1. Active Listening Training
Welcome to Active Listening Training. During today’s class, you will learn the benefits of actively listening. You will also participate in role playing scenarios, which are designed to help you understand how and when interpersonal communication may go awry. Roleplay scenarios have been shown to be effective in teaching audiences the importance of listening. Jackson and Back (2011) mention that the use of role-play in small groups is an important method to help learners cultivate skills. “Companies that recognize the relationship between employee engagement and business success will seek ways to foster and facilitate workers’ emotional well-being,” writes G. Hynes in a journal article (Hynes, 2012).
The work environment is where most of us spend about half of our day during the week. It is important for businesses to not only challenge its employees, but also be sure to consider the employee’s wellbeing.
By Rachel Swick Mavity Walden University

2. Interpersonal Communication
Interpersonal communication is key when it comes to business. While most humans learn to talk as small children, communicating well takes years to learn. And, you never finish learning!
This training will teach:
Basics of Interpersonal Communication
Active Listening & Its Benefits
How to Utilize Active Listening in the Organization
In the video, a manager is debating how to talk to two of his employees. He was not aware of the conflict before receiving the complaint and report from another coworker. He isn’t sure how to broach the topic with the employees or what to say to show he cares, without making the situation worse.
This is a common problem in business. Incidents happen between two team members. They may have been caused by a misunderstanding. But, then a manager is called in to deal with the situation. It takes confidence, empathy, critical thinking, and most importantly, active listening. In this training you will learn about interpersonal communication, active listening and its benefits, and how to utilize active listening in your organization.

3. Why Do You Need to Learn to Listen?
Have you ever be in the middle of a conversation with a coworker or manager and realized he isn’t listening to you? How does that make you feel? Wouldn’t you want him to learn how to listen? Have there been times you messed up a project or task because you didn’t fully listen to the directions? How did that make you feel? Wouldn’t it benefit you to learn to listen more effectively?
We have all been in situations where we didn’t feel heard, or where we knew the other person wasn’t listening. In turn, we have also likely been in situations where we were the ones not listening. How do we improve our listening skills and thus improve our business relationships?
Couldn’t we all benefit from listening training?
In research done by Weger, Castle, Emmett, and Minei, they focus on the skill of active listening. Their study examined 115 participants as they engaged in interactions with 12 people who were trained to respond with “active listening messages, advice, or minimum verbal responses, while maintaining moderately high nonverbal immediacy.” By creating this study and interaction, the researchers found that active listening messages created a higher level of perceived understanding than other modes of interaction. It also created a higher level of communication satisfaction.

4. Basics of Interpersonal Communication
Each relationship has its own identity and its own method of communication.
You would speak to your friends differently than you would to your boss.
“No one is born a competent communicator. Rather … communicating competently requires skills that we have to learn and practice.”
(Floyd, K. (2011). Interpersonal communication (2nd ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.)
When we are communicating outside of work, we may be more casual and carefree with our language. We may use slang or nicknames for our friends.
In the business atmosphere, however, these carefree references could be seen as disrespectful. We must use language to our advantage but also use it appropriately depending on the situation. Communicating takes practice!

5. What is Active Listening?
Just as communicating takes practice and skill, so does active listening. Hearing and listening are two different concepts. Effective listening includes: hearing, understanding, remembering, interpreting, evaluating, and responding. There are also different types of listening – informational listening, critical listening, and empathetic listening. “The ability to listen effectively is important to success in a variety of communicative concepts.” (Floyd, K. (2011). Interpersonal communication (2nd ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.)
Active listening is a skill that takes knowledge and practice. It also takes commitment. It is easy to zone out during a meeting and check your phone or look out the window. It can be difficult to stay engaged, especially if the current topic does not pertain to you or your job. Effective listening requires hearing, understanding, remembering, interpreting, evaluating, and responding. You need to hone these skills to perfect your listening skills. In addition to active listening, you must also determine what type of listener you are going to be. This often depends on the situation. Types of listening include informational listening, critical listening, and empathetic listening.

6. Benefits of Active Listening
Active Listening results in higher levels of communication satisfaction.
Active Listening can lead to better conversations.
Active Listening can lead to more efficient meetings, quicker decisions, and increased understanding.
The ability to listen effectively and counsel is listed as the most important skill by Human Resource Professionals (Floyd, K. (2011). Interpersonal communication (2nd ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.)
Learning to actively listening will only benefit you! Active listening results in higher levels of communication satisfaction. It leads to better and more fulfilling conversations. It can make for more efficient meetings, quicker decisions, and increased understanding of projects.
Listening is often the top skill that Human Resource Professionals look for in job candidates! Improve your skills and you will improve your life.
Weger, et al, write that active listening can create more satisfying interactions because the speaker and the listener have a higher perceived understanding which helps the speaker feel understood and valued. Being valued by a peer or team leader is of high importance in organizational communication. If a team member does not feel understood or valued, it can create discontent which can snowball into bigger problems.

