...Listening: An Essential Part of Communication Skills I. Introduction: Communication comes from the Latin word communis, meaning commonness. It is a process wherein knowledge, ideas, information, attitudes, and feelings are transmitted (Padilla et al, 2003 p. 3). Communication is a two-way process by which information is changed between or among individuals through a common system of symbols, sign and behaviour (Martinez, p1). It is an essential function of civilization. Basically it consists of writing, reading, speaking and listening. Listening is a skill that has to be practiced and learned. Among the four skills of communication, listening is the most ignored, yet it takes up the greatest amount of time in the study of these four skills (Igoy, 2004 p 85). Listening like any other skill, has to be practiced because we listen everyday and we think we know how to do it. Yet, like any other skill, we can learn to do it better and continue to improve our listening skills throughout our lives (Diaz, 2005, p. 28). At the end of the communication line is an indispensable element – the listener, the active participation of whom either makes or unmakes communication. How good at listening this element is, spells a big difference in the communication process. At this point, it part, comes though a constant awareness and study of how listeners respond. This is especially so if we consider the axiom that meaning is altogether in the mind of the listener. II. 1. What is the...
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...Verbal and Nonverbal Communication and Listening Skills People use different forms of communication. Communication can be both verbal and nonverbal and both are equally important when a person is communicating. Verbal communication is communication that can be had over the phone, face to face, via fax or via email. Nonverbal communication is communication that is conveyed through body language, eye contact, the tone of a person’s voice or the distance in which the persons communicating are to each other. Nonverbal communication expresses thoughts and feelings without words and is meant to help with the message you are trying to get across with your words. I tend to communicate nonverbally with my facial expressions. My facial expression usually give away my true feelings on the matter I am discussing. Knowledge of Nonverbal Communication Knowledge of nonverbal communication can help when communicating with others because it can help you bring your point across if you use it correctly. If you want to relay a serious message you will have to keep your tone serious, if you are relaying a serious message with a joking tone and laughing then the person you are talking to will not know if they are to take you serious or not. The same can be said for the opposite. If you are communicating with someone about something that is light and jolly but you have a mean tone the person will not know how they are to receive the message. Making sure that your tone and words match is important...
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...II..3.Teacher collegiality has been used rhetorically to support a wide range of sometimes contradictory initiatives, from teacher development to school effectiveness, from a panacea for an aging teaching force to a well spring of innovation. There is also considerable scepticism about the ways in which collegiality can be used on co-opt teachers or control their work. Hargreaves (1994) has written extensively about a culture he describes as "contrived collegiality". His notion that contrived collegiality exists as a state in opposition to a culture of collaboration is thought provoking. However, this paper argues that it is not as simple as that in reality. Intensive case study research suggests that it is possible to have components of both these states working side by side in one school. The case study that underpins the paper finds that the definitions of collegial cultures are too narrow to adequately describe the practicalities of collegial staff relationships. The data reveal that in a regular, middle-sized primary school, characteristics of both contrived collegiality and collaborative culture coexist. Much of the collaborative work is spontaneous and voluntary, development oriented, and pervades both time and space. However, there are other parts of collaborative work which are more regulated or contrived by principals. There is an element of collaboration built into the work of all teachers. The school’s leaders are comfortable with the knowledge that all teachers do...
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...Improving my listening skills at work would increase the effectiveness of my communication because the person or people that are talking to me or trying to explain something to me will know that I am being attentive they will know that they can trust that I am hearing what they are saying, understanding what they are saying, and most importantly hear what they are saying. I know that if my managers know that I am actively listening it could definitely have positive outcomes on where I want to be in my career. The main strategy of effective listening that I think I need to personally work on would be “Mindful” (Wood p 160). In my work situation being mindful would be me learning to in our group meeting situations to let people speak all the way through even if they are totally off topic, not to try and dominate the talk stage. At work I would also want to work on my “active listening skills” (wood p160) which I know is hard work but it will force me to ask questions and let the other person know I am interested in what they are saying and I am actually taking it in. It would also force me to ask questions because I know myself personally, if I am not actively listen my mind wanders on to other things and I won’t ask questions and I won’t retain a word that was said. These same techniques can help me in my personal life as well because a lot of times my husband will have important information that he needs to discuss with me, and to be honest with you I would really only use my...
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...EFFECTIVE LISTENING IN THE WORKPLACE Jeff Bernier Abstract “Listening is perhaps the most critical element in language and language learning, for it is the key to speaking, and beyond that, reading and writing. At all levels --- from entry level to managerial --- listening is perceived as crucial for communication. Yet listening remains one of the least understood processes in language learning” (Allene Grognet and Carol Van Duzer, 2002, p. 1). The ability to listen to employees and colleagues is an essential skill for developing a productive environment. By improving listening skills, supervisors and employees can create a “listening environment” within their own organization. This study examines the relationship between University of Southern Maine (USM) personal that feel they have effective listening skills and USM personal that had training in effective listening skills. The subjects were 182 USM employees surveyed to determine effective listening in the workplace. Each USM employee surveyed identified themselves as either an “employee” or “supervisor”, the number of years employed and answered either “yes” or “no” to ten various questions on effective listening in the workplace. Results showed strong, positive relationships among the two dependent variables in effective listening in the workplace. Hypothesis USM employees who feel they have effective listening skills as determined by the survey conducted at USM have a positive relationship with USM employees...
