Imagine the following scenario:
You come home from an eventful day at work ready to share all of the details. Searching the house for anyone who is available to listen, you find a family member engaged in some other activity. You immediately begin sharing all that happened to you and your captive audience never once looks up from their task or gives any indication that they are following your story. Finally, you stop and ask, “Are you listening?” Only then does your captive audience look up and say, “I heard you.”
If you have ever been in this situation, you likely know that “hearing” isn’t the same as “listening.” Despite this knowledge, everyone has probably been on both sides of this scenario. What does it take for people to actually listen to each other rather than just hear each other?
In this week’s Discussion, you examine your own listening skills and the potential barriers to listening that you might display. You also explore strategies for becoming a better listener.
resources
Be sure to review the Learning Resources before completing this activity. Click the weekly resources link to access the resources.
WEEKLY RESOURCES
by day 3
Post at least two paragraphs responding to the following:
- Identify a barrier to listening that you commonly display, explain what that barrier is, and give an example of a time it kept you from being a good listener.
- Identify a strategy for effective listening that you discovered in this week’s Resources that you would want to implement in your life, explain what that strategy is, why you find it important, and the one thing you can do today to begin developing this new listening strategy.
- Explain how understanding your audience better can help you become an effective speaker. Remember to refer to the Resources to support your response.