1. Small Group Communication Welcome Back!

2. Agenda Listening Skills Lecture UGLY –The Good, The Bad, The UGLY

3. Listening and Ethics How responsive a listener are you? –It is our ethical responsibility to listen Are you prepared to listen? –Listening is the fundamental process through which we initiate and maintain relationships How well do you use your listening time? –The percentage of information you retain when listening indicates how good of a listener you are How much of a role do you play in ensuring the integrity of a message? –Chain of command transmission or serial communication

4. Model of Communication

5. Message Chain

6. Listening vs. Hearing Hearing occurs automatically and requires no conscious effort A natural and passive process Listening is a deliberate process through which we seek to understand and retain aural stimuli Depends on a complex set of skills that must be acquired Who we are affects what we listen to If information is important to us, we work harder to retain it

7. Listening Levels

8. Listening Types The Good, The Bad, The UGLY The ineffective listener criticizes the speaker’s topic by calling it “uninteresting” Poor listeners attempt to justify bad behavior. Good listeners try to find some fact or idea that has value. Only after listening to the entire presentation would the good listener evaluate the presentation.

9. Listening Types The Good, The Bad, The UGLY The ineffective listener criticizes the speaker’s delivery Poor listeners feel justified not listening when they find fault Good listeners notice faults, but concentrate on the message.

10. Listening Types The Good, The Bad, The UGLY The ineffective listener interrupts to challenge or disagree with the speaker, or mentally builds arguments against the speaker’s ideas Poor listeners are easily provoked to disagree. Good listeners pay attention to the whole idea before they agree or disagree with the speaker.

11. Listening Types The Good, The Bad, The UGLY factsThe ineffective listener listens only for facts. themesGood listeners listen for themes, or meaningful principles being expressed. Not isolated facts.

12. Listening Types The Good, The Bad, The UGLY The ineffective listener takes detailed outlines while listening Poor listeners become so involved in taking notes, that they do not hear the message the speaker is conveying. Good listeners take down only key ideas, words, and phrases to ensure they hear and understand the message being conveyed.

13. Listening Types The Good, The Bad, The UGLY The ineffective listener creates distractions while the speaker is talking. Avoids listening to difficult material Reacts emotionally to some messages by tuning out the speaker Pretends to listen Tends to daydream during long presentations.

14. Listening Types The Good, The Bad, The UGLY The effective listener can demonstrate knowledge and understanding of relationships among components of the listening process across a variety of contexts, including the ability to receive, interpret, and respond to messages.

15. Listening Types The Good, The Bad, The UGLY The effective listener… Senses:Senses: Hears what is important Interprets:Interprets: Assigns meaning to what is seen, heard, and felt. Evaluates:Evaluates: Determines speaker credibility and message importance Responds:Responds: Reacts to speech usually through nonverbal cues Remember:Remember: Retain parts of speech in memory

16. Unethical Listeners Fraudulent – pseudolisteners (nodders) Monopolistic – always want to be listened to, but never want to listen Completers – fill in missed gaps with manufactured information Selective – zero in only on parts that interest them Avoiders – close their ears to information they’d rather not deal with Defensive – assume others are criticizing Attackers – wait for you to make a mistake

17. Feedback Feedback is essential to improving your listening skills Evaluative feedback Positive evaluative feedback Negative evaluative feedback Formative feedback Nonevaluative feedback Probing Understanding Supportive feedback “I” messages

18. Effects of Feedback The feedback given by the respondent in any encounter strongly influences the direction and outcome of the interaction Feedback usually increases the accuracy with which information is passed from person to person, as well as increases the time required to transmit information

19. The Role of Critical Thinking Critical thinking The careful thought process about what another person has just said to you The evaluation of the believability of the spoken message Be ready to challenge and raise questions about what you are listening to Examine the evidence on which a conclusion is based and establish if valid or contains weaknesses and inconsistencies Listen carefully in an effort to determine if what you are listening to makes sense and is worth retaining or acting upon

20. Technology’s Influence on Listening Advances in technology continue to add listening wrinkles Face to face – real-time, synchronous listening Telephone – option of not having to share the same space when engage in real-time conversations Voice mail – serial conversations with people in different locations and who don’t hear our words when we speak them; asynchronous listening Caller ID – allows us to decide who we want to listen to Call waiting – makes it possible for us to not miss a call from someone important to us

21. Increasing Your Ear Power Become aware of the importance and effects of listening Become aware of the importance and effects of feedback Realize that effective listening includes both nonjudgmental and critical responses

22. Focus Your Attention Distractions Emotions: Red-flag words Physical factors Other people Speech-thought differential Constantly focus your attention Attention checks Nonverbal behaviors that support listening Culture can interfere

23. Set Appropriate Goals Know what you are listening for To understand content To retain content To analyze content To evaluate content To develop empathetic relationships Adapt goals to each situation or experience

24. Listening to Understand Ideas Locate the central concepts in the speaker’s message Work to recall the concepts that are most important Seek to identify key words and phrases that will help you accurately summarize the concepts being discussed

25. Listening to Retain Information Focus your attention Learn how to make certain you have understood what you have heard Aids to retain information Repetition Paraphrase Visualization

26. Listening to Analyze and Evaluate Reserve judgment until the comprehension of the situation is complete Realize you have a choice; do not feel compelled to join the crowd Listen between the lines

27. Listening Empathetically and Actively Empathetic listening can be used to help individuals understand their own situations and problems Try to internalize the other person’s feelings and see life through his or her eyes Acknowledge the seriousness of people’s problems Draw them out so that they can discuss a problem Show them that you understand the problem Paraphrase their statements Genuine nonverbal cues Do not judge; reflect, consider, and restate your impression of the sender’s expressions

28. Listening to Culture’s Influence We need to be more aware of cultural differences in listening Dialogic listening – the awareness of what happens between people as they respond to each other, work toward shared understanding, and build a relationship “Culture” can include social, ethnic, organizational, racial, etc.

29. Reflective-Thinking Framework decision making A system of decision making that is designed to encourage critical thinking in the group process Reflective-Thinking is generally an agreed-upon structure consisting of six basic components: What is the problem-what is it not? What are the facts of the situation? What criteria must the solution meet? What are the possible solutions? Which is the best solution? How can the solution be implemented?

30. Reflective-Thinking Framework Reflective thinking is being used when… The resources of all group members are being used The group is using its time to its advantage The group is emphasizing fact-finding and inquiry Members are listening to each other and respecting each other Pressure to conform is being kept to a minimum Atmosphere is supportive, trusting, and cooperative

31. GROUP THINK –Groupthink – a dysfunction in which some group members try to preserve group harmony by suppressing the voicing of the dissenting opinion, or to complete the task quickly Groupthink impedes effective group functioning When all group members try to think alike, no one thinks very much It is an extreme method groups use to avoid conflict –Have you ever censored your own comments because you feared destroying the sense of community in your group? –Have you ever applied direct pressure to dissenting members in an effort to obtain consensus quickly?

32. The End