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Active Listening

5 minutes 5 Questions

Active Listening is a critical skill in coaching and mentoring within teams. It involves fully focusing, understanding, responding, and then remembering what is being said by team members. In an Agile environment, it is even more crucial as it promotes effective communication and minimizes misunder…

Active Listening in PMI-ACP Coaching and Mentoring within Teams

What is Active Listening?
Active Listening is a communication technique used in coaching and mentoring. It requires the listener to fully concentrate, interpret, understand, and reply thoughtfully to the speaker's words. It's about giving undivided attention to the speaker to ensure a complete understanding.

Why is it Important?
Active Listening is a key component of effective communication. It encourages respect and understanding. It is particularly important in team settings as it promotes problem-solving, helps avoid misunderstandings, and fosters a culture of empathy and collaboration.

How it Works?
Active Listening involves three key elements: Comprehending, Retaining, and Responding. Comprehension is understanding the speaker's message, retaining is recalling the information and, responding is displaying that you have understood and considered their points.

Exam Tips: Answering Questions on Active Listening
When faced with questions regarding Active Listening during the exam, remember to focus on the essentials; attentiveness, understanding, and feedback are crucial elements of Active Listening. Look for choices that illustrate these characteristics.
Consider also the context of the question - in team settings, solutions that display empathy and promote collaboration are often the best choices. Be mindful also of choices that may discourage or undermine Active Listening, such as preconceptions, interruptions or lack of attention.

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PMI-ACP - Active Listening Example Questions

Test your knowledge of Active Listening

Question 1

During a technical support call, a customer is explaining a complex network issue but keeps losing their train of thought. What active listening technique would be most effective?

Summarizing key points periodically to help the customer stay on track Finishing the customer's sentences to speed up the conversation Asking rapid-fire questions to gather more information quickly Providing potential solutions based on partial information

Correct Answer: Summarizing key points periodically to help the customer stay on track

The most effective active listening technique in this scenario is summarizing key points periodically to help the customer stay on track. This approach demonstrates that you are attentively listening to the customer and helps them maintain focus on the issue at hand. By providing regular summaries, you assist the customer in organizing their thoughts and ensure that both parties have a clear understanding of the problem.

Finishing the customer's sentences is not appropriate as it can be perceived as rude and may lead to incorrect assumptions about the issue. It also doesn't allow the customer to fully express their concerns.

Asking rapid-fire questions can overwhelm the customer, especially when they are already struggling to articulate the problem. This approach may cause further confusion and frustration.

Providing potential solutions based on partial information is premature and can lead to misdiagnosis of the issue. It's crucial to gather complete information before offering solutions to ensure accuracy and effectiveness in resolving the problem.

The chosen technique of summarizing key points demonstrates empathy, helps maintain focus, and ensures clear communication throughout the support call, making it the most effective approach in this situation.

Question 2

When facilitating a project meeting where stakeholders speak different languages and use different cultural gestures, which active listening strategy demonstrates the highest level of cultural competence?

Observe body language and ask clarifying questions to confirm understanding Take detailed notes and create visual diagrams to map out each stakeholder's perspective in real-time Focus solely on verbal communication to avoid potential cultural misinterpretations Request that all stakeholders speak only in the primary business language to maintain clarity

Correct Answer: Observe body language and ask clarifying questions to confirm understanding

Observing body language and asking clarifying questions represents the highest level of cultural competence because: 1. It acknowledges both verbal and non-verbal communication 2. It demonstrates respect for cultural differences 3. It actively seeks to prevent misunderstandings 4. It allows for real-time confirmation of mutual understanding Why other options are inadequate: Taking notes and creating diagrams may help document perspectives but does not address real-time cultural communication challenges. Requesting all stakeholders speak only in the primary business language shows cultural insensitivity and may exclude valuable input from stakeholders who are more comfortable expressing complex ideas in their native language. Focusing solely on verbal communication misses critical cultural cues and non-verbal elements that are essential for complete understanding in cross-cultural communication. This approach increases the risk of misunderstandings and may appear disrespectful to stakeholders from high-context cultures.

Question 3

During a client feedback session, the client frequently switches between multiple issues, making it difficult to understand their concerns. What would be the best active listening approach?

Invite the client to a follow-up meeting to discuss unclear points, assuming understanding for now. Suggest taking written notes of all issues first, then prioritizing them for discussion without seeking direct clarification. Politely ask the client to focus on one issue at a time to allow for more detailed discussion and understanding. Summarize what has been said by the client regularly throughout the conversation to ensure all points are covered, though not seeking clarification on each point.

Correct Answer: Politely ask the client to focus on one issue at a time to allow for more detailed discussion and understanding.

Active listening requires attentiveness and seeking clarity on the topic at hand to ensure understanding. Politely asking the client to focus on one issue at a time helps in deep diving into each concern, thereby facilitating better understanding and resolution. The incorrect answers, while related to communication and meeting strategies, fail to directly engage with the immediate need for clarity and understanding of the client's concerns.

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