus & direction of conservation • Telling your story about something the person said • Correcting the speaker when it is not necessary

21. 8) Confusion • Mental outlining • Clarifying questions • Summarize

22. 9) Recall • Attitude • Note taking • Retain what you believe to be important

23. Barriers To Listening • Attitude • Physical • Distractions • Emotions • Judgment • Interpretation • Interrupting • Confusion • Recall

24. Now What • Practice your new skills whenever you can • Seek out situations to listen to others

25. Developing Effective Listening Skills Gil Michelini, ACS, ALB Fishers Toastmasters Club GilMichelini.com/listening