MEMO TO: Jeffrey Drost FROM: Danael Kluver DATE: January 23, 2014 SUBJECT: Listening: Recognizing Good Habits As I focus on the listening behavior of people around me this week I found five good and five bad listening habits that people tend to have. I found it amazing how people tend not to listen to you if they are in a hurry or just not interested in what you have to say. Below I have constructed a table of people who I observed over this week containing their good listening habits, their bad listening habits, and their situation as follows: Participants Good Listening Behavior Bad Listening Behavior Situation Sebastian Basldua Eric Rhine Jake Boucher Uses verbal cues to let the speaker know he’s listening. Ensure understanding Reflects on what has been said before making a response Concentrates on every word being spoken Does not make eye contact all the time Does not always face the speaker Not always paying attention Talking in the dorm room Eating in the DC Walking to class Does not always use non-verbal cues that tell me that he is listening Driving in a vehicle Jon Ostrander As you can see from the table above people have many different listening abilities not everyone is a perfect listener. The best listener out of the four people I observed was Jon Ostrander. Jon Ostrander was concentrating on every word that I was speaking, he also ensure his understanding of what I was saying and followed up with important feedback. All four of the participants listened better when in a quiet area and were more attentive to what I had to say. Over this week I have definitely become a better listener and have try to ensure my understanding of what people are trying to communicate to me. dak