7. Using Listening Skills
In the children’s book “Listen and Learn” by Cheri J. Meiners, M.Ed., the author focuses on teaching children the benefits of “careful listening.”
This careful listening is very similar to active listening.
It requires those listening to:
Sit or stand quietly
Look at the speaker
Wait their turn to speak
Carefully interpret the words and evaluate their meaning before speaking.
As a mother, I am often reading books like “Listen and Learn” by Cheri Meiners. These books teach valuable skills in language that children can understand. They also show cause and effect. For example, a young boy was chasing a butterfly instead of listening to his friend explain that the students would need to bring bathing suits to her party. He didn’t hear the information and showed up to the party without his swimming trunks. As an effect, he had to wear a spare pair that the girl’s family had. They were too large and had a funky pattern that caused the other children to laugh at him. If he had paid attention and actively listened, he could have avoided the embarrassment. In the book, the author calls this careful listening. It is very similar to active listening.
In this case, the book used as an example would work for American born people. It may not work for other cultures, so it could be swapped out for a more culturally sensitive book. There are many examples to be found online and on Amazon, which is where I found the artwork from this book, which I also own.

8. The Importance of Closed Mouths And Open Ears
Parents often tell children to listen. They teach children to wait their turn to talk. These are important skills for children, but so often in business meetings, I observe adults talking over each other, using their phones, and looking away from the speaker.
If we expect our children to behave and listen in school, why don’t we expect the same from adults in business?
Close your mouth and open your ears. This phrase can often be heard in schools and homes across America. Parents repeatedly tell children to listen. It is an important skill not only for children, but for adults as well. As we grow up and rise up the ranks in our jobs, we may forget that common courtesies still need to be paid. We may be adults, but that doesn’t mean that we are allowed behave like children.

9. Listening Takes Practice
While we all know how to listen, we often forget to actively or carefully listen.
In Meiner’s children’s book, she points out that listening starts with staying quiet. Give the speaker your full attention, lean in, nod, and stay quiet until it is your turn to speak.
Let’s do some role-playing to better understand the difference between being in the same room as the speaker and actively listening to the speaker.
While we all know how to listen, we may not know how to actively listen. In this image from “Listen and Learn,” the boy is demonstrating what it looks like to actively listen. He is sitting calmly, with his mouth closed and body quiet, so that he can hear.

10. Role Playing Game
Choose one student to play the role of Speaker. The Speaker is talking to a crowded meeting room.
The remaining students are instructed to listen to the speaker. Instruct one of the remaining students to be the Non- Listener. He or she is instructed to count crayons that are strewn across the table.
Role Playing Game. This game could work for most groups, regardless of diversity or culture. Crayons could be substituted for another common item.

11. Role Playing Scenario
As the Speaker is giving a pre-written talk, the Non-Listening Student must collect the crayons, count them, and place them back into the box. During the pre-written talk, the Speaker gives multiple directions. After the Speaker is finished, the Instructor tells the class to write down the instructions in order. The Listeners get them correct, while the Non-Listener may miss some of them. This shows how even doing something quietly can take you away from Active Listening. Even though the Non-Listener was just counting to himself, he still did not correctly gather the information presented.
In this scenario, the Non-Listener is given a task that takes his full attention away from listening. Often in business situations, the smallest distractions can cause us to miss important details. This can be especially true during conference calls, when it is easy to check or do other tasks while other members are speaking.

12. Testing Your Active Listening
Each student counts off by 10 (if there are 20 in the group). They are then paired up with a student they may not know. Each student must then tell the story of an embarrassing moment to his or her partner. Once everyone has finished the storytelling, the partners present in front of the class with the students telling their partner’s story. At the end, they compare notes on what parts were missed or incorrect in the retelling of the story. This tests your natural active listening without disruptions.
For this grouping, some cultures may not allow a man and woman to be paired together, so attention might need to be paid. It might be better in that case for the instructor to pair girls with girls and boys with boys. It may also result in more open storytelling.

