Listening Skills and Barriers to Listening

Listening Skills

1. EFFECTIVE LISTENING SKILLS
Presented by
AMETH MORENO
RIVERA

2. INTRODUCTION
•Emphasis on the importance of listening
in the workplace
•Cannot manage effectively without good
listening skills
•Cannot build teams or consensus

3. WHAT IS EFFECTIVE
LISTENING?
“Effective communication exists between
two people when the receiver interprets and
understands the sender’s message in the
way the speaker intended it.”
Active Listening presumes:You are
important to me and I understand and
accept all as true:
What you think What you need
How you feel What you want

4. Benefits of Active
Listening
•Respect
•Trust
•Productivity
•Accuracy
•Enhances our Relationships
•Conflict Resolution
•Cultivates Positive Work Environment…

5. Benefits of Active
Listening
•Wins Friends
•Learning
•Confidence
•Innovative Solutions
•Reduces Negative Assumptions

6. Barriers to Effective Listening
Internal Barriers:
•Hearing what you want to hear
•Biased listening
•“Hot Buttons” or the Effects of Emotions
on Listening
•Physical Barriers
•Semantic Barriers
•Lack of Training

7. Barriers to Effective Listening
External Barriers
•Talker not speaking loudly enough
•Talker’s mannerisms, appearance
•Loud noises
•Room temperature (too hot / too cold)
•Interruptions, phone calls
•Fidgeting / Clock watching
•Time pressure, deadline

8. Importance of Listening to Non-Verbals
Much is communicated that isn’t verbalized –even
when an individual is not talking, he/she is still
communicating in some manner.
The skilled listener hears more than the
speaker’s voice:
• pitch, rate, subtle variations
• face color & how it changes; movement of
lips, mouth, cheeks, eyebrows
Become aware of expressions that convey tension,
doubt, trust, inattention, and so forth.

9. Methods to Improve Effective
Listening Skills
•Listen with understanding; non-judgmentally & non-
critically
•Refrain from solving the talker’s problems or doing the
person’s thinking for him or her. Don’t give advice.
•Time your responses and questions
•Maintain eye contact
•Face the person with an open, relaxed posture
•Acknowledge the speaker by nodding, leaning forward,
making facial expressions that match the talker’s
feelings

10. Small Group Exercise
Individual Assessments

11. Questions????