The Communication Process-Active Listening Skills

The Communication Process-Active Listening Skills

Effective communication is heavily dependent on effective
listening, something many of us may not be fully proficient
at. An additional purpose of effective listening is to convey
interest and respect for the other person. 

This is crucial if we are to have any ability to help solve problems and satisfy the other person's needs and goals as well as our own. Giving constructive feedback, explored in greater detail in Section 4, depends on a wide range of skills including listening skills and feedback skills.

Why is the process of effective listening so elusive? Think of a time when you have pretended to listen whilst continuing with what you were doing or thinking. Think also of a situation where you sought to half listen to another with the intention of tuning in when something of particular
importance was said. These are very common occurrences and it is unlikely that you have not experienced them. In fact, most conversations do not take place with the full
attention of those taking part. However, our ability to selectively listen in this way is not very good and as a result, valuable information can be unheard and lost.

Studies have shown that listening is the most frequent aspect of workplace communication  Other studies have identified that managers spend 65-90% of their working day listening to someone, with the percentage of time increasing with level of managerial responsibility

However, research suggests that misunderstandings are the rule rather than the exception, and that people generally achieve no more than 25-50% accuracy in interpreting the meaning of each other’s remarks (Spitzberg, 1994). Becoming fully proficient at listening would therefore seem to have significant influence on workplace communication and related effectiveness.

Effective listening is a specific skill that can be consciously developed and practiced in various workplace situations, whether a meeting, supervision session, telephone conversation or chance meeting in the corridor. Listening is not simply a matter of hearing. Listening is an active psychological rather than passive process, which enables us to attach meaning to all the information we receive. It requires concentration and effort.

As we listen to others we interpret and evaluate the meaning from the verbal and non-verbal information that we receive. We also plan and rehearse our response in preparing to execute it. While the processes of evaluation, planning and rehearsal occur subconsciously, they can nevertheless interfere with effective listening. It can be important to maintain awareness of this to ensure that the
processes that mediate between listening and speaking do not actually interfere with the listening process itself.



Developing effective listening skills involves two specific
steps These are:

1. To develop the ability to recognise and deal with
barriers that prevents you listening with full
attention.
2. To develop and use behaviours which help you to
listen. Such behaviours can also serve to let the
other person know that you are giving them your full
attention