listening skills

listening skills

Ability to listen effectively has emerged as the most strategic skill . Most people are pleased when they are listened to rather than when they are talked to. Also the less a person talks, the more others like to listen to him.
Most of us are poor listeners as listening skills are not taught in high schools or even management institutes. Everyone should listen more, have better retention and memory. Hearing perceives only the sounds and not their meaning whereas listening leads to better understanding. The process of listening entails sensing, interpreting, evaluating, remembering and responding. Based on purpose, interaction and feedback, listening is classified in to content listening, critical listening and active / empathetic listening. Of these the most critical is active / empathetic listening as it requires greater self-control and discipline.
Barriers to good listening can originate from environmental, physiological, psychological, linguistic and socio-cultural factors. Nevertheless, listening skills can be improved by preparing for listening, following basic rules for good listening and practicing regularly.
Students should become familiar with the typical patterns of poor listeners so that they can make conscious efforts to assimilate leader-like traits. Taking down notes while listening and imbibing the commandment for good listening will guide the budding managers and leaders in becoming good listeners.

TYPES OF LISTENING

TYPES OF LISTENING

Listening can be varied depending upon:
 Purpose
 Interaction
 Feedback
It can be classified in to the following three distinct types:

(1) Content listening

The purpose of content listening is to retain the information for future use or for further transmission rather faithfully. Here, we try to identify the key points and concentrate on the structure of the message. Receivers take a preview – an overall view of the entire message. It is not important whether they agree or not with the contents. They try to assimilate the contents of the message as received. For example, a department of the government giving the details of the procedure would expect the public to follow in dealing with them!

(2) Critical listening

The message received undergoes evaluation at several levels to understand:
 Logic of argument
 Strength of evidence
 Validity of conclusions
 Implications of message for individuals
 Implications of message for the organization
 Speakers‟ intention and motive
 Omission of any relevant point etc
Evaluating and absorbing information simultaneously is rather difficult. Listeners‟ should reserve their judgement right up to the end. Effort should be made to uncover speakers‟ viewpoint.

(3) Active / empathetic listening

The purpose here is to understand the speakers‟ feelings, needs and wants. Listeners have to understand speakers‟ viewpoint irrespective of whether they share those perceptions or not. By listening actively, receivers‟ let speakers vent their emotions. Listeners should resist the temptation of advising them and they should let the persons do the talking with cues and clues of encouragement. Typical features of active and empathetic listening are:
 Make eye contact
 Exhibit affirmative head nods and appropriate facial expressions
 Avoid distracting actions and gestures
 Ask questions
 Paraphrasing what is said
 Avoid interrupting the speaker
 Do not over-talk
 Make smooth transition from the role of a speaker to that of a listener
All the three types of listening have practical use in the life of managers and leaders. They must learn how to apply these methods in different situations.

PROCESS OF LISTENING

PROCESS OF LISTENING

It entails following five steps:

(1) Sensing

It is physical hearing and assimilating through all the five senses – hearing, seeing, smelling, tasting and touching. It should also include taking down notes. However, reception of message can get blocked because of:
 Interfering noises and distractions
 Inattention by audience
 Impaired hearing etc
Listeners have to work hard to avoid distraction and focus on the message.

(2) Interpreting

It is decoding in our mind and absorbing the message being delivered. As people listen, they assign meanings to words through their own mental filters comprising of their:
 Beliefs
 Assumptions
 Values
 Ideas
 Expectations
 Roles
 Needs
 Personal history
Thus role of the persons listening to a speech is very vital. They should pay attention to non-verbal cues because body language of gestures, sounds, postures and expressions do not tell lies. If they have learnt the art and science of understanding speeches well, it increases accuracy of their listening.

(3) Evaluating

It is forming opinion about the message heard. If the subject matter is complex or it is a topic that has emotional overtones, effort is required to:
 Sort out the remarks made by the speaker
 Separate facts from opinions
 Evaluate quality of evidence
As a rule, listeners dismiss ideas from an unattractive and abrasive speaker. Also, they easily embrace ideas of „charismatic‟ speakers.

(4) Remembering

It is storing message after receiving in the memory for future use. Good speakers facilitate storage by doing the followings:
 Comparing the message with the previous similar messages
 Highlighting the components of transition in the new message

 Summarizing and paraphrasing the message

(5) Responding

It is reacting to the content of the message in some fashion. When audience is large, it may take the form of:

 Silence

 Applause

 Laughter etc