In Listening Skills there are four elements to be a good listener:
- Non-verbal listening
- Restating the basic message of each group member
- Clarifying statements you don’t understand
- Verifying that you have heard correctly
Obstacles to Listening are:
- Giving advice or lectures
- Giving solutions
- Telling the group they are right or wrong
- Judging and criticizing
- Give reassurance or praise when you don’t mean it.
- Distracting or joking
- Worrying about what you are going to say or ask instead of listening.
- Talking too much
Goals that can be achieved with Listening Skills
- The group members will feel less isolated because people are listening to what they are saying.
- The group members will begin to feel their ideas and thoughts are important (self-esteem).
- The group members will learn to communicate better as their statements are repeated, clarified, and checked for accuracy.
- Relationships will improve as the group understands each other better.
- The member will increase their confidence as other listen to them respectfully and carefully.
- Good listening builds trust so members will feel safer to talk about important personal problems.
- Group members will understand their own thoughts, feelings and ideas better as they hear them restated problems.
- Group member will use the facilitator as a model for how to listen to others.
- Group members will feel the support of the group and their anxiety and depression may lessen.
Generally, to be a good listener we should be good at listening skill such as restating the basic message of each group member, do clarifying statements you don’t understand, and finally we do verifying that you have heard correctly.
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