Overcoming Your Listening Limits
In what ways do you think you limit your listening? How will you work to overcome these in the future?
Scarlett, Great awareness! These kinds of learning moments help us to grow and learn. Keep it up!
Elizabeth Wheeler
Sometimes I feel that I limit my listening when I feel like I believe I know what the prospect will say. I don't mean to judge them or make assumptions. I try my best to not let my assumptions get the best of me and I try to just concentrate on the prospect.
David,
Great self-awareness! I believe most of us are guilty of formulating a response before hearing the complete question. Improving on this listening limitation is a worthy goal! Thank you for posting!
Elizabeth Wheeler
The two listening limitations I need to work on are problem solving & preparing an answer, which seem to be linkled together. I'm eager to help a prospective student and, as a result, I sometimes start to formulate a response before hearing the entire story. I plan to work on maintaining focus until I get all of the information.
Angela,
Excellent! Rephrasing "Why" questions into "What" questions will maintain rapport and keep the student from feeling defensive about his or her choices. Thank you for posting!
Elizabeth Wheeler
One example could be: "What about this particular career area appeals most to you?" Rather than asking "Why did you choose this career field?"
Joralee,
Thank you for your post! This is great awareness. Sounds like this insight has really helped you to concentrate on the other person's needs.
Elizabeth Wheeler
Angela,
Thank you for posting! It's true that "Why" questions tend to put others on the defensive. How will you word your questions without using "why"?
Elizabeth Wheeler
Angela,
Great observations! Thank you for sharing!
Dr. Jean Norris
I feel that many times I catch myself trying to make instant assumptions since we work with so many similar student stories. The beauty of this course has given me an eye opener to ensure that I am able to listen with extreme care and ensure that I am able to recognize the differences of every student to ensure their success.
Listening is a very important part of the enrollment process. Repeating the question shows I am paying attention. Rephrasing shows I understand and are thinking of the student and others and reflect feeling. All of these build a good relationship and trust to move forward.
Diana Cruickshank
We have to admit that most of the times, we subconsciously judge the person quickly by what we can see on the outside appearance. We also have the selfish tendency of thinking like how can I benefit first, instead of how can we help a person.
I worked on this by reflecting on a Bible principle, that says 'Do to others what you want others do unto you.' By applying that, in my dealing with prospective students, I can feel how they respond sincerely to my open-ended questions because they can sense how truly I am interested in their concerns, and willing to offer solutions that will really benefit them even if that would mean a loss of potential student to our school.
This module really made me consider how a "Why" question can be perceived by a prospective student. While I don't use them often, I have been guilty of that on occasion and didn't realize it could limit my listening ability. I will change how I arrange those questions in future conversations.
I believe we limit our listening when we do not explore the goals of a prospective student. Sometimes we allow a student's obstacles to overcome what we hear. We should help students explore options to overcome obstacles, such as child care, or scheduling issues. Often, they have the resources available, but may need assistance in discovering them. We must be solution minded as we listen to a student and help them make informed decisions based on that student's personal situation and career goals.
Jason ,
Great perspective. We always recommend as a best practice to think about how you would feel :)
Elizabeth Wheeler
The idea of "knowing what they are going to say before they say it" is a tough habit to break because so often prospective students do, in fact, voice the same concerns and objections. However, even if that is true, it is still important to let the prospective student finish his / her concern, acknowledge it and address it. I try to think about it like this. Even if I know when the light at an intersection is about to turn green, I don't just shoot out into the street for fear of getting "T-boned." The same can be applied while talking to a prospect.
Theodore, Great awareness! Turning off that external noise and truly being in the moment will help you help your student. Consider what the student could be saying to you while you are off being distracted! Could they be telling you exactly what they need in order to start at your institution?
Dr. Jean Norris
I limit my listening with either having too much peripheral "noise" going on regarding other projects or people demanding my attention and department's resources. The best way I can say I can overcome these limitations on listening is to compartmentalize and focus on the most important needs first. This will allow my focus to be on that person/place/thing and be in the "now." I am working on this practice to make myself more of an active listener than a passive one.
Theodore, Great awareness! Thank you for posting. Practice makes perfect!
Elizabeth Wheeler
