Effective Listening Skills

Course Description

Effective listening involves awareness of yourself and your inner dialogue. It includes mental preparation, receiving, interpreting, and responding to verbal messages and nonverbal cues from others. This interactive course invites you to identify and overcome barriers to listening, strengthen your personal power in communicating with others, drastically improve your productivity and persuasiveness, teach others to listen to you, and develop effective responses in any situation.

Participant Outcomes

Upon successful completion of this course, you will be able to:

• Use effective listening techniques

• Identify common communication problems that may be holding you back

• Ask questions that give you the information you need

• Listen actively and empathetically to others

Course Content

1. Introduction

• The art of listening
• What is listening?

2. Barriers to Good Listening

• The causes of poor listening

3. How good a listener are you?

• Self assessment

4. Listening and Communication Styles

5. Traits of a Good Listener

• Creating opportunities
• Openness
• Questioning: techniques and strategies
• Effective use of silence
• Non verbal communication
• Active listening techniques
• 5 Strategies

6. Building Rapport

• Attention
• Matching
• Back-tracking

7. Inviting others to listen: Tools of effective speech

• Using your voice:

  Tone

  Speed

  Pitch

• Emphasis
• The Pause
• Personal power

  Confidence

  Saying “no” & saying “later”

  Accountability and responsibility

  Using focus

8. Listening to Synergize with Others