A Newsletter of the International Listening Association

L I S T E N I N G P O S T

Issue 104

Winter 2011

PRESIDENT’S PERSPECTIVE

By Laura Janusik

Laura Janusik

The Board’s primary work

this year can be summed up in two

words: Fiscal Responsibility. Though

I must confess, this was not the goal I

had in mind when I assumed the

presidency; I realized it was the focus

most needed. The Ad Hoc

committee, led by Sheila Bentley and

Jennifer Grau, took on an

extraordinary challenge in making

recommendations to help increase

income while decreasing expenses.

The Board considered all of them and

chose the most strategic to implement

first. You’ll find many of these

recommendations as changes in the

Bylaws and Constitution this year,

and I’d like to address some of the

larger ones here to help you

understand them better.

To begin, our association was

thrown into a financial challenge with

the passing of the Constitutional

amendment to repay the Life Member

Fund. What many did not realize was

the Life Member funds were never

used as operating funds…they were

deposited into an interest bearing

account. At least, that was the plan.

Somewhere along the line, those

funds had to be accessed because the

daytoday costs of the association

could not be paid. A quick inspection

of the membership records and rates

(printed on page 3) shows why.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 3

32 International Listening Association Convention

Johnson City, TN

March 31 to April 2, 2011

“Listening for a Sustainable Future”

DON’T FORGET TO REGISTER!

For more information about the 2011 conference, please visit our website

or contact Chris Bond

816.271.4504

cbond3@missouriwestern.edu

ILA PRECONFERENCE: TIME TO THINK SEMINAR

March 30, 2011, from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m.

The Millennium Center in Johnson City, TN

This seminar will be presented by Sara Hart of the Time to Think

organization and is based on the books Time to Think and More

Time Think by awardwinning author Nancy Kline. The fee is $125.

Please register by February 28, 2011.

Quillen School of Medicine and ILA Presents

EFFECTIVE LISTENING FOR

SUCCESSFUL MEDICAL OUTCOMES

A Healthcare Symposium

@ the ILA convention April 3, 2011

See www.listening.org for more details.

IN THIS ISSUE

Pages 24 – Membership, Constitutional Changes, and President’s

Perspective; Pages 56 – Listening Legend; Page 78 – Interdisciplinary

Perspective; Page 9 – Member Views

ILA LISTENING POST # 104 – Page 1

MEMBERSHIP

WELCOME NEW MEMBERS OF ILA!

SPONSOR A STUDENT

By Christa Tess

Students are the future of

ILA. Unfortunately, many cannot

afford to join or attend conferences.

The ILA’s student scholarship fund

allows ILA members to sponsor

students who are presenting at the

conference through donations.

As a sponsor, you will be

introduced to “your student” at the

conference. Donations can be in any

amount. To contribute, log on to

www.listen.org and use the donation

link near the Convention information

directly

the

website

http://www.ila.camp7.org/Donate.

If you will be attending the

convention, you will also be able to

make

contributions

when

you

mail a check (payable to “ILA” with

the note “Student Scholarship Fund”

on the check) to:Dr. Nan Johnson-

Curiskis,

Executive

Director,

International Listening Association

Box 164 Belle Plaine, MN 56011

Toll Free (US only) 1-877-8-LISTEN

(877-854-7836) Phone or send a text

to 952-594-5697

Membership Target = 300

The ILA has a target of having

300 active members by March

31, 2011.

All current members are

encouraged to talk to

professional colleagues and

bring at least one new member

into the organization.

Talk to somebody this week

Beverly Augustine

Illinois, USA

Jeffery Bile

Kentucky, USA

Jonathan Denham

Louisiana, USA

Richard Fast

Canada

Jay Frasier

Oregon, USA

Rena Hawkins

North Carolina, USA

Judith Hutton

Indiana, USA

Shawn Keaton

Louisiana, USA

Kieran Liebl

Minnesota, USA

Ruth Livingston

Tennessee, USA

William Mickelson

Wisconsin, USA

Mohamme Mugaibel

Saudi Arabia

David Purdy

Minnesota, USA

Mike Rold

Louisiana, USA

Samuel Shuster

Minnesota, USA

Siona van Dijk

Washington, USA

Andrea Vickery

Louisiana, USA

Gail Webb

Colorado, USA

Toastmaster’s Connection

Have you helped your local Toastmaster’s organization? If

you have, we would like to hear from you.

