Communication Series

Active Listening

In March of 2021, it was brought to the Talent Development team that the company I work for needed a communication series of training. I was tasked with analyzing, designing, developing and implementing the series of trainings that we would embark on for the group. After thinking about the communication process, I landed on training one being active listening. Below are some slides to highlight the training, with video to come soon.

How I outlined the training is as such:

1. Define
   • What is communication?
   • How does one listen?
   • What is active listening?
2. How well do you listen?
   • Activity
     • Play a clip, have audience write out what they hear.
3. What affects us from listening?
   1. Outside sounds
      • Take a moment to listen, what do you hear around you?
      • How does that noise affect you from listening to what I’m saying?
   2. Daily Tasks
      • You’re in the middle of working on something, and you’re distracted.
      • Getting up from your desk and getting stopped in the hallway
   3. Technology
      • Phone buzzing
      • Watch buzzing
      • Email on your computer
      • Instant Messages
4. Actively Listening
   • Active listening allows you to understand problems and collaborate to develop solutions
   • Think of a time where you didn’t listen and had to follow up with someone. How did it feel? How do you think that person felt?
5. How do you actively listen?
   • Neutral and nonjudgmental
   • Patient (periods of silence are not “filled”)
   • Verbal and nonverbal feedback to show signs of listening (e.g., smiling, eye contact, leaning in, mirroring)
   • Asking questions
   • Reflecting back what is said
   • Asking for clarification
   • Summarizing
6. How do you not actively listen?
   • Being stuck in your own head
   • Not showing respect for the speaker
   • Only hearing superficial meaning (not hearing underlying meaning)
   • Interrupting
   • Not making eye contact
   • Rushing the speaker
   • Becoming distracted
   • “Topping” the story (saying “that reminds me of the time…”)
   • Forgetting what was said in the past
   • Asking about unimportant details
   • Focusing too much on details and missing the big picture
   • Ignoring what you don’t understand
   • Daydreaming
   • Only pretending to pay attention
7. Know when you Cannot Listen
   • It’s your responsibility to let the person know that you’re speaking to that you cannot give your full attention.
8. Active Listening and Business Development
   • Important to active listen so the understand client needs
   • Upsell opportunities
   • No when to say no when active listening
9. Wrap – Up
   • Go over how to fully listen
10. Q&A

This interactive training hopefully will inspire and change some of the habits we have within the company as