Soft Skills 8 - Effective Listening / Master In-Demand Professional Soft Skills / LinkedIn Learning Pathway

What is an advantage of being attuned to subtle cues?

It allows you to observe and ascertain more meaning. A person who is attuned to nonverbal signals gains a more substantiated meaning.

What's the best strategy to help you clarify your role in a conversation?

Ask the speaker early on which role you should assume. Use questions like, Do you want my interpretation?" or "It sounds like you need to vent." Statements like this will not only clarify your position to the speaker, but will also make it easier for you

Carson has taken the Effective Listening course. What is the first step he should take now to become a great listener?

Identify the behaviors.

In many cultures, direct verbal communication is not the norm. It is important to read nonverbal signals that are vital in conveying meaning.

This is true and what we call being attuned. No matter who you are speaking to, being attuned to subtle cues allows you to read between the lines and gather additional meaning.

If you listen with empathy, you _____.

put yourself in that person's shoes and identify with his/her feelings By listening empathetically, you tend to mirror the emotion and even body language of the speaker. You can often diffuse emotion or even calm frustration by listening with empathy.

When you are 'distracted by delivery' what typically happens?

Sara couldn't focus on what her boss was talking about because of the marker smear on her nose.

Which choice best describes attentive listening?

A response where the listener clarifies her role, uses attentive nonverbals, honors silence, paraphrases and matches emotion with the listener.

You are engaged in a conversation with a speaker at a conference. You take out your tablet and begin taking notes. What should you remember when using this physical silence technique?

Always ask for permission first. This technique is best used in a face-to-face situation when the context is appropriate, and you have asked for permission to take notes.

You need help from a coworker but as soon as you start speaking, you notice the coworker keeps multitasking. Which result would likely occur in this scenario?

a loss of trust Multitasking is a distraction, and causes trust to deteriorate if one person is not listening.

Drew is sitting with a colleague from Asia. What is the best approach for Drew to use when listening to this colleague?

Appreciate vocal silence.

You are listening to a colleague speak in a meeting. This person has a strong accent, and you are having difficulty understanding. What is the best approach to resolve this distraction?

Ask for clarification.

You are listening to several vendors pitch a solution for your company's logistics department. Which action should you refrain from doing while in an active listening mode of evaluating content?

Avoid getting distracted by the delivery of the vendors. The recommendation for this listening mode is to not get distracted by the delivery of the speaker or any other external factors.

You are ready to practice being a great listener. Which tip will help you turn a practiced behavior into a lasting habit?

Be accountable. This is most important for habit formation, which involves sharing your process with someone and having that person check your progress.

Logan is taking a listening self-assessment. He thinks he is good at both asking questions and being curious to know more. In which focus area of listening could he rank himself as strong?

Evaluate content

Everly is practicing the focus area of understanding the big picture. What is the general guideline she should follow when explaining what happened in a meeting?

Explain the core ideas in one or two sentences. Following this guideline means Everly listened to the content and can synthesize all of it into a big picture review.

You ask one of your employees to present a gap analysis of skills within the company to the VP of HR. Which type of listening focus areas should the employee use in her research?

Gather details; Understand the big picture The employee needs to know the details concerning when and what, as well as how the information fits into the big picture.

Don wants to be an effective leader and thinks his listening skills are great. As his manager, you have observed him differently. What is the best approach to take with Don?

Help him acknowledge that his listening is more involved that he thinks and he can always improve. The best approach is to help Don understand that there is always room to further improve his listening skills, since listening is a learned behavior.

Your boss wants you to give a training session on the integration steps for a software system. Why will focusing on recalling the details help you in this case?

It will showcase your credibility and help attendees learn better. Remembering details and points of what should be covered build your credibility and positively influence the training session and its outcomes.

Jamie is at an international conference assisting in the speakers' hospitality suite. She is not sure how to use facial expressions as a nonverbal listening response. What advice would you give her?

Keep your smile at around 20 percent. A slight smile demonstrates attentiveness and openness, so this is a good practice for Jamie to follow with a diversified audience.

In announcing some exciting news, JR is working on keeping his tone more serious than his actual words. Which general practice would you tell him to follow when working on his tone?

Keep your tone upbeat if the message is positive. This is a good practice for JR to follow, in order to keep his tone aligned with the emotional meaning of the message.

A project manager and a developer are conversing about an upcoming project, and they start disagreeing. What should they have done up front to serve as better listeners to each other?

Know their preferences and clarify their roles early on. This best practice helps each person be a good listener by knowing how each processes information and the role each has in this case.