At least one member has linked the critical listening skills to

presentation preparation and would like to make contact with

other ILA members who might be interested.

Contact Greg Enos (GregEnos@gmail.com)

ILA LISTENING POST # 104 – Page 2

CONSTITUTIONAL CHANGES

ILA Executive Board Votes to

Institute Salary for Executive

Director

The ILA Executive Board met on

December 20, 2010. In addition to

proposed changes in the Constitution

and ByLaws, Executive Board

members voted to change the

honorarium for the Executive

Director to a salary at the current rate

of $12,500 annually. This action was

taken because when a salary is

provided, employer/employee taxes

must be paid. This is not the case

with an honorarium which has been

the method used by ILA to reimburse

Executive Directors for their service.

The action taken by the Executive

Board puts ILA in compliance with

federal government regulations.

ILA Executive Board Votes to

Welcome eMembers

The ILA Executive Board

met on February 15. It voted to

implement a new type of ILA

membership: The eMembership.

The eMember will pay dues to the

Association at a rate established by

the Executive Board. For the first two

years after inception, eMembers will

be for new members only. During this

time, current members will not be

able to renew at eMember rates.

Annual eMembership is reserved for

individuals who that year are not able

to attend either a regional event or the

annual international convention. If

the eMember chooses to attend

either a regional event or the annual

convention, the eMember will pay

the difference between eMembership

and regular membership to become a

regular member or pay the non

member event or convention fee.

Board Members are exempt from e

Memberships.

Executive Director is still the only

paid Board position, albeit at a

modest salary. The Executive

Director’s primary duties have been

in managing the membership and

convention function and handling the

ILA finances. However, at this time,

one of the most important changes

this year’s Board is proposing is the

acceptance of the new Board position

of VP of Finance. This individual

would have a financial background,

either through education or business

experience, and assist the board with

financial matters and will be

responsible for keeping the finances

in order and recommending a budget.

We feel that ILA will benefit

financially from having a Board

member dedicated to these

responsibilities.

In addition, the Board also

members unable to attend the annual

convention, particularly those

members who live outside the United

States and find it impractical to

attend, especially since our

conventions don’t venture outside the

U.S. very often. Thus, we’re

proposing a new membership level:

an eMember. CONTINED PAGE 4

PRESIDENT’S PERSPECTIVE

Continued from page 1

Based on the chart above, one

can clearly see that dues alone don’t

support the association. Because the

convention has always been run as a

“breakeven” event, the Board has

always been scrambling to make up

over $12,000 a year simply to pay

expenses. In the years that this

couldn’t be done, the Life Member

Fund was tapped into to pay the bills.

Because of the Constitutional

amendment passed in March 2010,

not only can dipping into the fund not

be done anymore, but the interest

from the fund, generally around

$2,000 a year, based on interest rates,

is now returned to the Life Member

Fund and cannot be used to offset this

deficit.

Also, in the early years of

ILA, there was a treasurer on the

Board. This position was eliminated

when the administrative tasks became

too challenging for the Board, and

ILA chose to hire an executive

director to take over the

administrative and financial tasks of

the association. To this day, the

ILA LISTENING POST # 104 – Page 3

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 3

The eMember would be limited to

new memberships (but only for the

first two years), thereby decreasing

the fear that regular members would

leave in droves. EMembers would

receive the journal and all of the

benefits of the membersonly

website, allowing for virtual

networking, listening exercises, and if

all goes well, all papers from past

conventions, formerly available for a

fee through the Convention Paper

Resources Index. We anticipate the

market of the eMember to be

national and international members

who can’t afford the travel costs to a

convention, as well as those

interested in research. At the time of

print, the board has not finalized the

decision to bring this change to the

general membership, but it is my

sincere hope that we do.

