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Effective Listening Skills

We were given two ears but only one mouth. This is because listening is twice as hard as talking! People need to practice and acquire skills to be good listeners, because a speaker cannot throw you information in the same manner that a dart player tosses a dart at a passive dartboard. Information is an intangible substance that must be sent by the speaker and received by an active listener. Needless to say listening is the most used of all communication skills. It brings about changes in people’s attitudes. Ineffective listening can cause serious problems in any situation—be it religious, marital, educational or business.

Objective

Upon completion of this workshop, participants will be able to:

• better understand assignments and what is expected of you;
• build rapport with co-workers, bosses, and clients;
• show support;
• work better in a team-based environment;
• resolve problems with customers, co-workers, and bosses;
• answer questions; and find underlying meanings in what others say.

Outline

Why Listen?

• Process and parts of effective communication (The listening process).
• The 3 V’s in communication—verbal, vocal and visual (silent messages).
• Aristotle’s persuasive messages in "3 Greeks".
• Listening levels—attentive, empathic, ignoring, pretending and selective.

Listening Challenges

• Barriers and breakdowns in listening. (For example bias or prejudice; language differences or accents; noise; worry, fear, or anger; and lack of attention span).
• Listening to conflict—honest disagreement should be voiced, heard and discussed.

Listening Skills and Techniques

• Body language (maintain eye contact; don't interrupt the speaker; sit still; nod your head; lean toward the speaker; repeat instructions and ask appropriate questions when the speaker has finished).
• Applying six listening levels-- Asking for interests / needs behind the conflict, goal-oriented, questions about a change of perspective / systemic questions, resource-oriented questions, aggravating questions / reverse psychology and change to the meta-level.
• Encoding and decoding content using "I-Messages".

Role-Play Activities

• Activities on non-verbal behaviours and cultural differences.
• Silent messages.

Who should attend

All employees within an organization

Methodology

Teaching Methodologies

• Lecturing
• Group Discussion
• Self-Analysis
• Class Brainstorming
• Learning from a Partner
• Interactive Exercises
• Role Plays

Instructional Strategies

• Experiential Learning
• Reflective Teaching
• Functional Context

Profile of Caroline Josephine Dawson

Caroline Josephine Dawson has more than 20 years of invaluable experience as an Editor of lifestyle and technical publications and 17 years teaching business management, environmental and soft-skills communication.

As a former journalist, Caroline’s professional work experience as a Corporate Trainer/Facilitator, Keynote Speaker and Learning & Development Consultant; has required her to market the value of her programs and persuade clients to value and understand the urgency of good communication and management skills in the work force. As an ACTA certified WSQ trainer, She has also worked with the Workforce Development Agency of Singapore to develop training content for the Employability Skills System where she successfully attained industry approved competencies in conducting, planning and designing competency based assessments for communication workshops.

Her many opportunities in working with the public and private sectors around the world has enhanced her training experience. Participants of her training workshops attest to her motivational, instructional and highly experiential training methodology that have helped them in their workplace business management. Caroline has trained operational, supervisory and managerial staff from various organisations.

She holds a Master of Arts in Mass Communication from NTU (Singapore) and has attained the Diploma in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) certification through the London Teacher Training College and also teaches English as a foreign language. Caroline is also an MBTI®, DISC Accredited Administrator, Enneagram and Lumina Spark/Emotion practitioner and she has administered the tools to top level managers and supervisors on managing their leadership styles and team members. Caroline is now pursuing her Doctorate in Business Administration from the University of Teesside (UK).