LISTENING The Secret to Effective Communication

THE FACTS

Ever have people try and fail to

answer your questions before you

finish asking them? They are listening

to respond, not to understand.

The Stages of Empathetic Listening—the Most

Powerful Yet Underused Form of Communication

HUMANS HEAR 125-250 WORDS PER MINUTE

BUT THINK 1000-3000 WORDS PER MINUTE

MOST PEOPLE

LISTEN TO

RESPOND,

NOT TO

UNDERSTAND

55% OF MEANING

DERIVES FROM FACIAL

EXPRESSIONS

MAMA’S RIGHT:

IT’S NOT WHAT

YOU SAY BUT

HOW YOU SAY IT

38% FROM

INTONATION

7% FROM

WORDS USED

HOW MANY PEOPLE RECEIVE

FORMAL TRAINING IN LISTENING 2%

THE STAGES OF LISTENING 4 MIMIC CONTENT The first and least effective

stage of empathetic listening is

to mimic speakers’ content—

simply repeat what they say

back to them to show you are

listening.

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REPHRASE CONTENT & REFLECT FEELING x

REPHRASE CONTENT The second stage of empathetic

listening is to rephrase speakers’

content—use the left side of your

brain, the logical side, to repeat

what they say back to them in

your own words.

v

REFLECT FEELING The third stage brings your right

brain’s creative thinking into

play—you interpret the speakers’

feelings then articulate those

feelings back to them to show

you understand their emotions.

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CONGRATULATIONS! You have achieved the highest and

most effective form of communication,

empathetic listening.

Want to stand out? While advanced

speaking skills are great, trained

speakers are a dime a dozen. How often

do you come across a trained listener?

of spoken communication

relies on nonverbal cues. 93%

The fourth and final stage brings 2 and 3 together.

Use your left and right brain, respectively, to:

This shows you understand both the speakers’ issues

at hand as well as their emotional concerns that go with them.

A) Rephrase the speakers’ content, and …

B) Reflect the speakers’ feelings

Sourced by StuffWritersLike.com from: Professor A. Mehrabian's communications model: bit.ly/1Cx0LVR S. Covey's 7 Habits of Highly Successful People: amzn.to/1H5SiLV

* Data derived

from experiments

dealing with

communications

of feelings and

attitudes.