Another constitutional

change would institutionalize how the

Life Member Fund is repaid. It

proposes that a minimum of 20% of

unbudgeted reserves (the nonprofit’s

term for “profit”) be used to repay the

Life Fund each year. That way, it

ensures that budget funds are not

taken from regular operating costs

that support all members.

Much of our ability for the

Board to see these budget

opportunities this year comes from

the Ad Hoc committee’s ability to

create the dashboard, which I wrote

about in the previous Listening Post.

Once again, I have to thank the Ad

Hoc committee, led by Sheila Bentley

and Jennifer Grau, with a special

thanks to Alan Erlich, not only for

serving on the committee, but for

being the computer guru who

designed and implemented the

dashboard.

We hope these proposed

changes will contribute to the

strength and viability of ILA. If you

have any questions or comments, feel

free to contact me by sending an

email to Pres2010@Listen.org.

I look forward to seeing you

in Johnson City at our convention. If

you’re unable to make it, please send

in your proxy vote…you can

designate whomever you wish to vote

for you, and a copy of your proxy

(permission to do so), should be sent

to Greg Enos, our 2 Vice President.

It’s been an honor to serve

this association, and I hope that I was

able to contribute to its sustainability

and can continue to do so in the

future.

PRESIDENT’S PERSPECTIVE

Every time you conduct a

GoodSearch

the ILA gets money!

Goodsearch also has a program called

Goodshop that you can access on the

ILA’s website, which will donate a

percentage of your purchase amount

to ILA every time you shop on the

Internet. Whether you use Goodshop

or Amazon, you never pay more for

your purchases.

Spread the word. The more people

who use Goodsearch and Goodshop,

the more money the ILA receives. Go

to www.goodsearch.com, and type in

“International Listening

Association” in the area that asks

“Who Do You GoodSearch for?”

NOMINATING COMMITTEE NEWS

Dwight Heartfield has agreed to be nominated to the nominated

committee for 2011. He has been added to the ballot. Please be sure to

vote at the convention! For more information about committee

membership, please see our website.

ILA LISTENING POST # 104 – Page 4

lives. I find, some thirty years later,

that it has not changed very much

around the country. Whenever I begin

to promote the power of listening,

people begin to look at me as if to

say, ‘Oh, I am already a good

listener,’ and they still say, ‘What?

You must be kidding. Is listening an

academic subject?’ I have found that

people believe listening to be easy, to

be taken for granted, because they

already believe to be good listeners.”

Erika also spoke about how

her professional research has

challenged her listening skills. In one

case, she had to interview more than

thirty German women refugees and

deportees of WWII from the far

Eastern regions of Germany. All of

them had been stripped of their rights,

were dispossessed, had to flee from

the approaching Russian Red Army,

were enslaved by Poles who had

taken over Eastern regions of

Germany, or were transported for

years of slave labor to Siberia. She

shared how her listening skills were

challenged during these interviews:

“Their narratives were extremely

emotional, almost always told with

interruptions of a flow of tears. I

could not help but feel for the women

who suffered such torture and horror.

Then I listened to it all over again on

tape, again with my own emotions

and tears flowing so strongly, that I

had to walk away from the tape.”

CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE

TO NOMINATE SOMEONE

FOR 2012 LISTENING

LEGEND, CONTACT LP

EDITOR MOLLY STOLTZ

mmstoltz@valdosta.edu

had accepted a faculty position at St.

Cloud State University in 1978 and

had developed and taught a popular

course entitled Effective Listening

that she received an invitation from

Manny Steil to meet at the University

of Minnesota (St. Paul Campus) with

a group of people interested in

listening. Erika recalled her reaction:

“Wow, I was not alone! There were

other people interested in listening. I

was elated to find about thirty

individuals at that meeting, all

excited about the importance of

The ILA Listening Legend of listening. What a stimulating meeting

2011 is Dr. Erika Vora, Professor of it was! What a fabulous group! We

Intercultural Communication at St. had a common cause: to start a

Cloud State University and former listening association. What should

Fulbright Scholar to Taiwan, we call it? Already, at that time, we

Republic of China. Her new book The thought globally and named it The

Will to Live: A German Family’s International Listening Association.

