What Great Listeners Actually Do

Assertiveness is the ability to stand up for yourself, without stepping on anyone else's toes. It is the ability to express yourself in a manner that is clear, direct, specific, and considerate. It means confidently saying what you mean and meaning what you say. It is the happy medium between passive and aggressive. Passive people are often reluctant to express their interests. Aggressive people have no such problem, but they are inconsiderate towards others.

Effective communication is not just about speaking and listening. It is also about watching and feeling. Our body language and tone of voice actually communicate more strongly than the words we use. So, listening effectively involves tuning in closely to the other person’s body language and tone of voice as well as their words.

Bluckert, P. (2005). Critical factors in executive coaching- the coaching relationship. Industrial and Commercial Training, 37(7), 336-340. doi:10.1108/00197850510626785

Assertive— people develop positive relationships with others, as they will try to consider other viewpoints as well as presenting their own viewpoint in a clear way. This can lead to better self-image and reduced stress.

“As we explore persuasion, we can divide the persuasive communication into three parts: the communicator, the message, and the audience. First, we will deal with what characteristics of persuaders make people more likely to be persuaded. Next, we will think about characteristics of the message that lead people to change. Finally, we will explore what characteristics of the audience can lead them to be persuaded.” (Feenstra, 2011, p. 88) For your assignment this week, provide an in-depth analysis of the three parts of persuasion. Please reference the bullet points below to complete your assignment.

As Sole describes in her book, Making Connections: Understanding Interpersonal Communication, ” Listening involves hearing, but it is much more than just the physiological act of your ears perceiving a sound and transmitting the auditory sensation to your brain. Listening is a complex psychological process that can be defined as the process of physically hearing, interpreting that sound, and understanding the significance of it. (Sole,K. 2011)

Listen empathically – focus on the person and the emotions that underlie his or her

Talking and listening are essential life skills. The ability to talk in order to communicate and exchange ideas and information, to negotiate with others, to express feelings and emotions, allows human beings to function well in the world and to be full and active members of society. Communication, to be effective, requires the ability to listen, to understand and to make sense of what is heard. On the personal level, when we listen, we give attention to the other person in such a way as to allow them to feel heard, understood and therefore respected. In that way, listening is more than

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.

Listening is more complex, and it encourages one to analyze and think about an idea, rather than to simply accept it (or “hear” it). Hearing is a skill that is beneficial for every aspect of life. As long as we have our ability to hear, we will always perceive different sounds, music, and voices. Listening, however, is beneficial to us in specific instances. It is important for us to attain good listening skills in education, the work force, and in our relationships with others in order to succeed. Good listening in education will bring about confident participation in class discussions; good listening in the workplace will lead to cooperation and good teamwork among colleagues; good listening in relationships is healthy and positive, for it is important to hear what an individual has to say in order to know how they feel.

Listening is an important form of communication. Unfortunately, many people who do not know how to listen believe they can listen well. They often say "I have been doing this all of my life of course I can listen". Listening is not inherited, or a personality trait, it is a skill that must be worked on and practiced.

Being assertive means asking for what you want and refusing to take NO for an answer. Practice expressing your feelings without anxiety or anger. Let people know what you want in a non-threatening way. Practice 'I ' statements. For example, instead of saying, "You shouldn 't do that," try substituting, "I don 't feel comfortable

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.

Social psychologists have not only studied the effects of persuasion, but also the elements that contribute to attitude change. Carl Hovland (1953) developed the Hovland-Yale model of persuasion, in which he used a research team from Yale University. They found that there are a considerable number of factors that can influence how likely attitude changes are to occur, however they also noticed that some are more important than others [McGuire et al 1996]. One of the key factors they found that determines whether persuasion occurs is the communicator. Social psychologists have found that persuasion can be influenced depending about who is presenting the argument, which can impact on how an audience receives it. The credibility of the communicator plays a large role in influencing persuasion, in which

Developing better communication skills is more than talking to someone to get a point across. Listening and understanding the key components of the conversation is a part of having communication skills. By listening, issues would be processed better which would help establish a common ground between the people that are having a conversation.