Active Listening Skills Course

Communication skills are at the heart of everything we do each day, whether at home, at work, or at play. Active listening encompasses the best of communication, including listening to what others are saying, processing the information, and responding to it in order to clarify and elicit more information. This two days workshop will help participants develop and practice their active listening skills.

• Define active listening and its key components
• Identify ways to become a better listener
• Use body language to reflect a positive listening attitude
• Understand the difference between sympathy and empathy, and when each is appropriate
• Create a listening mindset using framing, positive intent, and focus
• Be genuine in your communications
• Understand the communication process
• Ask questions, probe for information, and use paraphrasing techniques
• Build relationships to create an authentic communication experience
• Identify common listening problems and solutions

We will spend the first part of the day getting to know other participants and discussing what will take place during the workshop. Students will also have an opportunity to identify their personal learning objectives.

To begin, participants will learn what active listening is all about. They will also consider the characteristics of good listeners, get some tips for active listening, and review their pre-assignment.

In this session, participants will learn why body language is so important when communicating. They will also consider positive and negative body language messages.

Next, participants will learn about sympathy, empathy, positive intent, frame of reference, reframing, focus, and being genuine.

Participants will learn how to use questions, probing tools, and paraphrasing to encourage others to speak. Participants will also learn about the communication process and the ladder of inference.

This session will give participants some tips on building rapport and finding common ground. We will also share some neuro linguistic programming tips.

To wrap things up, participants will explore common listening problems and consider some solutions.

At the end of the course, students will have an opportunity to ask questions and fill out an action plan.