4 Techniques to Listen Actively

Communication Skills 13

Be ready to listen

• Adopt physical signs of being ready to listen• Exercise eye contact with the speaker• Focus• Motivate yourself to listen

Disregard thoughts and feelings

• Listen regardless of your thoughts or feelings• Listen first; do not respond negatively at once• Avoid being "turned-off" • Give the speaker the chance to drive his/her

point

Adjust to the listening goals of the situation

• Goal: to understand, to retain information, and to listen critically

• This is to receive the exact message of the speaker

Know the advantages

• Identify the advantages of listening to the speaker

• Information is useful!• Be motivated to listen

Guides to Effective Listening

Look for meaning

• Listen not only for words but for meaning behind the words

• Nonverbal communication matters (eg. gestures)

Focus!

• Concentrate on the message• Do not yield to distractions

Do not judge

• Avoid premature dismissal of the subject or speaker as uninteresting

• Biases and judgement should NEVER interfere with your listening

Stop faking it.

• Do not fake attention just to be polite

Ice breaker!

Don't get offended

• Do not let emotional words arouse personal antagonism

• Maintain an open mind• Hate the speaker? Do it later.

Isip isip din pag may time

• If there is an opportunity to analyze what the speaker has just said, do so.

• You have a thought-speed advantage. Use it!• People can speak 120-180 words per minute;

400 and more words in listening.

Again, do not judge

• Do not focus on the speaker's speech or physical defect. Rather, focus on his/her message.

Do not discourage the speaker

• Negative metacommunication cues could dampen the speaker's mood and enthusiasm. As a result, the speech may end prematurely.

Wise notetaking matters

• Slow notetaking can make you miss more information than you think.

• Learn to use abbreviations and notetaking techniques

Use 5 thinking strategies

• Visualization- mental pictures• Association- relate familiar info with new info• Memory magic- play memory tricks • Chunking- sorting info to large sections• Focusing- remember the most important info

Use the five E's to interpret meaning

• Eyes- visual interpretation• Ears- hear to interpret• Experience- information from the past• Evaluation- making judgements by connecting

the message to ideas or feelings• Effort- to respond

Repeat, repeat, repeat

• Hearing info more than once helps you to remember

• Repeat information to yourself a number of times

Point it out

• Distinguish between main points and subordinate points

• Identify important points

Thank you for listening!