Flight from Soviet Rule has just been Next year, the ILA had its first

published by Xlibris. Erika has been unforgettable conference in Atlanta,

honored as an “Outstanding where we all shared our enthusiasm

Individual of Minnesota in 2010” by for listening and learned from each

the Communication and Theatre other; and the rest is history.” After

Association of Minnesota. Erika has cofounding the ILA, Erika promoted

been a visiting scholar and conducted the ILA wherever she went; her

research on several continents; she friends and colleagues called her “the

has written about comparing missionary of listening”.

comprehensive listening in China, As a “missionary of

Japan and the United States, and listening”, Erika faced many

introduced perspective taking professional and personal challenges.

listening as a new type of listening. First of all, when discussing the perils

Her paper entitled “Listening to the of promoting listening as an academic

Dying,” (coauthored with Ariana subject, Erika immediately recalled

Vora, Harvard Medical School) and how hard it was to find research and

published at the International Journal teaching materials about listening

of Listening, has received much when she first started her career; she

attention as has her comparative then talked about the reaction of

analysis of listening to the elderly in others when she told them she wanted

India and the United States. to teach and study listening; she

Though her interest in explains: “When I first started

listening dates back to her graduate offering a summer course on

school days when she “noticed how Listening at an East coast university

poorly we listen to each other, but during the summer of 1979, I

how eager we are to speak” and needed to justify and prove how that

decided to write a research paper on subject is indeed academic and of

the subject, it was not until after she vital importance in all our everyday

ILA LISTENING POST # 104 – Page 5

LISTENING LEGEND

LISTENING LEGEND

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 5

Erika also talked about the

challenges of listening at Truth and

Reconciliation hearings in various

townships of South Africa in 1998

during which she heard testimony

from victims of unspeakable violent

acts during Apartheid. “In both

situations,” she says, “I was so

emotionally involved and empathic

that my comprehensive listening

ability was greatly hampered. I tried

to overcome these two most difficult

listening situations by practicing the

perspective taking approach to

listening. It helped me focus on

understanding and comprehending

the speakers’ messages from their

perspectives without being carried

away with my own emotions.”

Perhaps, though, it is Erika’s

empathetic (and enthusiastic)

listening skills that have helped her

achieve the success she has. She

explains that she still loves what she

does on a daily basis. “I have

encouraged all of my students for

more than thirty two years to practice

daily appreciative listening not only

to their favorite music but to all the

people in their life space. I still hear

from students who have graduated a

long time ago that this simple

awareness, to listen to others with

appreciation, has made a positive

impact on their relationships with

others.” Surely these students as well

as her colleagues would agree that

this “missionary of listening” is

indeed a listening legend.

Whom do you consider to be a great listener, and how has that person

inspired you?

“For me, the greatest listener ever has to be Mahatma Gandhi. No, I did not

personally meet him. However, I had the great privilege of meeting and

interviewing many of his contemporaries and associates in India to learn

about the Great Mahatma’s legacy. Again and again they told me what a

remarkable listener he was and how he listened to everybody, from the

homeless person in the street to the highest government official.”

~ Erika Vora, 2011 ILA Listening Legend

If People are Not Looking at Us, We Know They are Not Listening.

By Peter DeLisser

How do we know? We know because National statistics indicate that 55% of

the meaning of our message is sent by our facial and body gesture; 38% is

sent in our emotional tone of voice; only 7% is sent in our words.

For example you might say to someone, “You are not a Team Player,” said

with an angry tone of voice while shaking an Index finger at them. If that

person is not looking at you and doesn’t see us you shaking your index finger,

that person will miss 55% of the meaning of your message!

Interestingly, the statistics I have cited – originally published in 1967by

Albert Mehrabian, a professor at the University of California, Los Angeles –

have been challenged by others particularly in relation to the idea that words

only contain 7 % of a message’s meaning. I would suggest that further

research needs done in this area to address the validity of these statistics

WANT TO SUBMIT TO THE LISTENING POST?

