4 Techniques to Listen Actively

Communication Skills 13
Be ready to listen
Adopt physical signs of being ready to listen
Exercise eye contact with the speaker
Focus
Motivate yourself to listen
Disregard thoughts and feelings
Listen regardless of your thoughts or feelings
Listen first; do not respond negatively at once
Avoid being "turned-off"
Give the speaker the chance to drive his/her
point
Adjust to the listening goals of the
situation
Goal: to understand, to retain information,
and to listen critically
This is to receive the exact message of the
speaker

Know the advantages
Identify the advantages of listening to the
speaker
Information is useful!
Be motivated to listen
Guides to Effective Listening

Look for meaning
Listen not only for words but for meaning
behind the words
Nonverbal communication matters (eg.
gestures)
Focus!
Concentrate on the message
Do not yield to distractions
Do not judge
Avoid premature dismissal of the subject or
speaker as uninteresting
Biases and judgement should NEVER interfere
with your listening

Stop faking it.
Do not fake attention just to be polite

Ice breaker!

Don't get offended
Do not let emotional words arouse personal
antagonism
Maintain an open mind
Hate the speaker? Do it later.
Isip isip din pag may time
If there is an opportunity to analyze what the
speaker has just said, do so.
You have a thought-speed advantage. Use it!
People can speak 120-180 words per minute;
400 and more words in listening.
Again, do not judge
Do not focus on the speaker's speech or
physical defect. Rather, focus on his/her
message.
Do not discourage the speaker
Negative metacommunication cues could
dampen the speaker's mood and enthusiasm.
As a result, the speech may end prematurely.
Wise notetaking matters
Slow notetaking can make you miss more
information than you think.
Learn to use abbreviations and notetaking
techniques
Use 5 thinking strategies
Visualization- mental pictures
Association- relate familiar info with new info
Memory magic- play memory tricks
Chunking- sorting info to large sections
Focusing- remember the most important info

Use the five E's to interpret
meaning
Eyes- visual interpretation
Ears- hear to interpret
Experience- information from the past
Evaluation- making judgements by connecting
the message to ideas or feelings
Effort- to respond
Repeat, repeat, repeat
Hearing info more than once helps you to
remember
Repeat information to yourself a number of
times
Point it out
Distinguish between main points and
subordinate points
Identify important points
Thank you for listening!