How to Be a Good Listener
Block out distractions. Concentrate on what the other person is saying in spite of background noise, uncomfortable seats, or preoccupation with your own thoughts.
Think while you listen. Good listening requires much more than passively letting sound waves enter your ears. It requires active involvement such as identifying the speaker’s most important points and relating them to your own ideas and experiences.
Avoid responding in a manner that closes communication. Examples of such responses are: evaluation (“you’re wrong”); advice (“why don’t you”); direction (“you have to’);’ moralizing (“You should”), and discounting (“you think your problem is bad, you should hear about mine”). These responses make people feel defensive and put down.
Let the speaker know you are still “with” him/her. You can do this by nodding, maintaining eye contact, not interrupting and making sounds such as “uh-huh.”
Ask questions that invite the speaker to say more. An example is, “What did it feel like for you to walk into that room full of strangers?” or “How did you get interested in that subject?”
Restate the speaker’s words and feelings in your own words. An example is, “It sounds like you feel angry about missing the game ”or“ If I heard you right, you said you would rather not go to “R” rated movies. Is that what you meant?”
Respect the speaker’s right to feel the way they feel and to think the way they think. This does not mean you can’t disagree. But, it does mean that you should not put down, ridicule, berate, or belittle a person for thinking or feeling a certain way. Examples of disrespectful responses are, “That‘s so stupid! How could you think that?” “You shouldn’t feel that way,” and “Well, nobody else sees it that way so you must be wrong.”
Week One: Day Two Participants continue to build relationships and begin to explore disability pride and what it means to be an inclusive community.
Today’s Suggested Activities
Word of the Day
The Circle Connection Game
We Lead! T-Shirt
The Label Game
Invited Speaker/ Community Organization Speaker
Accommodation and Skills Box
Non-Verbal Communication
Materials needed for day
Copies of Labels
Tape
Plenty of Room to Move Around
Staff Handouts
Labels
Handouts-
Words of the Day Approachability and Knowledge
Week One: Day Two Words of the Day
Time: 20 Minutes
Source:
Purpose: Each day there are two “Words of the Day.” These words have been carefully chosen as key elements of leadership characteristics.
Directions: Hand out the words of the day words: Approachability and Knowledge. Ask participants to read each word of the day and the definition provided. Ask participants to describe in their own words what each word means. Have participants discuss how each word of the day relates to leadership and being a leader.
The Circle Connection Game
Time: 30 Minutes
Purpose: To help participants bond as a team and learn more about each other. Participants should recognize what they have in common though they are all different. Recognition of similarities will help participants to build a community.
Directions: Participants sit in an informal circle with one person in the middle. The person in the middle starts by saying, “I like to _________.” Any person that likes to do that activity links onto the first person. That person then continues the game by saying, “I like to ________.” The group continues till everyone is linked, the last person must call out something that the first person likes to do until a circle is formed.