Aviation Reads - Communication 101 - More than just verbal and Active Listening

Disclaimer! This is NOT an opinion piece, but rather a collection of various readings and clippings which serve to spur further exploration in the topic. These are not full articles but simply excerpts from the bulk of reading material that is available.  As much citation and references were taken with regards to the topic. Legitimacy and accuracy of the clippings are read at your own discretion.
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Communication 101Non-Verbal Communications

Professor of psychology Albert Mehrabian studied the importance of non-verbal communication in the 1970s. shows that more than 90% of the meaning in a conversation is conveyed through nonverbal means. 7-38-55 Rule.

 
SIER Hierarchy of Active Listening

*In the early 1980s, the American communication researchers, Steil, Watson & Barker, developed the SIER hierarchy of active listening based on their observation that people recall only about 50% of the message immediately after hearing it and only 25% after two days. Steil, Watson & Barker built upon Claude Shannon and Warren Weaver's general model of communication that was first published*

Sensing

The first stage of The SIER Hierarchy of Active Listening process is to use your physical senses to receive whatever is being communicated.

As this stage you should hear what is being said, see the body language of the person you’re communicating with, listen for tone of voice and observe any other non-verbal cues you can.

It’s important to concentrate and focus at this stage to ensure you collect as much helpful information as possible. Many people fail to be mindful and really present when communicating with others, so miss many spoken and unspoken messages at this stage.

You can improve your sensing with practice. Making eye contact, adopting open body language, being considerate and receptive and leaving pauses in conversation will all help the person you’re communicating with fully communicate what they have to say, meaning there is more information you can sense. Though not technically “sensing” asking helpful questions may also be useful at this stage.

Interpreting

The second stage of the SIER Hierarchy of Active Listening is to interpret the information you’ve sensed in stage 1.

When you’re interpreting what you’ve sensed, you might want to consider questions like: What is the context that the conversation is taking place in? What are the overarching patterns of behavior? What are the rules of communicating in the culture you’re operating within?

It’s important at this stage to really align your thoughts with the person you’re communicating with. It’s also important to wait for the person you’re communicating with to finish their message before starting to interpret it. You don’t want to form your opinions too soon because. If you do, you’ll be less effective at sensing new information in the remainder of the conversation.

Your entire goal in this stage is to ensure that you’re understanding of the messages really aligns to the sender’s meaning.

You can improve your ability to interpret by focusing on the overall social and political context within which you are operating, and by getting to know the people you are communicating with. 

Evaluating

The third stage of the SIER Hierarchy of Active Listening is to evaluate the messages you’ve received and interpreted.

Again, it’s hugely important to wait until the person you are communicating with has finished their message before forming an opinion on any of the content.

In many instances what happens in conversations is that as soon as one person decides they disagree with something being said (by evaluating it), they switch off from the remainder of the conversation or start to discuss that specific point. They don’t allow the person they are speaking with to complete their statement. This is counterproductive for effective listening and relationship building.

Evaluation can be improved through practice, and through mindfully searching for areas of interest in the communication, as opposed to areas of disagreement.

Responding

The last stage of the SIER Hierarchy of Active Listening is to respond to the messages you’ve sensed, interpreted and evaluated.

By this stage you should have a clear view of what the person you’re communicating with has been aiming to communicate. You now need to respond to them. Your responses will take the form of both verbal and non-verbal communications.

It’s important to remember that your communications back to them at this stage have multiple purposes. Your aim is to move the conversation forward, show them that you’ve understood and interpreted what they’ve said and demonstrate that you’ve connected with the emotional sub-text of what they’ve communicated.

It’s possible to get better at responding with practice. Questioning is a powerful tool in this stage, as is playing back what you’ve heard in the same language used by the person you’re communicating with. You may also aim to physically mirror them, nod and provide verbal assurances (e.g. “yes”, “ok”, “I see”) throughout your conversations.

 Active listening:

Source:

https://www.powermag.com/five-ways-to-make-energy-real-to-your-customers/

https://www.toolshero.com/communication-skills/7-38-55-rule/ 

https://www.userlike.com/en/blog/causes-of-miscommunication 

https://worldofwork.io/2019/07/sier-hierarchy-of-active-listening/ 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7wUCyjiyXdg

https://flightsafety.org/asw-article/failure-to-communicate/

https://leadershipfreak.blog/2010/09/04/hearing-what-isn%E2%80%99t-said/