Active Empathic Listening Essay

Introduction

Emphatic listening is a form of listening skill that entails listening and responding to each other in essence that aid in improving mutual understanding as well as trust. It is a general social skill that enables the parties involved in a conversation to accurately interpret one another's message and respond appropriately (Bevan & Sole, 2014). Active emphatic listening is divided into three stages, that is, sensing, processing, and response. In the sensing stage, the listener signifies of his concentration to what the speaker is saying by attending to all the implicit as well as explicit information expressed by the other person. In processing, the listener shows he or she was listening by clarifying certain areas made by the speaker. Lastly is response stage where questions, as well as non-verbal communication skills are asked by the listener to the other person, to show his involvement in the conversation. Emphatic listening comes along with its benefits including building respect and mutual trust, reducing tension not forgetting the creation of a collaborative and conducive problem-solving environment.

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Emotional Intelligence

On the other hand, emotional intelligence, also referred to as "emotional quotient", is the proficiency of a person to identify their own emotions as well as of other people, and use of emotional information to monitor thinking and behaviour (Floyd, 2014). However, emotional intelligence has five essential competencies which are: motivation, empathy, social skills, self-awareness, and self-regulation (Bevan & Sole, 2014).

How active empathic listening and emotional intelligence can help me improve communication both in personal interactions and in the workplace

Active emphatic listening and emotional intelligence are important skills to have and can assist me greatly in improving my personal and professional skills at the workplace through building mutual trust and respect with colleagues. More so, they will help me communicate assertively with people which encourage the surfacing of information. Additionally, they will embolden creation of a conducive environment for solving different disputes since they consider the emotions of the people or parties involved (Bodie et al., 2015) For instance, they help build and attract healthy relationships in the workplace. Artificial intelligence for example aids in understanding of the other's point of view which brings about coordination and collaboration among workers enhancing teamwork.

My willingness-to-listen score and the feedback I received from the quiz

My willingness-to-listen score was sixty-three out of seventy-five. However, the feedback I received from the quiz is that my responses have been organized into five dimensions of active listening. These dimensions are postponing evaluation, avoiding interruption, showing interest, organizing information as well as maintaining interest in an attempt to see where my active listening skills are most developed and the areas I should improve.

References

Bevan, J. L., & Sole, K.(2014). Making connections: Understanding interpersonal communication (2nd ed.)

Bodie, G. D., Vickery, A. J., Cannava, K., & Jones, S. M. (2015). The role of "active listening" in informal helping conversations: Impact on perceptions of listener helpfulness, sensitivity, and supportiveness and discloser emotional improvement. Western Journal of Communication, 79(2), 151-173.

Floyd, K. (2014). Empathic listening as an expression of interpersonal affection. International Journal of Listening, 28(1), 1-12.