Discussion On Listening Tasks: An Essential Element To Impro

Discussion On Listeningtasksan Essential Element To Improving Your Com

Discussion on Listening Tasks An essential element to improving your communication skills is your ability to reflect on and become self-aware of your own mistakes and shortcomings and take ownership of them. This discussion requires you to be honest with yourself and refrain from attributing blame to others. This assignment requires you to demonstrate self-reflection and accountability and explore specific ways to improve your active listening skills. This discussion question has two steps:

· Step 1: Reflect on your listening behaviors in the professional environment (or college environment). In a word post identify two barriers to effective listening that hinder your ability to actively/mindfully listen. Explain. Using what you learned in either William Ury's TED Talk, Celeste Headlee's TED Talk, or the HBR article What Great Listeners Actually Do by Jack Zenger, identify two specific changes you will make in order to become a more active/mindful/genuine listener? Be specific. Explain.

· Step 2 -: Read at least 5 of your colleagues' initial responses. Choose 2 to comment to. Each comment should be at least 100 words in length and add to the conversation (reflect on their experience, add your own examples, ask questions, respectfully debate what is said, etc.) Often a student will choose to comment on a response that was most helpful to them in understanding the course material better or one that they found interesting or intriguing. Criteria:

• Complete Initial Response - 20 Points: Your initial response should demonstrate analysis (review the link labeled Analyzing versus Summarizing in Modules.) Your initial response should be fully developed addressing the question with adequate examples from the assigned reading and thoughtful explanation of why or how. A complete initial response is a minimum of 200 words in length.
• Two comments to colleagues - 20 Points: After you complete your initial response to an online question, you should read through several of your colleagues’ responses and choose at least two to provide a comment to. Often a student will choose to comment on a response that was most helpful to them in understanding the course material better or one that they found interesting or intriguing. Any comment to a colleague should adequately explain why you found your colleague’s response helpful, interesting or intriguing and be at least 100 words in length.
• Appropriate Integration of Course Concepts and Terms - 20 Points: your initial response should appropriately integrate course terminology and concepts from class materials.
• Organization, evidence of proofreading, spelling checked and proper capitalization - 10 Points: Your posts should demonstrate that you carefully proofread, be organized, free of spelling errors, typos and fragments and follow capitalization conventions.

Consider an organization that has empowered its employees, asking them to improve the quality, productivity, and responsiveness of their processes that involve repetitive work. This work could arise in a manufacturing setting, such as assembling cars or producing chemicals, or in a service setting, such as processing invoices or responding to customer orders and requests. Clearly, the workers would benefit from feedback on the quality (defects, yields) and process times of the work they were doing to suggest where they could make improvements. Identify the role, if any, for sharing financial information with these employees to help them in their efforts to improve quality, productivity, and process times. Be specific about the types of financial information that would be helpful and the specific decisions or actions that could be made better by supplementing physical and operational information with financial information. Post replies on the posts of other classmates that add something to the discussion utilizing concepts from the case, course, and ethical principles. You should not merely compliment classmates or post your feelings about their post but support your response with concepts from the assigned material for the course. See attached pdf. Same topic you did this week.

Statement1: In 2018 Amazon started having their delivery drivers take photos of packages when they are delivered. This allowed for customers to have a clear documentation of where the package was dropped and that it safely arrived at the correct address. This benefited Amazon because it created a way for Amazon to demonstrate their dedication to the customer and improve the quality of the deliveries provided by them. Additionally, this allowed for Amazon to be able to increase their customer happiness. This empowered employees because they were able to prove that they correctly delivered packages.

This is greatly useful when the customer claims that a package was never delivered. Additionally, this documentation step helped Amazon save money for customers that claimed packages never arrived but they actually did. This step also greatly popularized the dedication that Amazon had for the convenience they were providing for their prime shipping. This likely increases cost to serve by increasing the amount of delivery steps and by default increasing the time used for delivery. This is a value adding activity and creates very loyal customers.

Customers of Amazon are very satisfied with their delivery experiences and therefore increase the number of prime subscribers. This could be considered a preventative cost for Amazon as they are training their employees to document deliveries. Some financial information that will motivate employees to be trained would include preventative costs and external failure costs. With preventative costs being those costs of having to send an additional package or losing the customer altogether. The delivery driver would be able to actively help prevent these costs.

External failure costs would be the main cost that Amazon is avoiding with this documentation. The photo ensures that the package is in tack and the customer will not blame Amazon for any defect, motivating the employee to properly take care of the package. A Cost-Quality Report would add to this as well since a bigger picture will be provided. This report will just provide the employee with general motivation to increase quality.

Paper For Above instruction

Effective listening is fundamental to enhancing communication skills, especially in professional settings where misunderstandings can lead to errors or conflicts. Reflecting on my listening behaviors, I recognize two primary barriers that hinder my ability to listen actively and mindfully in a professional context. The first barrier is distractions, both internal and external. Internally, my mind often wanders, especially during lengthy meetings or discussions that do not seem immediately relevant. Externally, environmental distractions such as noise or interruptions can also divert my attention, reducing my ability to fully process what is being communicated. The second barrier is preconceived notions or judgments about the speaker or topic, which can impede open-minded listening and lead to selective hearing.

Drawing from Celeste Headlee's TED Talk on the art of listening, I plan to implement two specific strategies to improve my active listening skills. First, I will practice mindful listening by consciously reducing distractions before meetings or discussions, such as silencing notifications and securing a quiet environment. This aligns with Headlee's emphasis on giving others your full attention and avoiding multitasking. Second, I will adopt the practice of asking open-ended questions to encourage speakers to elaborate and share more, which demonstrates genuine engagement. This technique fosters deeper understanding and signals to the speaker that their message is valued, which Headlee highlights as essential for authentic listening.

In addition to personal reflection, engaging with colleagues' responses offers valuable insights into different listening challenges and strategies. For example, some colleagues might mention emotional barriers, such as impatience or frustration, which I might not have considered. Others may emphasize the importance of non-verbal cues, which I agree can significantly enhance active listening when used effectively. Combining these perspectives broadens my understanding of effective listening practices and highlights the importance of continuous self-awareness and adjustment. Overall, improving my listening skills requires consistent effort to minimize barriers and employ active engagement techniques identified by expert speakers and writers on effective communication.

References

• Headlee, C. (2017). 10 Ways to Have Better Conversations. TED Talk. https://www.ted.com/talks/celeste_headlee_10_ways_to_have_better_conversations
• Zenger, J. (2017). What Great Listeners Actually Do. Harvard Business Review. https://hbr.org/2017/07/what-great-listeners-actually-do
• Ury, W. (2010). Getting to Yes: Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In. Penguin Books.
• Gordon, T. (1970). Leader Effectiveness Training. My Power Publications.
• Rogers, C. (1957). Active listening. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 4(3), 219–229.
• Brown, B. (2018). Dare to Lead: Brave Work. Tough Conversations. Whole Hearts. Random House.
• Schwarz, R. (2016). The Power of Listening: Building Relationships for Success. Routledge.
• McCornack, S. (2014). Reflect and Relate: An Introduction to Interpersonal Communication. Bedford/St. Martin's.
• DeVito, J. (2019). The Interpersonal Communication Book. Pearson.
• Silverman, J. (2015). The Art of Active Listening. Harvard Business Review. https://hbr.org/2015/12/the-art-of-active-listening