Presentation to 3rd
year medical students at the Faculty of Medicine King Fahad Medical City Riyadh
on September 4, 2013 by Professor Omar Hasan Kasule, Sr.
1.0 THE ART OF LISTENING
·
Listening activity involves comprehension and 3
transactional processes (direct feed-back, indirect feed-back, and delayed
feed-back).
·
Listening can be active or passive. In active listening the
listener shows obvious interest and asks questions. An active listener must ask
questions to understand. The questions should seek clarifications or additional
information.
·
Questions that pre-empt the speaker or that are hypothetical
should be avoided.
·
Questions remove ambiguity and create clarity. The speaker
can not know whether a passive listener is following or not.
·
Listening can be empathic or critical. Empathic listening
could be active or passive. Critical listening involves appreciation and
discrimination and is always active.
2.0 IMPROVING LISTENING: FACTORS
·
You can improve your listening skills in face-to-face
communication.
·
Analyze your listening behavior, analyze the speaker’s style
and analyze the message and see how they relate to your listening behavior.
·
The following behaviors or attributes of the speaker can
improve listening: appropriate rate of speaking, fluency, visibility,
credibility, likability, and similarity in values with listeners.
·
The message can encourage better listening if it is clear,
organized, and is captive.
3.0 IMPROVING LISTENING: ACTIONS 1
·
As a listener you can improve your listening in various
ways. Talk less and listen more. Clear your mind of other matters before start
of the conversation and give undivided attention to the speaker.
·
Let the speaker know you are listening. Write notes. Ask
open-ended questions for clarification and also for encouragement of the
speaker. Give feed-back. Summarize or paraphrase some of what the speaker says.
Be open-minded and not judgmental.
4.0 IMPROVING LISTENING: ACTIONS 2
·
While listening avoid the mistake of confusing content with
feelings. Separate and deal with each accordingly knowing that each is
important.
·
Do not verbally or by use of body language show the speaker
that he is ignorant or crazy.
·
Do not be too argumentative even if you do not agree with
the speaker.
·
Listen, then think, then respond, and then comprehend.
5.0 BARRIERS TO EFFECTIVE LISTENING:
·
Weak extrinsic motivation
·
Personal constraints,
·
Environmental constraints
·
Poor timing of the message.
·
Whenever any of these situations arise, it is better to stop
the communication process in a polite non-offensive way and resume at some
other time.
6.0 USING THE TELEPHONE 1:
·
When using the telephone, start with a pleasant but short
greeting. Establish rapport immediately. Project a positive and credible image
at the beginning; this will facilitate further conversation. Speak with a
powerful and confident voice. Sound interested and motivated. Be brief and get
to the point immediately. Pause and allow for responses.
·
There are words and expressions used in face-to-face
communication that will lead to misunderstandings in a telephone conversation
because there is no supporting body language.
7.0 USING THE TELEPHONE 1:
·
Train yourself to signal that you want to end the
conversation without offending your listener. You must learn technics
appropriate to your culture of cutting off a rambling caller tactfully.
·
When an angry, aggressive, and obnoxious person calls you,
be careful not to get emotional. Listen him out and ask clarifying questions to
understand his motives then act appropriately. It is always better to end such
a talk quickly and plan a follow-up at a later time when the caller may be in a
better emotional situation.