Encyclopedia of Leadership

8.8

LISTENING TECHNIQUES: TACTICS

TO IMPROVEYOURLISTENING

Inspired 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 respons-

es. Adapt these examples to your unique situation.

254 SECTION 8 TOOLS FORCOMMUNICATION

• To show that you are interested


• To encourage others to continue talking


• To check your interpretation against that of
  the other person


• To demonstrate that you are listening and
  that you understand what the other person is
  saying


• To encourage others to analyze deeper aspects
  of the situation and discuss them with you.


• To bring the discussion into focus


• To clarify priorities


• To help you and the other person agree on
  major 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 the
  issue


• To propose a method for dealing with the
  issue


• To show that you understand how the other
  person 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 expressed

are ...”

➢“If I understand how you see the situation, your

major 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 an

example of ...?”

➢“As I understand it, you are proposing xyz. Can

we step back and ...?”

➢“You have proposed gathering information on the

issue. Can we clarify the issue first?”

➢“You have given me a lot of data about the

problem. Can we talk for a moment about how

we can proceed to solve the problem?”

➢“You appear to feel that ...”

➢“You seemed shocked when you heard...”

➢“You seemed let down when ...”

Reassuring

Restating &

Paraphrasing

Summarizing

Clarifying

Content

Clarifying

Process

Showing

Empathy

Listening

technique Purposes Typical listening lead-ins