High-Impact Listening:
The Key Success Skill for STEM Professionals
When was the last time you didn’t fully understand what someone you work with said to you? Our ability to listen effectively can make or break our scientific collaborations and success.
This 3-week interactive workshop will teach you three communication principles to help prevent misunderstandings, build trusted relationships, clarify ideas, understand different viewpoints, and resolve disagreements. These skills will prepare you to navigate these challenges, especially when the stakes are high.
“Of course I listen every day, but this workshop made me realize I need to listen in new ways, really tuning into the other people in the room and making sure I validate what I think I am hearing.”
– Workshop participant from PCST Conference, April 2023
Principle #1
Open-Minded Inquiry
Principle #2
Attentive Silence
Principle #3
Affirmed Understanding
FAQs
What are the three principles of high-impact listening?
Open-Minded Inquiry is the discipline of seeking additional input to inform your response. This entails formulating engaging, unbiased questions to elicit an explanation that goes deep enough to create understanding.
Attentive Silence requires an ability to notice and correctly identify non-verbal cues. You can gain insight into a speaker’s meaning from their tone of voice and pace of speech along with their facial expressions, body position, and movement.
Affirmed Understanding is a combination of responding empathetically to help others feel seen and validating that everyone has been heard and understood. Practicing this principle helps us build stronger relationships with colleagues.
When will the workshop take place?
Tuesdays in October: 3, 10, and 17 at 9:00AM PT/12:00PM ET/ 6:00PM UTC. If you are interested in the workshop, but these dates and/or times are not convenient for you, please send us an email and let us know. We expect to have another offering in early 2024 so it will help to have input about desired dates and times.
FAQs, cont.
Are there assignments outside the sessions?
Participants should plan for 30 minutes to 1 hour of observational homework after the first and second sessions. “Observational” means that you will be able to complete the assignment in the course of what you are already doing. There will be no assignments that require additional preparation (e.g. writing or preparing a video).
Is the workshop in person or virtual?
The sessions will be virtual to accommodate participants in multiple time zones.
Will the session recordings be available for later viewing?
Recordings will be available for two weeks after the workshop concludes.
How much does the workshop series cost?
The early bird rate before Sept 15 is $299. After, it is $347 (US dollars).
How do I register?
Register here.
Meet Amy
Amy Aines is a communication strategist, coach, and trainer who builds STEM career success skills. She understands the communication challenges that researchers face and what it takes to be heard, understood, believed, and supported. She is CEO of a boutique communication consulting firm she founded in 1999 and co-author of Championing Science – Communicating Your Ideas to Decision Makers, a ‘how to’ book reflecting four decades of work with scientists and engineers at more than 50 companies in the wireless, tech, and biotech industries. Her clients range from global giants to startups including Genentech, McKesson, BioMarin, Gilead, Cisco, Stoke Therapeutics, Vodafone and numerous emerging tech and biotech firms.
A former wireless telecommunications executive, Amy’s honed her listening skills over countless high-stakes conversations. Her industry roles have run the gamut from corporate spokesperson for $10B company, culture and brand builder, employee motivator, change manager, media trainer, to meeting facilitator.
Amy graduated from University of California, Santa Barbara with a BA in Communications Studies and is certified as a strategist through the Human Capital Institute. She began teaching public speaking while completing as an undergraduate and continues to coach presenters and lead 3MT training sessions.
Since Championing Science debuted, Amy has turned her focus to skill building. She partners with professional development leaders to design programs for universities and government agencies and has served NASA, JPL, the DOE RECS Program, National Postdoc Association, the University of Virginia, Northeastern Network Science Institute, UCLA, Princeton, and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. Amy volunteers for the STEM Advocacy Institute, Beyond the PhD, Quest Science Center, and enjoys singing with the Stay at Tone Moms.