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...ensure that the skills utilized are based on best practice methods. With the changing roles of social work within the addiction field, the skills needed by professionals transformed as well. However, the universal communication skills employed by the generalist practitioner are beneficial for implementing in the field of addiction. Communication is relevant skill regardless of methods employed by professional helpers. Listening is the key component of relating with others whether this is on a personal level or a professional one. Social workers begin a working relationship with the client system through the engagement process. The mode of creating this is through the listening process. Attending to the client verbal and nonverbal cues enables the addiction clinician to assess the clients’ perception of their problem and where they are in the change process. Even though the techniques applied in addiction counseling are altering; listening skills will still the...
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...EFFECTIVE LISTENING AND PRESENTING: ESSENTIAL SKILLS FOR A MANAGER TABLE OF CONTENTS 1 Introduction 1 2 Listening 2 2.1 Listening as a Communication Skill 2 2.2 Why are Managers Inherently Poor Listeners? 2 2.3 Key Factors to Effective Listening 3 3 Presenting 7 3.1 Presentation as a Communication Skill 7 3.2 Why are Effective Presentation Skills Important? 8 3.3 Key Factors to Effective Presenting 9 4 Action Plan for the Next Three Months 13 5 Conclusion 15 6 List of References 16 INTRODUCTION Communication is at the heart of everything done by a manager. Thus, effective communication is considered as a major challenge and a responsibility. A majority of a manager’s day is spent on communicating with the subordinates. As stated by Daft, Kendrick, and Vershinina (2010), “Managers spend at least 80% of every working day in direct communication with others. In other words, 48 minutes of every hour is spent in meetings, on the telephone, communicating online or talking informally while working around. The other 20% of a typical manager's time is spent doing desk work”. The need for effective communication has been further increased due to the turbulent nature of the today’s business environment. Therefore, having effective communication skills is arguably one of the vital attributes that a manger has to possess, throughout planning, organizing, leading, directing and controlling processes. Basically, the manager should act...
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...Listening and Effective Workplace Communication James Humes, a former presidential speech writer, stated that, "the art of communication is the language of leadership" (Leading Thoughts, 2010). Communication is an essential process that is common in the workplace. Everyone in the workplace especially leaders must communicate with others. Ideas, conversations, disagreements, and commitments can all be exchanged through communication. Anyone can communicate but it takes discipline and skills to effectively communicate. These skills can include feedback, presentation, non-verbal communication, and listening. Listening is the most valuable skills to effective workplace communication because it enhances job effectiveness, relationships and responses. Most people equate hearing with listening and they do not take time to improve their listening skills. To be an effective communicator a person must understand the differences between hearing and listening. Listening is an active process that requires more effort than it takes to hear. “Listening is the conscious desire to determine the meaning of what is heard” (Behera, 2010). Hearing a message rather than listening could cause a person to agree to something that they did not intend to. An active listener participates in the communication process by being focused on the message that is being communicated. The in-depth process of listening will result in a verbal or non-verbal response to let the communicator know that...
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...This paper is to describe an organizational situation that I observed that demonstrated poor communication and had a neglect effect. Will also describe the organizational situation in detail. Including answers to the following questions. Factors that affect the interpersonal communication in this situation. Listening habits that negatively affects the business relationship or the bottom-line results. An explanation of the empathetic listening skills in this situation. The affect of listening habits that affected the business relationship. Empathetic listening advantages that may lend an improvement of the interpersonal communication in this situation. Propose a strategy that will deal with the situation using empathetic listening techniques. The organizational situation in detail. This situation happened in my workplace while working in a hospital as a home-health aide (HHA). The name of this hospital is the Halifax Medical Center that is in Florida. This situation happen with a supervisor for an appointed work team who showed very poor interpersonal communication with the team and did not communicate well any members of the team. He seems to complain about a little bit of everything that was always negative. Many times he would remove members of the team constantly and they would be put to do work elsewhere. The team-members work would be left undone until whatever work he wanted them to do was complete. Members of the team was not allowed to leave the floor until the assignment...
