Active Listening for Positive Results

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The most basic of human needs is the need to understand and be understood.  The best way to understand people is to listen to them.
                                                                                          -  Ralph Nichols

Listening isn't a need we have; it's a gift we give.

Much of communication theory focuses on how to speak to others and how to convey your message. But, communication is really a two-way process. It is an activity, not a one-time event. The listener's role is as central to the communication process as the speaker's role. Real communication and connection occur when the speaker AND listener participate in the process.

Effective listening is a way of listening and responding to another person that improves mutual understanding.  It is a habit, as well as the foundation of effective communication.  Active Listening for Positive Results helps you to accurately process information by intentionally focusing on who you are listening to, whether in a group or one-on-one, in order to understand what the speaker is saying.

A successful participant will have an enhanced understanding of:
    1.    What affects listening;
    2.    What strategies will develop the skill of listening with the eyes, the ears and the mind; and
    3.    What it takes for a listener to be an active participant for the cycle of communication to be
           complete.

I. You as Listener
     Your self-awareness affects the way you listen
     Personal filters and triggers
     Perceiving and moderating your effect on others
     Suspending your own frame of reference

II. Going Beyond Active Listening
     Empathic listening: Suspending judgement
     Looking for feelings or intent beyond the words
     Affirming understanding: Paraphrasing
     Being an active participant

III. Creating a Listening Climate 
     Fully attending to the speaker
     Listening for the message
     Removing distractions: Putting emotions on hold
     Being involved: Giving feedback

is the Executive Director of ACSM Training Management Center (AsiaCom). Her field of expertise includes training and organization development.