Material for reading "The active listening during the coaching process"

2.1 The importance of active listening for effective coaching

A valuable technique in the coaching process is active listening. It is not easy because it requires the coach to focus 100% on what the female learner says, to assimilate and understand the content, and as a result, it is the basis for skillfully conducting the coaching process, formulating additional questions and answers if necessary. This ability will let coach to understand and discuss the female learner ideas and suggestions that arise during the conversation.

There are six key active listening skills that are equally important for effective communication between the learner and the coach (please see the graph below):

 

6 key active listening skills can be listed.

2.2  Obstacles to apply the active listening within the coaching of female learners

There might be external and internal obstacles of the active listening. Sometimes it is very difficult to focus on what other person is saying because of various distractions, fatigue or other disturbances coming from the environment (e.g. noise, bad place, etc.). An effective listener should also not focus on what he/she wants to say, because that is when the content of the learner's message escapes him/her. The listener should also not interrupt while the other person is speaking and come to conclusions too quickly. An effective coach with this ability should cut his/her thoughts off from all distractions and focus here and now completely on the interlocutor in order not to miss any important information for the coaching process. A sign for the speaker that the coach listens to her may be e.g. eye contact, emotional reactions, nods to her words and others.

Active listening requires an open mind and the exclusion of judging and imposing your opinion. The coach should be open to new ideas and opportunities. Sometimes a huge obstacle in the coaching process are the strong views of the coach, which impose very schematic, not necessarily accurate solutions, which somehow limit the learner. It is worthwhile to suspend judgement/evaluation, not to criticise and to avoid quarrels caused by differences of opinion.

2.3  Active listening techniques  

The first skill of active listening is to focus your attention on what the female learner is saying. A lot of effort should be put into focusing 100% on the words, attitude and emotions - on all aspects of the speaker's speech.

Another important point in active listening is to reflect the information and emotions of your learner, so that female learner feels that she is being listened to and understood. Reflection is an active listening technique that shows that both listener and speaker are at the same point. During the conversation, it is worthwhile to paraphrase the content in order to confirm listening and understanding the information. Sometimes an error in the transmission can creep in, for example when a learner misspoken words to convey what she wanted. Thus, in addition to confirming a person's listening, reflection also helps to eliminate communication errors.

If something is unclear, it is worth asking a question about it to make sure that the information is well understood or to clarify the doubt. Important tools of active listening for a coach are open questions like: "What do you think about...", ,, What's your opinion of...?", ,, Describe...". These are explanatory and checking questions that help the coach to solve a given problem. A good reaction of the coach should be staying focused on the learner's question. This helps to maintain the spirit of cooperation.

The fifth skill related to active listening is summing up, i.e. reworking key topics during the conversation. This helps to confirm and structure the understanding of the interlocutor's point of view, as well as defining mutual responsibilities and actions of both parties. This skill consists of a short summary of how the information was understood and then asking the speaker to do the same. It may sound like, for example, " Let me summarize what you said to see if I understand correctly. (...) Did I get that right?".

The last element of active listening is to present your ideas, suggestions, feelings about the content of the conversation. However, this should be based on the other person's understanding. If the coach looks at the problem from the learner's perspective, only then can he/she talk about a similar experience or solution. However, it is necessary to remember that nothing should be imposed. The female learner must feel that there are certain options, but the choice is hers. It is also worth encouraging the learner to offer her idea.

1.4  Tips - how to improve the skills of active listening?

Many people assume that they are good listeners, but reality shows that not always. There are many difficulties, dispersions from the environment, as well as those resulting from communication errors. To be a good listener, all distractions must be eliminated, attention must be paid to the tone of voice and body language. It is worthwhile to strive for 80% listening and 20% speaking. Please note that you do not always have to answer or comment. Sometimes a break in dialogue is necessary and good. It can help to collect and organize thoughts. Being an attentive listener also means being a strong leader.



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