Effective Listening Essay

Abstract

Active listening includes a variety of behaviors which communicate to the other that they are heard and understood, that the feelings which underlie the words are appreciated and accepted, and that regardless of what the individual says, thinks or feels, they are accepted as a person by the listener. Active listening demands that the receiver of the message put aside the belief that listening is easy and that it happens naturally and realize that effective listening is hard work. Good listening encourages the speaker, promotes trust and respect, improves relationships, and makes resolution of problems more likely. Good listeners are prepared to listen, show interest, keep an open mind, listen critically, resist distractions, …show more content…
First, you have to listen very carefully if you are going to accurately paraphrase what you heard. Second, the paraphrasing response will clarify for the sender that his or her message was correctly received..."(Lewis 2003). Ask questions to clarify points or to obtain additional information. Open-ended questions are the best because the require the speaker to convey more information. It is also important to reflect the implied. "Reflecting is a technique in which the receiver restates key information the sender has sent for the purpose of gaining clarity. This enhances the receiver's understanding of the message and provides the sender with the opportunity to reflect on the received interpretation and modify the message to be consistent with the sender's intent"(Johnson 2004). Reflecting the implied requires the receiver to verbalize what they understand as the underlying message being sent. Reflecting implications tend to build on or extend the ideas of what the speaker is saying. Many positive outcomes result from effective listening. If effective listening is achieved, the speaker will still feel in control of the conversation opposed to the listener making clever comments, ideas, or suggestions that the speaker had not thought of. Effective listening helps the listener avoid early evaluations. People tend to make immediate judgements or early assumptions about what the speaker is saying. "Because a

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