Your boss is giving you instructions on a complicated, multi-step task that you're expected to do. What is the best approach for listening in this case?

Listen for details and take notes if appropriate. When being given lots of specific or complicated information that needs to be acted on, listen attentively to details and take notes so that you may recall details later.

When listening to a speaker with lots of distractions in their delivery (fillers like um, spinach on their teeth, etc.) what technique helps you remain focused on the content of the message?

Mentally paraphrase what the speaker is saying every few minutes. If you test yourself by trying to paraphrase the speaker's content into a message you could convey to someone else, you will help to ensure that you are focusing on the CONTENT of the message, and not the delivery.

Which of the following most accurately describes the effects of multitasking while listening?

Multitasking harms efficiency and productivity by slowing down overall work time, creating more errors and confusion, and wasting time. More and more, studies are showing that multitasking bogs down project time, creates more errors and miscommunications, and generally harms your productivity.

What's an appropriate way to respond to a speaker to demonstrate you have been listening effectively?

Paraphrase the content and emotion of what the speaker has been talking about. By paraphrasing both the content and emotion of the speaker's message, you are demonstrating that you listened effectively.

Jackson is training a team of technical support advocates. He is discussing empathy and how it starts in the mind of the listener. Which action represents an empathetic listener?

Say to the person, "Tell me more about what happened."

How does allowing silence make you a more effective listener?

Silence (verbal and nonverbal stillness) conveys that you are focused completely on the speaker and communicates respect. Allowing for both physical and verbal stillness communicates to a speaker that you are actively engaged and listening.

You sit at a table across from Brad, who is sharing personal information. He is seated on the edge of his chair with hands stretched out. How should you mirror Brad to let him know you are listening?

Sit at the edge of your seat with at least one hand stretched out. This is known as semi-mirroring the person's posture, which shows that you are listening.

Andre is updating a coworker about a project he is running. The coworker interrupts and provides his thoughts. Which common mistake is being displayed?

The coworker is providing advice without being asked. The coworker may be trying to help but unless Andre asks for advice, it is best for him to keep listening and not interrupt.

Roberta is working on building her overall communication skills. How do listening skills weigh in?

They will help her be a more effective leader. Strong listening skills have been directly linked to effective leadership.

What is an advantage of paraphrasing?

You will be able to verify your understanding. Paraphrasing allows you to validate your understanding of what is said, and focus on the primary meaning.

Which listener behavior can help build rapport and cohesion with the speaker?

all of these answers - matching emotion - slight mirroring - honoring silence In most scenarios, slight mirroring of postures and gestures, matching levels of emotions and not trying to fill in silence serves as an indirect way of conveying your interest to the speaker.

You're attentively listening to someone to evaluate the content. Which of the following is an appropriate question to consider?

all of these answers: - Is the evidence they are presenting recent, credible, and relevant? - Are both the pros and cons presented? - Is any of the information misleading? When evaluating the content of messages, be sure the evidence is recent, credible and relevant; that both sides of the argument are presented; and that none of the information is misleading. This will allow you to evaluate the content without bias.

Which of the following is a common listening challenge?

all of these answers: mental filters distraction by delivery information overload

UCLA psychologist Albert Mehrabian established that 55 percent of the emotional meaning of a message is derived from which of the following?

body language Facial expressions, gestures, and posture give us tremendous insight into the emotional landscape of a message

When it comes to improving listening, each of these should be a major area of focus, except _____.

focusing exclusively on the words being spoken Listening is not just an auditory process. A lot of the meaning behind a speaker's message comes from nonverbal cues, so it is essential to pay close attention to subtle cues when listening.

Mickale is taking notes at a presentation on finances and marketing. Since he is in a learning mode, which type of notes should he focus on so he is not overwhelmed with information overload?

general principles This is the best approach for Mickale, since he is learning and is not being asked to act on the information later.

Holly is having a communication breakdown with her boss, and she starts creating a response before the boss can finish giving her instructions. What is the most likely challenge Holly is facing?

getting distracted by internal noise

When we listen, our responses in words and actions influence the quality of the conversation as well as the relationship with the other person. What is considered a positive listening behavior?

honoring silence This is considered one of five listening behaviors that could favorably impact the conversation and interaction with another individual.

Arjun is working with an angry customer. What should he refrain from doing when communicating with this customer?

mirroring the customer's emotions Arjun wants to defuse this situation, so it is recommended that he does not mirror or match the customer's emotion here.