Art of Listening

Facilitator: Mukesh Dev

 Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak; courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen Winston Churchill

 The most important thing in communication is to hear what isnt being said Peter.F.Drucker

Listening
Listening involves much more than just hearing You can hear and not listen (just as you can listen and not understand) Hearing is simply perceiving sound; sound waves strike the eardrum, sending impulses to the brain

Listening
Hearing is a passive process; listening is an active process When you perceive a sound, youre merely aware of it; you dont necessarily comprehend it When you listen, you interpret and assign meaning to the sounds e.g. Car engine, motor etc

Listening-The Communication skill

It is used the most White-collar workers typically devote at least 40% of their workday to listening Yet, immediately after listening to a ten- minute oral presentation, the average person retains only 50% of the information; 48 hrs later, only 25% of what was heard can be recalled Our brains can process data four times faster than the speed at which we normally speak Thus, listening is probably the least developed of the four verbal communication skills

Listening Skills
Effective listening is the process of analyzing sounds, organizing them into recognizable patterns ,interpreting the patterns and understanding the message by inferring the meaning.

Listening Process

Hearing

Filtering

Comprehending

Remembering

Responding

Levels of listening

Effectiveness of Listening

Active Listening

Passive Listening NonListening

Non-Listening

Here the listener may appear to be listening but actually he is more occupied with his own thoughts. He is minimally aware of the speaker speaking He is likely to appear to be detached and will be unresponsive and passive.

Passive Listening
It is more of hearing than actually listening. The listener superficially hears the words but does not understand in depth what is being said. He concentrates on the word content of the message rather than the feelings and emotions associated with the message.

Active Listening
The active listener gives full attention to what is being said. An active listener not only comprehends the message better but also is in a better position to remember and recall the message. In active listening ,the listener is directly involved in the conversation. He provides feedback to the speaker and voices his opinion.

Types of Listening
Discriminative Listening It involves identifying the difference between various sounds. It also enables one to differentiate between familiar and unfamiliar language. Comprehension Listening It involves attaching meaning to what is being listened to, i.e. comprehending the message. Evaluative Listening Its also called as critical listening. It involves not only comprehending the message but also evaluating and analyzing the message being received in the light of ones own background. Attentive Listening It involves paying attention to the words that are being spoken rather than understanding the head and heart of the persons message. The concentration is more on the verbal part of the message rather than the non-verbal aspect.

Types of Listening
Pretending Listening This is more of hearing than listening .It means pretending through facial expressions that the communicated message is being listened to when actually, it is not. Selective Listening Listening is done only partly or selectively. It involves selecting the desired part of the message and ignoring the undesired part of the message. Intuitive Listening It is a higher form of listening. It means listening through the intuitive mind by silencing the other forms of internal dialogues going on simultaneously.

Significance of Good Listening

An attentive listener stimulates better speaking by the speaker A good listener learns more than the indifferent listener. A good listener learns to: (a) distinguish fact from opinion (b) understand and evaluate inference and reasoning. (c) detect prejudices, assumptions, attitudes A good listener can often restructure vague speaking into clearer meaning.

Barriers to Effective Listening

Physical Barriers Noise, poor acoustics, malfunctioning of the mechanical devices being used, frequent interruptions and uncomfortable seating arrangements are physical barriers which hamper effective listening.

Barriers to Effective Listening

State of health The physical condition of the individual affects their listening ability. Poor health conditions of a speaker reduce his ability to speak well and this in turn reduces the listening efficiency of the listener.

Barriers to Effective Listening

Impairment Hearing is the first step of the listening process and, therefore, a hearing impairment may lead to poor listening. Speech disorders of the speaker may make a speech incoherent to the listener. Similarly, a speaker who speaks very rapidly is often problematic as an unclear message reaches the listener.

Barriers to Effective Listening

Wandering attention Research shows that the human mind can process words at the rate of about 500 per minute, whereas a speaker speaks at the rate of about 150 words per minute. The difference between the two is quite large . This leaves the listener with sufficient time to let his mind wander.

Psychological Barriers
There barriers relate to attitudinal and behavioral aspects.

Unsure of the speakers ability

Based on past experience or inputs from other sources, the listener may have a preconceived notion of the speakers ability .He may perceive the speaker to be illinformed , or lacking in depth and ability. This acts as a barrier to the listening process as the listener does not like to listen.

Psychological Barriers
Personal anxiety Sometimes people are preoccupied with personal concerns and anxieties. This makes it difficult to perceive what is being said and thus , acts as a barrier to effective listening process.

Psychological Barriers
Attitude The attitude of the listener may at times act as a barrier to effective listening. The listener may be highly egocentric with a know it all attitude and may not listen because he feels that he already knows what the listener has to say. Similarly , an excessively critical attitude of the listener may shift the focus from listening to trying to find errors in accent, delivery , grammar and even at times, appearance of the speaker.

Psychological Barriers
Impatience

The listener may not have patience to wait for the other person to finish what he has to say . He may be intolerant or may be eager to add his own points to the discussion. As a result, his desire to speak overrides his desire to listen

Psychological Barriers
Emotional blocks

Deep seated beliefs may make it difficult for the listener to listen to ideas which go against his beliefs. He may hear such an idea wrongly or it may get distorted in his mind to match his perception. He may also at times completely block it off by not listening to it. Many times he blocks something off completely because of painful memories associated with it.

Keys to better listening-1

Give the speaker your undivided attention Do not tune out Avoid physical distractions like phone calls, doodling etc Avoid mental distractions too Maintain eye-contact Some information that may be boring or difficult to follow may be quite useful and deserve your full attention

Keys to better listening-2

Stay open-minded Keep your emotions in check Listen objectively and empathetically Be willing to accept new information and new points of view Concentrate on the contents of the message rather than on the source

Keys to better listening-3

Avoid interrupting Interruptions have negative consequences They are rude They actually drag out the exchange since the speaker is forced to backtrack It sends a nonverbal message I have the right to interrupt you because what I have to say is more important than what you have to say

Keys to better listening-4

Involve yourself in the communication Get involved mentally Summarize to yourself what the speaker says (create a mental paraphrase) Jot down points (main ideas only) Be selfish in your listening Encourage the speaker; maintain eye-contact, nod in agreement, lean forward, utter encouraging phrases like I see Give feedback like So you believe,is that true? or Do you mean that?

There is no such thing as a worthless conversation, provided you know what to listen for. James N Miller