1.5 - About University

8.8 L ISTENING T ECHNIQUES: TACTICSTO I MPROVE Y OUR L ISTENINGInspired by Carl Rogers, Chris Argyris, Donald Schon, and numerous other sources.Listening occurs at many levels, and thus leaders need a wide repertoire of listening responses.Adapt these examples to your unique situation.Listeningtechnique Purposes Typical listening lead-insReassuringRestating &ParaphrasingSummarizingClarifyingContentClarifyingProcessShowingEmpathy• To show that you are interested• To encourage others to continue talking• To check your interpretation against that ofthe other person• To demonstrate that you are listening andthat you understand what the other person issaying• To encourage others to analyze deeper aspectsof the situation and discuss them with you.• To bring the discussion into focus• To clarify priorities• To help you and the other person agree onmajor points• To get at additional information• To help others explore a problem• To help others clarify their ideas• To make ideas more concrete• To clarify how the situation will be dealt with• To formulate a method for dealing with theissue• To propose a method for dealing with theissue• To show that you understand how the otherperson feels about the situation• To help another express his or her feelings• To clarify feelings and commitment➢ “Mmm …” or “Uh-huh.”➢ “That’s interesting.”➢ “I understand” or “I see.”➢ “As I understand it, your plan is …”➢ “You appear to have decided to …”➢ “So, your reasons for favoring this option are …”➢ “In summary, the key ideas you have expressedare …”➢ “If I understand how you see the situation, yourmajor points are …”➢ “As I see it, we have agreed to …”➢ “I’m not sure I understand; could you clarify …?”➢ “Do you mean …?”➢ “I don’t understand. Could you give me anexample of …?”➢ “As I understand it, you are proposing xyz. Canwe step back and …?”➢ “You have proposed gathering information on theissue. Can we clarify the issue first?”➢ “You have given me a lot of data about theproblem. Can we talk for a moment about howwe can proceed to solve the problem?”➢ “You appear to feel that …”➢ “You seemed shocked when you heard...”➢ “You seemed let down when …”254 SECTION 8 TOOLS FOR COMMUNICATION