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Hi. My name is Laurie Lewis,
and I'm a professor
of communication
at the University of
Texas at San Antonio,
and this presentation
is about listening.
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What is listening?
The International
Listening Association
defines listening
as the attending,
receiving, interpreting, and
responding to messages
presented aurally.
So this is a fundamental
and basic understanding
of how listening occurs.
It's our everyday understanding
of listening that
you hear something and
that you then take it in,
think about it, and hopefully,
respond in some way to the
speaker or the source.
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As we think about ways to do
listening and do it well,
we can turn to the source of
the International
Listening Association
that provides 10 listening tips.
These go across contexts,
so they're not
necessarily just for
organizational contexts or
for leaders but for everyone.
So some of these are ones you've
likely encountered
before in your lives
as you think about how to
be a good communicator.
One fundamental is to choose
to listen more and
listen better.
So we really need to think about
and actively choose
to listen better.
It's not something we're either
gifted with naturally or not;
It's something we decide
to do and practice.
Second is to prepare to listen.
To really think
about we're going
into a moment here where
we want to listen well
and then to prepare to do that.
You might take a moment
to gather your thoughts
or to take a breath
or to understand
that what you may
hear may not be
everything you want to
hear in some cases, but to
think about your listening
before you enter the scene.
Third, listen with an open mind
to what the other
person has to say.
Listening starts with
an openness to others,
and while we're
focusing on them,
which is fundamental
to good listening
instead of repeating
in our own head
the thing that we want
to say next, but rather
to focus on what that
person might have to offer.
Fourth, listen to the
speaker and have them
finish before you jump
in, so not interrupting.
Number 5, listen to understand,
not before you respond.
We want them to feel
heard, and we want to
fully understand
what they're saying
before we jump in with
some kind of response.
Number 6, look for verbal
and nonverbal cues.
So we want to not just
listen with our ears
but listen with our eyes.
Is there emotion portrayed?
Is there some kind of
adamant presentation or
passion being displayed?
What does that tell us about
how we should take
in the message?
Number 7, listen for the emotion
which goes along with that.
People will have
emotion in their voice,
their face, and
their body posture,
so really taking all of
that in to determine
if this is truly an
emotional moment
for this person that's
speaking to us.
Number 8, understand cultural
and age differences.
Not everybody listens the same.
Not everybody presents the same.
Taking into account that you may
have a preference for
how to express things
that others don't observe
for a variety of reasons is
a really important piece of
being a good competent listener.
Nine, reflect back
what you've heard
so that you really get to
that person that what
you have taken in
is accurate to what
they meant to share.
Paraphrasing back or saying
what I'm hearing you say is,
is a good way to let them
know that you understood
and heard them, and if maybe
corrections would be
necessary at that point.
Number 10, respond to show
you've listened to understand.
That is something
that we want to do
to follow through with
what we've heard.
It may take hours or days
or longer to respond,
but to somehow close the loop
and come back to that person
with a response to what you
took in and what they shared.
Good listening in organizations
