Activity Directions

Hand out Worksheet: Who’s Listening?
(See worksheet design suggestions at the very bottom.)

Point out the two labels: Worst Listener on the left end of the line and Best Listener on the right. Read the directions on the Worksheet aloud.  Allow participants 5-10 minutes to complete the Worksheet.

ASK:
• What influence does your Best Listener co-worker have over the quantity or quality of your work?
• How do you feel having conversations with the person you are thinking of as Best Listener? Does it affect your job performance?
• How does this person’s ability to listen to you and others affect the work group and environment as a whole?
• How does the behavior of the Worst Listener affect both the quality and quantity of work that you do?

Participants can add brief notes on these points on their worksheet. Then facilitate a discussion where participants share with the group some of the behaviors noted on their worksheets. Remember: No names!

Debrief the activity with the following points:

• Sometimes it seems as if we don’t have choices, but usually we do. We can choose to focus our attention. We can choose to reduce distraction. We can choose to stop for a few minutes to sit down and listen.
• The benefit of one person’s ability to be an effective listener carries beyond individual conversations. Attention and good listening set a tone for the interactions that follow.
• As a listener, focus on the speaker—what are they really trying to say? What are they feeling? What is their need, and how can you as a listener help fill it?
• The listener demonstrates a deep level of focus and concentration by maintaining eye contact and comfortable body language. Attention goes a long way toward relieving tension and letting the speaker know they have your undivided attention.
• Let the speaker DO most of the speaking and avoid interrupting them.
• Prompt the speaker with encouragement and phrases such as,“Tell me more about that…” or “You must have felt…”
• Reflect back to the speaker what you understand the speaker is feeling with comments like “I think I hear you saying….,” or, “It sounds like you feel___about___.”

This level of listening holds potential for effective problem-solving, builds trust, and opens the way for meaningful, ongoing communication and results.

Worksheet should look something like this:

Worksheet: Who’s Listening?

1. Think about the worst listener you know (no real names please), and the best listener you know. Write some hint as to who they are on the line below.
2. Think about your conversations with these individuals. What do each of them do that make them the best or the worst at listening?
3. Below each “name”, list a few bullets or key words describing observable behaviors that make each of these people the best and worst listeners you know.
4. In the Where are You? section, write Me somewhere between the two ends of the scale—at the appropriate position for your own listening skills. List a few of your own listening habits below Me.

Material excerpted from the Leader’s Guide for the video training program, Nobody’s Listening.

Need help in this area? Nobody’s Listening depicts what happens when a hurried manager fails to listen to the concerns of a subordinate. As he gets a second chance to practice the art of active listening, a number of problems are averted.

A recent DesignArounds poll asked learning professionals to identify their most pressing current challenge. No surprises here. 100% reported ‘time‘. Given today’s business climate and economic pressures, it’s no wonder that the training function – like every other function – is being challenged to do more with less. Fewer people. Scaled-back budgets. And a reduced investment of learning time.

Netbook computers with expanded capacity that can fit into your pocket and coin-sized mp3 players holding thousands of songs have established the expectation that good things (and a lot of them) come in small packages. Is it any wonder that organizations expect training to follow suit?

So, what can learning and development professionals do to respond?

Become a ruthless editor: Cut Through the Clutter
Today’s learning professionals must develop the ability to ruthlessly eliminate the non-essential, lay out the ‘critical path’ to new knowledge and skills and delete all else. Eliminating the ‘nice to knows’ allows the available time to be focused on ‘need to know’ information.

Revisit knowledge acquisition: Leverage Multimedia
Current applications allow for the quick and inexpensive development of multimedia presentations that can deliver considerable content in an efficient and engaging fashion. Transform group discussion and discovery exercises into tidy learning objects that can be used in a variety of ways.

Think beyond the event: Quickly Develop Self-Sufficiency
Let’s be honest: compressed timeframes can only accomplish so much. Leave learners with tools and resources that extend their ability to perform where it really matters: on the job. Memorable models, powerful job aids, online resource libraries turn the entire workplace into a training room.

Re-conceive materials: Order up a Combo
Re-thinking training deliverables for greater efficiency can support shorter timeframes. Look for each element and activity to do double – even triple – duty. Get creative. Even name tents can carry critical content.

Re-train the trainer: Change up the Tempo
Among the greatest challenges facing classroom trainers is replacing the previously leisurely learning rhythms with today’s crisper cadence. Comfortable patterns of extended discussions, getting-to-know you exercises, and storytelling must be confronted and adjusted.

These strategies can help to deliver results – even in today’s hurry-up world.

Written by Karen Voloshin and Julie Winkle Giulioni of DesignArounds. DesignArounds designs, develops and delivers training that works in today’s dynamic and pressure-packed workplace. For more information, visit www.designarounds.com.