CONTACT EDITOR MOLLY STOLTZ

mmstoltz@valdosta.edu

DEADLINE FOR NEXT ISSUE: MAY 1

ILA LISTENING POST # 104 – Page 6

While the article title by Linda

Ko and Megan Lewis may initially be

offputting, the subject matter –

emotional support – is of particular

interest to listening scholars. The

importance of social support to our

mental and physical health is well

documented. Research in this area has

found that married couples in

particular benefit from the social

support they receive from their

spouse. These couples tend to be

healthier, in part, due to the buffering

effect that emotional support has on

one’s immune system

Understanding emotional social

support in these relationships is

particularly meaningful because as

married couples grow older, their

social support networks typically

become smaller. Retirement, death,

and failing health lead to greater

dependence on spousal support.

These experiences, however, can lead

to increases in symptoms of

depression. While previous studies of

emotional support has found it to be

particularly effective in reducing

depression and its symptoms,

relatively little research has addressed

the interrelationship between giving

and receiving emotional social

support by older, married couples and

its effect on symptoms of depression.

This gap in the literature is addressed

by Ko and Lewis. They hypothesized

that “the relationship between

husbands’’ and wives’ own reports of

giving emotional support would be

associated with less depressive

symptomatology in their spouses,

through the spouses’ perception of

receiving emotional support.”

INTERDISCIPLINARY PERSPECTIVE

Article Review By Debra Worthington

Ko, L. K., & Lewis, M. A. (2010). The role of giving and receiving emotional support in depressive symptomatology

among older couples: An application of the actorpartner interdependence model. Journal of Social and Personal

Relationships.

Ko and Lewis’s study examined giving emotional support .

spousal perspectives of emotional Specifically, husbands reported

social support as conceptualized by receiving greater emotional support

the ActorPartner Independence from their wives, than wives reported

Model (Kashy & Kenny, 1999). The receiving from their husbands. In

APIM allowed Ko and Lewis to addition, the wives reported greater

estimate the effect of this type of levels of depression than did their

support on each partner husbands. No significant difference

simultaneously, while also permitting was found in reported levels of giving

them to control for the interdependent emotional support.

nature of the relationship. As stated One important finding by Ko

by Ko and Lewis, the APIM enabled and Lewis is that individual

them to “test for the interpersonal perception is important. Notably,

effects of a participant’s own reports they report that the effects of giving

of giving emotional support on their support were magnified when

own (actoreffect) and their spouse’s spouses were aware such support was

(partnereffect) depressive being provided. Spousal perceptions

symptomology, while taking into of receiving emotional support were

account the dyad’s interdependence.” also linked to lower levels of reported

Drawing on previously collected depression. At first glance, these

data (interviews conducted for the findings appear to contradict other

“Changing Lives of Older Couples” research suggesting that “invisible”

study), Ko and Lewis analyzed data support is more beneficial to people

from 423 couples. In addition to because it places less of an emotional

measuring each partner’s perception burden on the receiver (see for

of giving and receiving emotional example, Barbee et al., 1993; Bolger

support, they measured depressive et al., 2000). However, Ko and

symptomatology, and collected data Lewis argue that the age of the

on a number of personal couples and the nature of the married

characteristics which might influence relationships may dampen feelings of

the results (e.g., age, education, race). shame or guilt that can sometimes

They also measured several variables accompany the receiving of social

known to be associated with support. Moreover, older couples

depression (e.g., health status, death typically become more

of a loved one, chronic disease). interdependent as they age, their

To analyze these results, Ko and marital relationships deepen, and

Lewis constructed a path analysis their social network become smaller.

using each couple as the unit of

analysis (as opposed to individuals). CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE

They found that wives and husbands

had significant differences in their

reports of depressive

symptomatology and in receiving

emotional support but not in levels of

ILA LISTENING POST # 104 – Page 7

INTERDISCIPLINARY PERSPECTIVE

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 7 This study also highlights an In addition, Ko and Lewis do

In addition, reflecting important methodological issue for not address that the reality that not all

previous research (Tower & Kasl, communication scholars in general, older marital relationships are

