Active Listening

LISTENING: The Silent Side Of Communication

Effective communication exists between two people when the receiver interprets and understands the senders message in the way the speaker intended it. Speaking and listening skills both are necessary for communication to serve its purpose. Listening is an art, a skill, a discipline and like other skills it needs self control

Active Listening
Active listening is a way of listening and responding to another person in such a way that the person feels that they have been heard.

Active listening is not only a learnable skill it is also an attitude. Active listening is hard work

Most people listen without hearing

LEONARDO DA VINCI

Listening A neglected art

We spend between 50 to 80 percent of our walking life in communicating. On average half, of the communication time is spend in listening. We remember only 20 to 25 percent of what we hear.

Listening Is Learned First And Used Most But Taught Least.

Learned
Listening 1st Speaking 2nd Reading 3rd Writing 4th

Used
Most ( 45% ) Most ( 35% ) Least ( 16% ) Least (9% )

Taught
Least Least Most Most

Listening and Hearing

Listening is not the same as hearing. Hearing is a sensory function of the ears alone. Listening is not only with our ears but also with our eyes, minds and hearts. Eyes-listen to the facial expressions & gestures Mind-Tries to comprehend its meaning Heart-understand the feelings behind the words

Purpose Of Listening
Various objectives To learn To increase ones understanding To increase ones options To relieve ones boredom

In the professional world-Listening turns out to be a very significant.

What do we communicate by
listening??
Interested in him as a person His feelings are important to us We respect his opinions Not trying to evaluate or change him Want to understand him He is worth listening to We are the kind of person he can talk to

The Process of Listening

Sensing Interpreting Evaluating Remembering Responding

Types of Listening
Discriminative listening: listening is discriminative when we decide which part of the speakers massage is to be retained and which is not. Evaluative listening: listening is evaluative when the listener weigh and analyze the evidence before reaching a conclusion. Appreciative listening: everybody likes to be appreciated. When the listener like some part of a message he/she must show appreciation.

Types of Listening
Empathic listening: when the listener puts himself in the position of the speaker he empathizes with him. This listening helps in building up healthy human relations.

Levels of Listening
Marginal Listening Evaluative listening Projective Listening

Differences Between Good And Bad Listeners

Keys to effective listening 1 Find areas of interest

The bad listener Tunes out dry subjects

The good listener Seeks opportunities

Judge content, not delivery

Tunes out

Skips over errors

Hold your fire

Tends to argue

Completes comprehension Listens for central theme

Listen for ideas

Listens for facts

5 Work at listening 6 Resist

Shows no energy output. Fakes attention Easily distracted

Works hard, exhibits active body state Fights or avoids

distractions
7 Keep your mind open Reacts to emotional words

distractions
Doesnt get hung up on them

8 Note taking

Takes down every spoken word

Assesses and takes notes accordingly

Barriers to Effective Listening

Internal Barriers:
Hearing Biased Hot

what you want to hear

listening

Buttons or the Effects of Emotions on Listening

Physical

Barriers

Semantic
Lack

Barriers

of Training

Barriers to Effective Listening

External Barriers
Talker not Talkers

speaking loudly enough

mannerisms, appearance

Loud

noises

Interruptions,

phone calls Knowing the answer

Contd
Treating discussion as competition Trying to influence or impress Reacting to red flag words Believing in language

Importance of Active Listening

Respect Trust Productivity Accuracy Enhances Relationships Conflict Resolution

Importance of Active Listening

Learning Confidence Innovative solutions Reduces negative assumptions

Ten Commandments of Listening

1. Listener should stop talking. Talking distracts both speaker and more so the listener.
2. Put the speaker at ease. 3. Show the speaker that you are interested in listening to him. 4. Remove distractions.

Ten Commandments of Listening

5. Place yourself in speaker's shoes to look at things from his viewpoint.
6. Be patient and let the speaker take his own time to make his point without hurrying. 7. Control your temper at any provocation from the speaker.

Ten Commandments of Listening

8. Go easy on criticism and argument.
9. Pose honest questions.

10. The first commandment, stop talking, is repeated as tenth commandment since it is very important.

SIER Hierarchy of Active Listening

1. SENSING Begins by hearing, seeing and receiving the verbal and nonverbal aspects of the message. Concentration is required in this phase. The receiver's positive body language help the sender deliver the message properly. 2. INTERPRETING After receiving the message, receiver must interpret and place it in meaningful context. The speakers speech is linked to the verbal and non-verbal elements of the message. Interpreting helps insure that the receiver is understanding corresponds to the sender's meaning.

3. EVALUATING Active listening occurs at the evaluation phase after the interpretation phase. The receiver must sort fact from opinion. The receiver needs to judge the message based on its strengths and weaknesses and how well it is liked or disliked. The evaluation phase consists of both logical and emotional components.

4. RESPONDING Two-way communication requires the receiver to respond to the sender. It provides feedback to the sender on how well the message has conveyed and encourages further interaction between the two parties. Responses can be both verbal and non-verbal. Pruning questions provide additional detail and clarification.

The most basic of all human needs is to understand and to be understood. The best way to understand people is by listening to them carefully.

WE WERE GIVEN TWO EARS BUT ONLY ONE MOUTH THIS IS BECAUSE LISTENING IS TWICE AS HARD AS TALKING

THANK YOU.