Effective Listening Skills

When we are communicating verbally with a client we have to remain polite, calm and focused, this is so messages don’t get misinterpreted and the progress of the conversation will be successful.

To communicate effectivley all of this must be taken into account. If communication needs are not taken into account, problems will begin to arise such as distress to the client, anger/frustrating leading to possible violence and the client not recieving adequate care.

During the session I communicated to the client by saying things such as ''mmm'' and ''yes I hear you''. Minimal encourager's were used to demonstrate that I was listening to the client, without disturbing her flow too much. I nodded my head on a couple of occasions which again showed the client that she still had my attention. There was a brief moment of silence which I managed by acknowledging that the silence provided a space for the client to think about what she had just said. At this point my attention was on the client and I felt I gave her respect by not interrupting her thinking time as I waited for her to begin talking again.

To enable the client understands what you say you should keep to conversation short and simple, ask the client to repeat or rephrase the information you have just given, look at the client and see if they are listening as sometimes when communication a confused person may not be able to understand and start to ignore the information so it is important to keep eye contact with the

*Attending behavior these are the listening skills as well as out attending skills. This would include eye contact verbal and nonverbal behaviors. Giving all the attention to the client in this stage,

This improved communication skill, from my perspective, is an essential and necessary benchmark for the establishment of an effective client/practitioner relationship. O’Keefe (2008) urges us to listen to the narrative, there’s a story to be heard, if only we adjust our philosophical positioning.

Accurate empathy - accurately sensing the client's world and communicating that understanding. Genuineness - self-awareness, honesty and openness; being real (not phony). Unconditional positive regard - accepting and valuing the client as a unique and worthwhile person, being nonjudgmental. Active listening - listening carefully and empathically to the client's story with undistracted attentiveness to 1) gain an understanding of the client's problem, 2) learn how the client thinks, feels and acts, 3) discover the client's strengths, assets and personal power, and 4) build rapport with the client. This includes maintaining comfortable eye contact and open body posture. Reflecting - mirroring the client's thoughts and feelings to demonstrate active listening and encourage the client to continue speaking. This includes: Restating - repeating verbatim the main thought or feeling expressed by the client. Paraphrasing - stating, in your own words, the main thought or feeling expressed by the client. This 1) lets the client know you are working to understand what they are communicating, 2) brings focus to the client's communication, 3) allows the client to correct any misperceptions or misunderstandings, and 4) encourages client self-exploration. Summarizing - summarizing, in your words, a set of thoughts or feelings expressed by the client. Open-ended questioning - Asking questions that require more than a minimal or one-word response by the client. They usually begin

A good way to let a client know you are listening is by the use of minimal responses including expressions and non verbal responses that occur in our everyday conversations (Geldard & Geldard, 2001). For example at the beginning of the session my client said “..., Sometimes I feel I choose my job or something else in my life over my uni...” I replied by nodding and made use of the expression “Mm-hmm”. I demonstrated this skill to allow the client to speak without interruptions and to verbally express my interest in her issue.

Chris Cotter says that active listening is a complicated skill to learn because it requires an individual to be mentally engaged to the speaker’s tone of voice, and body language (Cotter). In other words, students need to be aware of both verbal and non-verbal messages. Louise Rehling says an effective means to start actively listening to focus on a what a group member is communicating, instead of thinking of a response at the same time. When a disagreement occurs in the group, members are expected to watch for body language and other cues to fully understand their group member thought process, instead of deeming them unhelpful for the group (482). When individuals feel that their voice is being heard then a trust among group members is strengthened and the quality of assignment is improved, thus listening skills is an important skill taught in group work. In the present day, a majority of companies want to create a relationship with their consumer. Employees that are able to actively listen to clients are better adept to understand the client and change the way they are communicating with the client.

In one stage of communication, the quality of conversation can be improved when the workers are engaged in active listening. For instance, note taking during meetings which challenge both individual listening and writing skills, encourages co-workers to improve their sort-term memory to be more active later that day (Hybels & Weaver 2008,). It helps listeners to verify their understanding, and it gives the other person an opportunity to elaborate on main point of the information. Active and effective listening behaviours have a huge impact on the growth of business in the work place, because it shows the interaction between co-workers and how they deal with problems in their environment (Eunson 2012). Active and effective listening demonstrates the ability of workers to hear and feel what the other people want so say without judgment. Thus, active and effective listening skills have positively impact on the workplace.

Listening Skills Listening is the ability to accurately receive and interpret messages in the communication process. It is also key in all effective communication, without the ability to listen effectively, messages are easily misunderstood. The importance of listening skills to top employers, the provide training for employees. This is not surprising when you consider that good listening skills can lead to better customer satisfaction, greater productivity with fewer mistakes, increased sharing of information that in turn can lead to more creative and innovative work. Many successful leaders and entrepreneurs credit their success to effective learning skills. Richard Branson frequently quotes listening as one of the main factors behind success

The ability to listen well is an important tool for understanding others. Sadly, very few people know how to listen well. In fact, most people can think of only one or two good listeners in their lives. Listening is not simply agreeing - it is much more. Good listeners are able to better understand and respond to others, complete assignments accurately, settle disagreements before they escalate, and establish rapport with difficult people.

People tend to process incoming information quicker than its output by the speaker causing them to quickly jump to conclusions, evaluate, or predict what will be said next. "Most individuals speak at the rate of 175 to 200 words per minute. However, research suggests that we are very capable of listening and processing words at the rate of 6000 to 1,000 words per minute....This unused brain power can be a barrier to effective listening, causing the auditor to miss or misinterpret what others are saying."(Lewis 2003). Listeners are often side tracked when listening, whether it be internal or external distractions. People have a habit of only listening to what they want to hear instead of what is actually being said.

Active listening is an attentive and interactive form of listening. One of the primary objectives of active listening is establishing and achieving empathy among all parties engaged in communication together. The words a person uses during communication are important, yet active listening includes listening to a person's words as well as interpreting and intuiting what a person feels and thinks. Active listening is a highly engaging activity. Active listening requires the person doing the listening to have a very keen awareness of all aspects of the communication. Active listening then is a sensory activity that challenges the listener to see, hear, sense, perceive, understand, feel, empathize, and reciprocate.

Listening is more than just hearing. The process of listening involves receiving and constructing meaning, and responding to verbal and/or nonverbal messages. In other words, listening is not always easy and being a good listener is all about developing listening skills. To receive messages appropriately we have to listen actively. Active listening can be broken down into three important skills; first of all you have to reflect the feelings that the person is communicating, secondly reflect the content that they are communicating and finally ask good, meaningful questions.