Can You Hear Me?  The Essence of Active Listening

About the Workshop

The Art of Active Listening

Communication skills are at the heart of everything we do each day, whether at home, at work, or at play.  Active listening encompasses the best of communication, including listening to what others are saying, processing the information, and responding to it in order to clarify and elicit more information.  This one-day workshop will help participants develop and practice their active listening skills.

Learning Objectives:

• Define active listening and its key components
• use body language to reflect a positive listening attitude
• understand the difference between sympathy and empathy and when each is appropriate
• create a listening mindset using framing, positive intent and focus
• understand the communication process
• ask questions, probe for information and use paraphrasing techniques
• build relationships to create an authentic communication experience
• identify common listening problems and solutions

Defining Active Listening - participants will learn what active listening is all about.  They will also consider the characteristics of good listeners and receive tips for active listening.

Body Language Basics - participants will learn why body language is so important when communicating.  They'll also consider positive and negative body language messages

Attitude is Everything! - participants will learn about sympathy, empathy, positive intent, frame of reference, reframing, focus and being genuine

Encouraging Conversation - participants will learn how to use questions, probing tools and paraphrasing to encourage others to speak.  They'll learn about the communication process and the ladder of inference

Building Relationships - participants will gain tips on building rapport and finding common ground

Getting Over Listening Roadblocks - participants will explore common listening problems and consider solutions

Wrap - Up - participants will have an opportunity to ask questions and complete a development plan

 

About the Presenter:

Nancy Schnoebelen Imbs

Nancy is an empowering leadership and professional development consultant.  Highly dedicated and results oriented, she has the skill and passion for helping individuals become more confident and successful in business and beyond.

Nancy combines her communications expertise with a pragmatic approach in a variety of important soft skill areas including verbal, written and nonverbal communications, emotional intelligence, etiquette and protocol, time management, business acumen, working with team dynamics and coaching.  She helps clients focus on key adjustments that result in meaningful impact and effectiveness.

Drawing on her marketing and communications background, over 20 years experience in leadership roles and a lifetime of personal growth, Nancy has keen appreciation of mindset and the power it has to change patterns of behavior.  She focuses on building one's strengths and minimizing weaknesses through enrichment, feedback, self-discovery and detailed action plans.

Before launching Polished, Nancy served in leadership positions where she helped businesses like Edward Jones, St. Louis Economic Development Partnership and Mercy Health boost their products and services, communications, marketing, brands and stature.

Nancy is a dynamic motivational speaker.  She delivers keynotes on several topics such as Present With Power Poise and Punch; If I Can Do It, You Can; Kindness in Underratted; Beyond the Fork and Knife; and Yes. Maybe. I Mean No.

Nancy believes passionately in developing people, especially their interpersonal skills.  "You can achieve your goals-you just need a clear vision and a strong belief in yourself" she says.