1. 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 LISTENING2%
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.
u
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.