Three verbal active listening skills
Create a brief written dialogue between yourself and another person that effectively uses the three verbal active listening skills covered in this course: paraphrasing, empathy, and self-disclosure. The dialogue should be written out in a way that emphasizes the proper use of each active listening skill. There needs to be at least one clear example of each skill (properly labeled in parentheses) in the dialogue. Here’s a brief example of how it could begin and shows the first skill:
Scene: (Provide a brief descriiption of the scene) Tom and I are co-workers having lunch at our desks.
Tom: Man, it’s been a rough day so far.
Bob: Really, what’s been tough about it?
Tom: I met with our manager early this morning for my review and he came down really hard on me for missing the sales quota the past two months. He says if I don’t improve my numbers by the end of the quarter, he will have to let me go. I can’t afford to be without a job. My wife was just diagnosed with cancer, I need a new roof on my house and my dad just broke his hip.
Bob: I think you’re saying that with all these other pressures in your personal life, it’s going to be very difficult for you to increase your work output in order to save your job and pay for these major expenses. Is that what you mean? (Paraphrasing)
You then continue with the dialogue showing and labeling the other skills. The dialogue need not be lengthy (about 3 pages double-spaced is usually adequate). The emphasis here is on accurately using each of the skills as discussed in class.
Sample Solution
One of the most critical skills in effective communication is active listening. Developing this soft skill will help you build and maintain relationships, solve problems, improve processes and retain information, such as instructions, procedures and expectation. Active listeners use verbal and non-verbal techniques to show and keep their attention on the speaker. There are a variety of active listening exercises you can use to help improve your active listening skills, including paraphrasing, empathy, and self-disclosure. Paraphrase – summarize the main points of the message the speaker shared to show you fully understand their meaning. This will also give the speaker an opportunity to clarify information or expand their message.