Professional Practice
Skills
PPS-9: Group Skill:
Listening
(Adapted
from MPS 37,
Pre-class assignment
What is It?
Listening is hearing, interpreting,
and responding to another person’s oral communication. In this unit, we concentrate on interpersonal
listening, especially with respect to working with others.
Other important areas of listening that
use similar skills include
New Concepts
Attending,
Following, Responding to Check Comprehension
Why Do It?
There are two aspects of “why” for
listening. First, listening is useful
for efficient group work and second, listening is a courteous act. Fortunately, the aspects don’t conflict, and
the same skills are applicable.
When you
are negotiating with others to develop consensus or achieve win-win situations,
you need to know what other people are looking for. The best way to learn that is by listening to
them. Since most people like to be
listened to, your efforts will make the negotiation smoother.
Good
listening is generally interpreted as an act of caring by the speaker. Therefore, improving listening skills can
enhance your personal as well as your professional life.
How to Do It
The skills
of listening are not difficult, but must start with an attitude shift. Many of us think that we can sell or convince
another person by what we say (that clever pick-up line, the bulletproof
argument, or the killer closing spiel).
Unfortunately, we have forgotten the first principle of
communication. Communication is about
the other person. The beginning of
any communication is consideration of the audience. In oral communication, your potential
audience is right in front of you, and listening is your opportunity to learn
about them.
Since
listening is about the other person, we must consider how they perceive what we
do. We will divide listening into three
forms of evidence Attending, Following,
and Responding to Check Comprehension.
Most of us
have trouble paying attention. This is
logical, since your brain is trucking along at about 600 words per minute,
while most speakers plod at about 150 words per minute. Concentrating on the tasks listed below will
help keep that extra capacity involved while the tasks themselves provide
evidence of listening to the speaker.
Attending
To give
evidence that you are paying attention, you should
Put away Distracters – Close books, turn off phone, close
laptop (pencil and paper are ok if you need to take notes). You may have said “Keep talking, I can listen to you and check my e-mail”. Even if this is true, it won’t be perceived
as listening.
Face the Speaker – Your face and body should be
turned toward the speaker. Sit upright
or lean forward slightly with “open” body language. Maintain a comfortable
proximity and avoid distracting fidgeting. (For an opposite example, consider
the stereotypical withdrawn teenager curled in a chair with arms crossed and
face away from the speaker)
Make Eye Contact – Eyes should be directed toward
the person without staring. In a group
meeting you will probably also be looking at others to gage reactions, or at
your paper to make notes, but your eyes should primarily be on the speaker or the
speaker’s visual aids.
Note that
personal space, eye contact, and body language can vary significantly by
culture. Again, consider the other
person and find out the cultural norms.
Following
Now that
the speaker knows we are paying attention, we need to provide evidence that we
are following what they say through verbal and nonverbal cues.
Small Encouragers – Use words or short phrases that
indicate you are still following and encourage the speaker to continue. Depending on the setting, these can include –
Tell me more, uh huh, no!, she didn’t,
wow, ok. No shit? Verbal encouragers
are more appropriate in pairs or informal settings than in large business
meetings.
Clarifying Questions – You can ask infrequent questions
about facts both to give evidence of following and to help stay on track. Examples include What happened then? Was it Bob
or Jane who picked up the part?
Frequent or demanding questions can turn evidence of listening into
evidence of an interrogation. If you
find yourself standing over them with a bright light asking Is it safe?” as in
Attentive Silence – Often a simple head nod, smile,
or expectant look is sufficient. This quiet
approach is preferred in large committee meetings. It can also be less threatening than a lot of
questions.
Responding to Check Comprehension
Here the
listener paraphrases or summarizes what the speaker was saying. This step is often the transition between
listening and speaking, and gives you the opportunity to either build on their
ideas, or contrast with their ideas. In
group meetings and negotiations, these summaries help define positions and
issues.
This step
also aids in comprehension and learning.
If you are able to summarize the speaker’s ideas, you are more likely to
understand them and remember them later.
This is important if you are listening to your boss giving you
instruction or to a lecture.
Include Content and Feelings – The paraphrase should reflect both
the substance and the emotion. If the
speaker was upset, recognition of that fact is also perceived as listening.
Maintain Speaker’s Intent - It’s about the other person. When you restate the speaker’s position, use
their words, don’t add ideas, and don’t subtract ideas. (Part of this is
respect, and part is self defense. If
you get the summary wrong, you may have to listen to all those arguments again.)
Maintain Civil Discourse – If the speaker is getting
inflammatory, your summary should acknowledge the emotion, but maintain focus
on the ideas. Similarly, you should
avoid the temptation for sarcasm, or to twist the speakers words to create a
straw man.
