The Art of Effective Listening & Connecting with People

Session outline

There is a big difference between hearing what someone is saying and listening to them. Hearing is passive, listening is active. The ability to listen to, rather than just hear, what clients and colleagues have to say is an essential skill. It helps to build strong relationships and this results in new business, business retention and happier workplaces.

This seminar will develop your listening skills and help you with both internal and external relationships at work. It will also teach you how to connect with people through understanding behavioural traits and why people say what they say.

Learning objectives

By the end of this session, participants will be able to:

• appreciate the important difference between hearing and listening what someone else is saying and the impact this has on relationships
• understand how to listen without thinking and making a judgement
• recognise annoying habits that can potentially isolate people communicating with you
• connect more easily with people by understanding behavioural traits

Speaker biography

Jeff Heasman is a leading international trainer and is recognised throughout the world for his work around soft skills within the insurance and financial services industries. Jeff holds both a bachelors and maters degree in laws and after many years experience working within the legal and insurance industries as a litigation executive and senior liability adjuster, Jeff subsequently qualified as a language instructor and is a certified practitioner member of the Academy of Modern Applied Psychology.

Jeff has been Dean of Faculty of Law at Cavendish University Zambia (CUZ) in Africa, where he was also a lecturer in the law of torts. He has also been tutor in law and language at Swansea University. He has delivered courses in Business English to MBA students and company directors at ESIC University in Pamplona, Spain. He still provides personal tuition in communication skills to executives in banks and financial services across the world but especially in Turkey and Spain.

Jeff has delivered many public lectures on subjects such as the law of torts and plain language and has provided training in insurance law and practice to some of the world's largest and most prestigious organisations, as well as regularly providing seminars for the Chartered Insurance Institute (CII) and Chartered Institute for Securities and Investments (CISI). Jeff is often asked to write blogs and articles for different organisations on law, skills and communication, including for the global industry newspaper, The Lawyer. He has taken part in media debates on the insurance industry in the UK and has also appeared in national television and radio in various countries, primarily talking about professional commination skills. He maintains close links to the insurance industry providing plain language editing services to help companies ensure their documents re readable and accessible for customers.

Who should attend

Everyone, particularly those involved in customer interaction

Please note: This event is a regional collaboration between the local institutes in the area. Your booking details will be shared with the Insurance Institute of Halifax and Bradford, which is acting as the host institute for this event.