Listening Impact

I’ve just returned from the ILA Convention in Bremerton, WA where I had the opportunity to learn about some fascinating research that expanded my knowledge of listening, and hopefully it will do the same for you. This post is part one of two of some of the take-aways from that conference.

It was quite an extended process to get to the convention—plane to Seattle, shuttle to the ferry terminal, hour ferry ride to Bremerton, and short walk to the convention center and hotel.  Nevertheless, I’m very glad I attended because I heard some terrific presentations given by smart, smart people.

Graham Bodie and grad students from Louisiana State University

Supportive Listening

Question: What are the similarities and differences between a supportive person and a supportive listener?

Some findings:

• Supportive person is described in general, impressionistic terms such as: positive, intelligent
• Supportive listener described in specific, behavioral characteristics: involved in interaction, responds verbally
• Influencers on the relationship are
• non-verbal \immediacy (e.g. body language)
• verbal-immediacy (e.g. questions)
• Answer to question: How important is it to you that your relational partner is a good listener or good comforter, depends upon the importance you put upon it. Our level of satisfactions depends upon what we’re looking for in our relational partner to demonstrate.

Language Style Matching

Question: Does Language Style Matching (LSM) influence a relationship?

Some findings:

• Mimicry is automatic and mostly unconscious
• LSM is often used when people like one another
• LSM, use of emotional words, or cognitive (cause and effect) words didn’t make people feel better or worse. Or, nothing in particular made much of a difference
• But, negative emotional words and tentative words made people feel worse
• Major finding:  We have expectations of listening behaviors, but they don’t matter much until they are NOT used. Then you’ll be considered a bad listener; however using them all won’t necessarily translate into your being considered a good listener.

Laura Janusik, Rockhurst Univeristy, Kansas City & Margarete Imhof, Gutenberg University, Mainz, Germany

Listening Construct Across Cultures

Question:  What similarities and difference do three cultures exhibit in terms of conceptualizing listening? (Japanese, European, US American)

Some findings:

• Culture is communication and communication is culture
• Subjective listening concepts determine how/why one listens
• How one perceives listening could affect how one does listening
• Subjective concepts are culturally dependent

Metacognition

Question: Will we listen better if we think about it?

Some findings:

• There are three stages to metacognitive listening:
• Before: plan and set goals
• During: comprehend, aware of what’s happening in the moment
• After: reflect
• Bringing listening to consciousness increases likelihood of a positive interaction

Directed Learning

Question: What are some strategies that will enhance listening in the classroom/training room?

Strategies:

1. All about connections

a.  What do I already know about topic

b.  What should I know that I don’t

c.  Learning facilitator stops every 10-15 minutes to tell them to make connections between a and b

2.  Voice Mirroring

a.  Facilitator reads a script while the audience mirrors her words out loud

b.  Initially, the facilitator faces the audience, then turns her back

c.  Facilitator faces audience again but this time the audience silently mirrors the words inside their heads, and finally they close their eyes and mirror in silence

d.  Technique brings yourself back on track to focus entirely on what the speaker is saying

3.  Stop, Look, Summarize

a.  Draw a line at the bottom of your page of notes

b.  Periodically, put the information into your own words

c.  Technique translates and summaries ideas into an understandable format

4.  Big Picture, Little Picture

a.  Look at details and tie them to the big picture

b.  Look at big picture and tie them to details

c.  Technique relates two extremes of thought process to one another

5.  Think, Pair, Share

a.  Write words/terms you don’t understand

b.  Pair up to figure out meaning

c.  Share with others who may/may not have figured out definitions

d.  Technique uses group knowledge and reduces anxiety about not knowing what a word/term means. It’s particularly good for non-native speakers as well as for people from different functions/disciplines

6.  Multi-Tasking is a Myth*

a.  Can’t do two tasks even when tasks tap into same part of brain

b.  Can’t do two switch tasks using different parts of brain

*If you don’t subscribe to this blog and you’d like a copy of the short exercise that demonstrates this strategy, sign up for the blog and we’ll gladly send it.