Examples: (Which response is a Response to Check Comprehension?)
Latisha’s response: “You
are upset because you believe the proposed 20% cut in operating budget will
affect profitability.”
Homer’s response: “There’s probably some fat in the budget that
we can cut.”
Latisha’s response: “You see a trend away from internal
combustion engines and toward fuel cells, and strongly believe that more
research should be directed to fuel cells.”
Homer’s response: “Let
me get this right – You think that a solid established technology like the IC
engine is going away because some left wing nuts think hydrogen is the answer
to the world’s problems?”
Learning Objectives
1. Be able to define the terms listed
in New Concepts
2. Demonstrate behaviors that are
perceived as listening including
a.
Attending
b.
Following
c.
Responding to Check Comprehension
In-Class Exercise
Exercise 1 (beginning of class)
·
List
3 behaviors that you find annoying when you are trying to talk with
someone. (For example my brother would
bounce a basketball when Dad was trying to explain something to him. It drove
Dad crazy.)
·
List
2 behaviors that you think indicate good listening.
·
Each
person reads their 5 behaviors.
·
The
listeners try to exhibit what they believe to be good listening behaviors.
Exercise 2 (after discussion of the topic Following)
As part of a small group, consider
the example and list of questions.
Identify each question as a good or poor example of a clarifying
question.
Example:
Your coworker is describing a situation in the laboratory. He says
“I was updating some records at the desk when the engine just
stopped. I heard a screeching noise and
a loud bang, and looked up. The control
console was lit up with red lights and the engine had stopped.
Questions
_
Was
the screech before or after the bang?
_
Why
weren’t you at the console?
_
How
many hours were on the engine?
_
Don’t
you think that the bang is more likely a thrown rod than a bearing?
_
What
makes you think it was the bearing?
_
Did
you see any red lights on before the failure?
Exercise 3 (end of lecture)
This is Listening practice with
feedback.
·
Corporal
punishment (spanking) as discipline for children. or
·
The
best team or athlete in the sport of the Talker’s choice
Listener Feedback Form (short
version)
Listener _______________________ Talker__________________
|
Novice (less successful) |
Beginner (1-2) |
Good Start (3-4) |
Getting There (5-6) |
Almost There (7-8) |
Expert (9-10) |
Expert (more successful) |
|
Does
other stuff while listening |
|
|
|
|
|
Puts away
distractions |
|
Facing
away, “closed” body language |
|
|
|
|
|
Facing, open
body language |
|
No eye
contact or stared |
|
|
|
|
|
Eye
contact w/ soft focus |
|
Talk
instead of listen or withdrew, changed subject |
|
|
|
|
|
Encouraging
words, or attentive silence |
|
Skipped
paraphrase |
|
|
|
|
|
Paraphrase summarize
w/ content and feelings |
|
Paraphrase
was mostly listener “spin” |
|
|
|
|
|
Summary
is true and complete view of speaker’s ideas |
Listener Feedback Form (long
version)
Listener _______________________
1.
At
the outset of this unit, place a “B” in each category to indicate your self
assessment of your initial, or baseline skill level.
2.
At
the end of the unit place an “A” in each category to indicate your self
assessment of your skill level after practicing the skill. Be prepared to provide documentation for your
assessment.
|
Novice (less successful) |
Beginner (shows few expert behaviors) (1-2) |
Good Start (some expert behavior) (3-4) |
Getting There (many expert behaviors) (5-6) |
Almost There (mostly expert behavior) (7-8) |
Expert (shows all expert behavior) (9-10) |
Expert (more successful) |
|
Does other
stuff while listening |
|
|
|
|
|
Puts away
distractions |
|
Facing
away, “closed” body language |
|
|
|
|
|
Facing,
body open and inclined |
|
No eye
contact or stared |
|
|
|
|
|
Eye
contact w/ soft focus |
|
Withdrew,
changed subject |
|
|
|
|
|
Encouraging
words, phrases |
|
Skip
questions or interrogate |
|
|
|
|
|
Infrequent
clarifying questions |
|
Talk
instead of listen |
|
|
|
|
|
Attentive
silence, nods, smiles |
|
Skipped
paraphrase |
|
|
|
|
|
Paraphrase/summarize
w/ content and feelings |
|
Paraphrase
was mostly listener “spin” |
|
|
|
|
|
Summary is
true and complete view of speaker’s ideas |
|
Paraphrase
inflamed situation |
|
|
|
|
|
Paraphrase
maintained civil discourse |
Reflection of the Listener
What did I
learn from this?
Which of
the skills do I do pretty well? (List
Evidence)
Which skills could use some work?
(List Evidence)