Action Plan for Effective Listening

â€Å"Action Plan for Effective Listening† Please respond to the following: Discussion 1: â€Å"Action Plan for Effective Listening. † Create a formalized action plan with specific steps describing what you can do to evaluate your progress in becoming an effective listener. Look at the sample action plan in â€Å"Thinking Activity: 3. 4† and you must review the â€Å"Eight steps of effective listening† before you are able to answer this question. Students will respond to the following: Describe exactly what you will do to improve your listening. Must show steps that relate to improving listening. It takes a lot of concentration and determination to be an active listener. Old habits are hard to break, and if your listening habits are as bad as many people's are, then there's a lot of habit-breaking to do! Be deliberate with your listening and remind yourself frequently that your goal is to truly hear what the other person is saying. Set aside all other thoughts and behaviors and concentrate on the message. Ask questions, reflect, and paraphrase to ensure you understand the message. If you don't, then you'll find that what someone says to you and what you hear can be amazingly different! Describe when and where you will try to improve your listening (days/times/places). Must be specific. I would start using active listening today to become a better communicator, improve my workplace productivity, and develop better relationships. Describe specifically how you will check your progress. Must be specific. Being an actively empathic listener means, then, that you not only make sure you're actively paying attention but that you let the speaker you know you are. You ask questions when you're not clear on what the other person is communicating, you try to infer what the person is feeling, and you let the person know that you remember what he or she actually said. You never drift off into la-la land, and your face doesn't assume that of a computer in sleep mode.