1996), Ko and Lewis found spousal and listening scholars in particular. positive. Previous research by Noller

reports of depression to be Communication is an interdependent and Fitzpatrick (19993) found that

interrelated (i.e., the level of process. This study emphasizes the related to listening processes, couples

depression reported by one spouse importance of using methods and in distressed (unhappy) marriages and

was similar to that reported by the measures that allow researchers to relationships tend to have problems

other). They note that these findings capture the interdependent nature of decoding nonverbal communication

are not surprising given the age of communication processes. of their spouses. Thus, the overall

participants (Mean = 82), that these Ko and Lewis’s article also state of the marriage can be quite

couples are likely facing health and points out an important omission in important to how messages and

financial burdens, as well as their this type of research. Whether behavior are interpreted. Individuals

own and their friends’ mortality. providing emotional or problem in distressed marriages are more

This article is important focused support, listening is likely to assign negative connotations

because it expands our knowledge of fundamental to giving and receiving to ambiguous communication and

social support processes in older emotional support. For example, behavior, while people in happy

adults. All too often researchers Roberts and Greenberg (2002) note a marriages will use a more positive

utilize a convenience sample of number of listening based behaviors lens for interpreting those same

college students. While it is associated with emotional behaviors and communications.

important for us to understand how supportiveness and care giving. They Problems with decoding may affect

social support is enacted by young discuss how these behaviors perceptions of support.

adults, and how depressive symptoms contribute to and are related to

can be mediated by social support, validation, active understanding, and

understanding factors affecting other intimacy processes. It is

depression and social support in older unclear how these issues relate to

populations is just as important. findings reported by Ko and Lewis.

ILA LISTENING POST # 104 – Page 8

Sustainable Thinking

About Listening

Respectfully Submitted By:

Graham D. Bodie

Our world is full of binaries: hot

cold, blackwhite, updown, left

right. It is no different in academic

disciplines like listening. Early

listening scholars like Paul Rankin

and Don Brown attempted to separate

“listening” from “speaking”, and

current scholars carry on this

dichotomy. While granting the

validity of facts like “students are

afforded more opportunities to hone

traditional ‘speaking skills’ like oral

interpretation and public speaking

than to be trained in ‘listening’”

expressed quite persuasively in recent

publications (Janusik, 2010), the use

of either/or bipolarities has the

potential to obfuscate the fact that

“speaking” and “listening” are part of

a more dynamical, complex system.

As nicely stated by Charles Berger (

in press) in a forthcoming

International Journal of Listening

article:

Just as naïve observers watching

the daily path of the sun are

likely to conclude that the sun

must revolve around the earth,

as observers of human

interaction, we may naively

assume, based upon our

observations, that acting and

speaking on the one hand and

perceiving and listening on the

other must be subserved by

isolated systems. Such

bifurcated thinking belies the

ways in which these systems are

coordinated and integrated to the

point that they communicate

with each other and do so in

ways that humans are incapable

of sensing.

So what does this mean for the

International Listening Association

MEMBER VIEWS

ILA)? The most obvious implication the organization was founded. The

is that, as a community of scholars, irony is that without a context,

we should think differently about research is benign – attempting to test

listening. We should think not of theory without an eye toward

“listening” and “speaking” but about improving lives seems vain; and

“acting” and “interacting” – complex without theoreticallyrich research,

goaldirected and largely automatic practice can be malignant –

processes. Whereas bifurcating implementing a training program or

“listening” and “speaking” seems to teaching some concept without

drive research and training toward evidence of its effects may do more

answering rather simple questions, harm than good (Bodie, 2009, 2010).

recognizing the complexity in what In general, either/or thinking

we study drives research and training can harm attempts to cultivate

toward new and more theoretically collective ways to enhance positive

sophisticated understandings of how and meaningful societal impact in the

such a dynamical system works. As years ahead. A collective effort seems

Berger (in press) puts it, “Those the best chance to meet our mission

seeking to understand complex and to encourage a healthy and long

systems who, at the same time, term (i.e., sustainable) organization.

adhere to a rigid, either/or purview In other words, the way to ensure a

are not likely to succeed in sustainable organization is to create

illuminating how such systems and encourage a sustainable way to

operate.” think about that organization, a way

But listening/speaking is not of thinking that goes beyond binaries

the only potentially pernicious and moves toward coordination.