13. Testing Active Listening While Distracted
The same pairs then are given a dialogue to read to each other. The dialogue contains detailed information about a process or procedure. As the students start, the instructor switches on a loud, funny movie. As the students are distracted by the loud movie, they are still trying to listen to their partner’s dialogue. At the end, each student is asked to answer 5 questions on a piece of paper. The questions are then graded by the partner and a score given. This shows how students are able to listen with distraction.
The same pairs then are given a dialogue to read to each other. The dialogue contains detailed information about a process or procedure.
As the students start, the instructor switches on a loud, funny movie. As the students are distracted by the loud movie, they are still trying to listen to their partner’s dialogue. At the end, each student is asked to answer 5 questions on a piece of paper. The questions are then graded by the partner and a score given. This shows how students are able to listen with distraction.

14. Active Listening & Cultural Sensitivity
Business today operate in a global marketplace. This means team members often will have to interact across cultures. To understand what this might mean, the instructor plays a pre-recorded conference call between a business director and a vendor. The vendor is based in London. The British speaker uses slang language and talks quickly.
At the end, ask the students what some of the words meant, such as:
Aggro
Cheeky
Parky
Barmy
Bespoke
Strop
Cultural differences require some amount of sensitivity. In this case, it is just understanding different and unfamiliar words, but in other cases it could be a clash of traditions.
(Source:

15. Getting the Most Out of Active Listening
In the first role-playing game, students were asked to repeat a story they just heard. To improve listening skills upon hearing new information, you can create a method of listening and storing new information.
The HURIER model, created by Judi Brownell, describes six stages of listening. By practicing each stage you can improve your skills.
Hearing
Understanding
Remembering
Worksheets on the HURIER model could also be given to the students to take with them for a refresher as needed.
Interpreting
Evaluating
Responding
Source: Floyd, K. (2011). Interpersonal communication (2nd ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.

16. Types of Listening
In the second role-playing scenario, students were distracted by loud noise and laughing. By improving the type of listener you are, you can help drive out distractions and focus on your goal of active listening.
Types of Listening include:
Informational Listening
Critical Listening
Empathetic Listening
In organizations, there are often meetings that bring together individuals from multiple departments. In many cases the entire meeting is not relevant to all in attendance. It is important during these cases to really focus on active listening. Depending on the mood of the room, different types of listening could be utilized. Anyone could help by stepping in with quality skills if the meeting gets derailed by questions, emotion, or bad information.
Source: Floyd, K. (2011). Interpersonal communication (2nd ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.

17. Cultural Sensitivity
In the third scenario, students were asked to listen to a pre-recorded exchange which featured unfamiliar words spoken by a British vendor. If you were the business director dealing with unfamiliarity, how would you approach it? By utilizing the Uncertainty Reduction Theory and getting to know the British vendor, asking questions in a polite way, the relationship could be improved and it will improve both cultural sensitivity and active listening skills for both sides.
In my company, there are many conference calls with outside vendors. Often the connection is not great and it exacerbates the language barriers. It also makes it easier to not listen or understand what is being discussed.
Source: Floyd, K. (2011). Interpersonal communication (2nd ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.

18. Practice, Practice, Practice
Be Aware of Your Surroundings
Remember the HURIER Model
When you are at a meeting, make sure you are focusing on listening to the speaker.
Put your phone away.
Don’t let your neighbor distract you.
Lean forward, nod, and smile at the speaker to show you are engaged.
Hear
Understand
Remember
Interpret
Evaluate
Respond
Source: Floyd, K. (2011). Interpersonal communication (2nd ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.

19. Outside of Business, Listening is Still Crucial!
Places You Can Improve Communication Through Listening
Relationships
Talking to Parents
Communicating with Children
Teaching Listening to Children
Church
Grocery Store
Discussing a Bill
Scheduling With Siblings
Conflict With Neighbors
Performing on Boards or Committees
Debating An Issue
Understanding Someone from Another Culture
In addition to utilizing listening skills at work, there are numerous situations where active listening can improve relationships and communication outside of work. Having issues with your spouse? Try listening quietly instead of interrupting or jumping to conclusions. Try to work through the misunderstanding using empathetic listening skills instead of being critical.
Active listening could be the key to improving all areas of your life. With some dedication and practice, you will see that active listening opens the doors to better communication and understanding both in business and in your personal life!

20. References
Floyd, K. (2011). Interpersonal communication (2nd ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.
Jackson, V., and Back, A., (2011).  Teaching Communication Skills Using Role-Play: An Experience-Based Guide for Educators. Journal of Palliative Medicine. 14(6).  Play.pdf
Meiners, C. J., & Johnson, M. (2003). Listen and learn. Minneapolis, MN: Free Spirit Pub.
The Best of British. (n.d.). Retrieved February 22, 2016, from
Weger, H., Castle, G., Emmett, M., & Minei, E. (2008). Active Listening in Initial Interactions: Perceptions of Perceived Understanding, Social Attraction, and Conversational Satisfaction. Conference Papers -- National Communication Association, 1.