EP 7: Effective Communication

Lizzie from Chattahoochee Tech discusses effective listening on the Working Wizard Podcast. Effective listening improves relationships and gives new perspectives. Tips for effective listening include practicing empathy, using nonverbal cues, and reflecting and clarifying what the speaker has said. Implementing these tactics can lead to better interactions. Hey, welcome to the Working Wizard Podcast. We're continuing our series on communication. I'm Francisco. I'll continue being your host for this podcast. Today we have someone from Chattahoochee Tech, name is Lizzie, going to be talking about effective communication. You don't want to miss out. Everyone, welcome Lizzie to the show. We are so glad to have you here today. I heard that you are well-educated on the topic of effective listening. We would love to hear more about the knowledge you have to offer. Thank you so much for this opportunity. I have done plenty of research about the art of effective listening and I would love to educate everyone on this topic because it is one of the most crucial skills one can master in this lifetime. How does effective listening benefit oneself? Having active and effective listening can not only improve your relationships, whether that be platonic or romantic, but it can overall give you a new perspective on a subject you might be learning about. Typically, when you are having a conversation, your mind becomes clouded, whether that be with the, I forgot to make my bed this morning, or what am I going to say next. These thoughts fill up space and can distract one from giving their undivided attention to someone. That's completely true. That's kind of like me, when I'm really, really hungry, I stop paying attention to the person in front of me. How does one get rid of these thoughts? Well, you can't really get rid of them because your frontal lobe continues to process external stimuli, but we can train our minds to focus on the individual when they're speaking. So here are some key tips to master the art of effective listening. So one would be practicing empathy. Practicing empathy includes truly listening to someone and asking valid questions pertaining to their situation and understanding what they're saying or feeling from their point of view. Okay. Can you give me an example of what empathy in a conversation would look like? Yeah, of course. So I'll use an example from my personal life. The other day, I did something that really upset my friend. I felt as though it was very minuscule, but to her, it was really embarrassing and upset her for a couple of days. I didn't understand why it was so important to her, but when she was explaining the situation to me, I said things like, go on, and I understand. I gave nonverbal social cues, ooh, Lord, and I apologized, but most importantly, I tried to recognize where she was coming from and her point of view. Ah, so basically, you're putting yourself in someone else's shoes. Yes, essentially just that. So to sum it up, practicing empathy in a conversation is putting yourself in someone else's shoes. So you mentioned nonverbal cues above. Can you dig a little deeper on those? So yes, nonverbal cues is your body language, how you use physical behavior, expressions, and mannerisms to communicate. Examples of this would be like maintaining eye contact, your posture, your facial expressions, hand gestures, and touch. Okay. How do nonverbal cues contribute to, let's say, effective listening? So nonverbal cues are an important factor in effective listening because it shows that you are actively engaged in the conversation. Imagine you were talking to someone and they were looking everywhere but your eyes. They were on their phone, they were fidgeting, and they weren't facing you. How would you feel? Actually, that would make me feel kind of terrible. I hate when I go out with a wife and she's playing on her phone and not paying attention to me. So I could completely relate to that. Yeah. And so my point exactly, like using nonverbal cues in conversations will allow the speaker to feel heard. And that is key in effective communication and active listening. Okay. Can you give me one more factor of how to be an effective listener? Yeah. So one more thing I would like to tell everybody to implement in their conversations would be to reflect and clarify. So what I mean by that is to periodically summarize what the speaker has said to ensure that you have understood correctly. This confirms that the listener understands what the speaker is saying and shows that you care about the speaker's point of view. So if someone is telling me about how their day went, reciting key points or kind of mirroring and clarifying what took place is how I could be an effective listener? Yep. Indeed, it would. Okay. Do you have any words of advice to tell our podcast listeners? Well, I would just like to say next time you're having a conversation, try implementing these tactics of effective listening I touched on, which was empathy, nonverbal cues, and reflection, and see how much better and smoother your interactions will be. Well, there you have it, folks, three ways on how to master the art of effective listening. Talked about here, the great Lizzie from Chattahoochee. Stay tuned for more communication talk on the Working Wizard Podcast. Thank you so much for having me. Until next time. See you, guys. Take care.