dichotomy for ILA. Like similar Whether you call it evidencebased

organizations over the past two practice, empiricallysupported

decades ILA and its members have instruction, or applied research

helped perpetuate a binary loosely matters not (Hecht & MillerDay,

labeled theory/practice. But 2010; Sherry, 2010). What matters is

theory/practice is a false distinction. the integration of the study and

ILA members all share a passion to practice of listening. Such a

promote the positive potential of philosophy is woven nicely into our

listening. Toward this end, we me mission statement, and many of our

may vary in some fundamental members continue to strive toward

assumptions on how to do so, but we this ideal (see Wolvin, 2010).

are more alike than different; it is the Members of ILA are

false dichotomy that sets us apart. fortunate that our current executive

Second, and more basic than what representation has made great efforts

occurs in ILA, theory development toward integration and collaboration

and its application are “mutually and should remain confident that

reinforcing processes” (Berger, 2010, these efforts will help sustain us in

p. 445). Although the worldview that the years to come. This certainly

expresses “effective application is cannot be said of all organizational

that which is grounded in valid theory boards. Even so, the organization can

and valid theory is that which is merely foster thinking; it is how

developed to assist application” is individual thinks about ILA today

present in ILA, the impact of this that will determine how it

worldview has arguably waned since (dis)functions tomorrow.

ILA LISTENING POST # 104 – Page 9

We recently celebrated a new year: 01/01/11. This one and the other

trinumerals on the calendar are unique to this century, and so

consequently, are days that we will see only once in our lifetimes.

As you should already know, the ILA Membership and PR committees

decided to launch a twoyear membership campaign that started on

10/10/10 and will end on 12/12/12. We are hoping that these dates will

prove to be profoundly significant in the history of the ILA.

EACH ONE INVITES ONE:

We’re Halfway Through the ILA’s TwoYear Membership Drive –

Have You Done Your Part?

The accomplishment of this

“Each One Invites One”

membership campaign

as well as the ultimate success

of the ILA

is dependent on

YOU!

The premise of our new membership campaign is simple: EACH ONE

INVITES ONE. Certainly, if each current ILA member were to bring in

at least one new member, our organization would double in size. Those who align

themselves with the ILA are able to play a significant role in advancing effective listening across the globe, which as we

well know is one of the most important life skills a person can possess.

To date, several members

have already done their parts

by getting at least one person

to join the ILA, including

ILA Founding Member

Dr. Lyman “Manny” Steil

who brought in three new

members already!

Let Susan Timm, MALPR,

know when you get someone

to join so your name can be

added to this list.

The success of this membership campaign as well as the ultimate

success of the ILA is dependent on YOU!

To make the process of inviting individuals into our membership easier,

invite them to join fellow listeners at the ILA convention this next

month (March 31April 2, 2011) in the naturally beautiful city of

Johnson City, Tennessee, which is nestled in the Appalachian

Mountains. Then, they can see for themselves how they will benefit

from joining our prestigious group.

Another way that you can help is that whenever you write an article or

book about listening, be sure to mention the ILA. We gained two new

members after reading Sacred is the Call. We are eager to see who

might join after reading ILA President Dr. Laura Janusik’s quote in

Southwest Airlines inflight magazine. Also, those of you in the

National Communication Association (NCA), keep your eyes open for

information about our certification program in the March issue

of Spectrum.

The ILA Board is doing its part by assuring that the organization is solvent and has lots to

offer our membership so you will be proud to invite others to join us. Indeed, this year’s

theme of sustainability is something that your Board takes seriously as we review

procedures, expenses, and benefits all with the goal of assuring that this association whose

mission is “to advance the practice, teaching, and research of listening throughout the

world” is around for many more years to come.

Invite at least

ONE NEW

PERSON INTO

OUR ILA

MEMBERSHIP

RANKS!

The bottom line is do you truly believe in the power of listening to transform lives and our world for the better? If

you can answer yes and are committed to the mission and vision of the ILA, then

Invite at least ONE NEW PERSON INTO OUR ILA MEMBERSHIP RANKS!

Together, we can truly impact both the ILA and the world!