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...This paper offers the non-subject specialist an overview of the literature which has influenced the development of listening and interpersonal skills in UK higher education. It refers to articles, seminal texts and writers within the field. In order to provide some context, the first section of the review covers some issues relating to the definition of listening and interpersonal skills and some examples are presented to demonstrate their interdependence. The importance of these skills within occupational and educational domains is also highlighted. The review then goes on to place listening and interpersonal skills in context by exploring historical perspectives, factors influencing current developments and providing an indication of issues which may affect future development. The paper introduces different approaches to listening and interpersonal skills within some key disciplines and considers the extent to which the teaching and learning of listening and interpersonal skills has been integrated within these discipline. In conclusion we consider emerging themes relating to advances in technology and widening participation, including the cross cultural agenda. A glance at the definitions section below will reveal the substantial overlap that exists between this topic and some of the other LearnHigher learning areas, most notably those relating to oral communications and group work. Although we acknowledge this overlap at various points during the review, readers interested in...
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...Analyzing Communication Skills BUS 600 Management Communications with Technology Tools Dr. Stephanie Heald-Fisher September 17, 2011 “To effectively communicate, we must realize that we are all different in the way we perceive the world and use this understanding as a guide to our communication with others” – Anthony Robbins The online communication skills quiz I selected was found at mindtools.com. The results of the quiz that I took was 61%, and the summary part of that quiz indicates that, those with this score have excellent communication skills, understands their role as a communicator, both when sending messages, and when receiving them. People in this category anticipate problems, and choose the right ways of communicating. They are respected for their ability to communicate clearly, and are appreciated for their listening skills (Mindtools, 2001). The Mindtools.com communication skills quiz indicated that I need to work on my listening skills. The quiz question I scored lower was on, “When someone's talking to me, I think about what I'm going to say next to make sure I get my point across correctly.” I often think of what I will say next instead of really listening to what the other person is saying. In many ways, not to truly listen is being disrespectful. If we listen to each other, we will discover we agree on many issues. “By taking responsibility for successful communication through active and reflective listening, you can become more successful at those activities...
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...My Experiences of Learning Communication Skills A well known proverb goes “Experience is The Best Teacher.” You might be wondering how this proverb holds true for the given topic. Well, communication skills are all about learning from various experiences of life. Communication Skills can be defined as skills that facilitate communication. Communication is synonymous to life, hence learning Communication Skills is inevitable. One starts learning Communication Skills since he starts living. Even to breathe a new born baby starts crying. Basically, these skills are known to every human being. It is just that we realize them. For example you don’t teach a baby how to cry. What we learn are some tactics or ways that will improve our communication skills. Communication Skills includes basically four skills, i.e. Reading, Listening, Writing and Speaking. Listening is one of the most important skills in communication. But sometimes poor listening and premature evaluation hampers the communication process. Poor listening means non-attentive, non-evaluative and non-empathic listening. In business, communication is hampered when the receiver evaluates the message before getting the complete information. This happens particularly when one receives new ideas. Human mind resist change hence inattentive listening is done. The best example of poor listening is in the Parliament where a minister is presenting some new idea for the welfare of the country. The other members are not empathic...
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...Name: Arbesa Ferizi Class: Communication in Business Professor: Linda Ziberi Section: Date: 09.28.2015 Section 1 - My Observation of Someone's Listening Skills This week I had a chance to work for a business company here in Prishtina , and I also had the chance to watch two people in this company having a business conversation. One of them was the owner of this company, and the other one was a new employer that started working in this company a week ago. Having in mind that I have to see two people communicate in order to do this assignment, I was even more interested to watch them and analyze every...
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...learning about effective listening, I have realized that listening is a vital aspect of communication and everyday life. Both listening and communicating allows us to share of knowledge and form relationships between. Listening allows individuals to understand the feelings, ideas, and opinions of others. After taking this course, I have discovered that listening plays an important role not only in our personal lives but also our professional lives. In the workplace, listening is used at least three times as much as speaking, and four to five times as much as reading and writing (Rastogi, 2010). I am currently majoring in communication and I believe that the listening skills that I have learned from this course, can benefit me in any...
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...Section 1: Interpersonal Skills for Leaders Studies show that many leaders’ failures are attributable to interpersonal skills such as building relationships, leading teams, developing a positive work environment, effective communication and inspiring trust (Eblin, 2011). These skills become even more important when the basic element of the business is the person. It is evident that leaders must master these skill sets to be successful as a leader in their industry. RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT: Interpersonal Competencies Must Haves As a part of the four key factors in emotional intelligence, relationship management involves the “soft” or personal side of management that has a direct impact on the aspects of the business (Durbin, 2010). “Interpersonal skills are goal-directed behaviors used in face-to-face interactions, which are effective in bringing about a desired state of affairs” (Hayes, 1991, p14). Following is a closer look at three critical interpersonal competencies that a successful leader must have. Communication Skills Listening – Nichols and Stephens (1957) estimate that 45 percent of all communication is spent listening while far less is spent speaking. Communication is essential to the success leaders and the most influential portion is listening but listening is more than just hearing. Listening is the active engagement of communication to search for complete understand of the meaning of another’s message (Hayes, 1991). To be a superior listener one must...
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