Surviving the Toxic Workplace: Protect Yourself Against Coworkers, Bosses, and Work Environments That Poison Your Day

CHAPTER 16Active Listening, Paraphrasing, Calling a Process Shot, and Agreeing to Disagree

Another component of effective communication is active listening, a term coined by the late legendary psychologist Dr. Carl Rogers, founder of client-centered therapy. Active listening includes paraphrasing what you hear someone saying to you to clarify the meaning, build rapport and understanding, and discuss what is not being said. Your paraphrasing statement may contain compassionate words to establish empathy and to show the person you understand how he or she feels and what the person is going through. Let the person respond so that the two of you can get a dialogue going. Then after the dialogue, both parties can agree on the substance of the discussion ...