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Outline:
• Listening comes first
• Difference Between Hearing & Listening
• Characteristics of Poor Listeners
• Definitions
• Importance of Listening Skills
• Types of Listening Skills
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Outline:
• Types of Listeners
• Effective Listening
• Features of Listening
• Process of Listening
• Barriers of Listening Skills
• How to Become An Active Listener
• Using mindfulness to improve listening skills
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LISTENING
• The First and the Foremost communication skill that we
learn in our lives is “Listening”
• Listening Comes First in LSRW
LISTENING
SPEAKING
READING
WRITING
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What is Listening?
The process of receiving, constructing meaning from, and
responding to spoken and/or non- verbal messages; to
hear something with thoughtful attention.
Listening is the ability to accurately receive and interpret
messages in the communication process.
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Difference Between Hearing & Listening
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What are Listening Skills?
Listening Skills are the ways to help you listen something
more effectively.
Listening skills are varied skill set that the listeners should
learn and adapt in order to make communication an
effective and useful process.
This skill is not inborn. It should be learnt to communicate
properly
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Importance of Listening Skills
• To avoid communication errors.
• Helps to learn something new.
• Key to success.
• Enables us to respect others’ view point.
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Importance of Listening Skills
• Directly related to learning.
• Empowers your own personality
Listening is so important that many top employers provide
listening skills training for their employees.
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Types of Listening Skills
• Discriminative Listening
• Pretense Listening
• Selective Listening
• Attentive/Active Listening
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• Discriminative listening:
It involves identifying the difference between various
sounds. It also enables one to differentiate between
familiar and unfamiliar language.
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• Active Listening:
Active listening is a communication technique used in
counselling, training, and conflict resolution. It requires
that the listener fully concentrate, understand, respond
and then remember what is being said.
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• Pretense Listening:
It involves more hearing than listening. It means
pretending through facial expressions that one is listening
when actually one is not.
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• Selective Listening:
It involves selecting the desired part of the message and
ignoring the undesired part of the message.
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Types of Listeners
You can group different types of listeners into four main
categories:
• Non- listeners
• Superficial listeners
• Logical listeners
• Active listeners
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• Non- listeners
A non-listener does not intend to listen to you, does not
hear, and does not make an effort to pay attention. The
non-listener would rather do all the talking. As a result,
this person constantly interrupts the speaker and always
attempts to have the last word.
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• Superficial listeners
A superficial listener hears what you are saying but does
not grasp the point you are making. A superficial listener
listens only for the basic meaning of the spoken words and
takes no notice of body language, voice tone, and other
subtle forms of communication.
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• Logical listeners
Logical listeners try to hear what you are saying and to
comprehend the meaning of the actual words. However,
they do not understand your intent or the meaning behind
your words.
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• Active listeners
Listening actively requires concentration and emotional
effort. Active listeners will not judge you as you speak but
will try their best to understand what you are saying and
why you are saying it. In other words, they will respect
your point of view.
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Effectiveness of listening
In today’s high-tech, high-speed, high-stress world,
communication is more important than ever, yet we
seem to devote less and less time to really listening to
one another. Genuine listening has become a rare gift—
the gift of time. It helps build relationships, solve
problems, ensure understanding, resolve conflicts, and
improve accuracy.
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Effectiveness of listening
At work, effective listening means fewer errors and less
wasted time. At home, it helps develop resourceful,
self-reliant kids who can solve their own problems.
Listening builds friendships and careers.
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Features of listening
• Listening is a mental activity.
• It improves by consciousness and concentration.
• It is a skill as it can be improved by experience.
• Non-verbal communication also helps in listening.
• Listening stimulates speaking.
• Listening involves paying close attention to the
sounds that come in way of communication.
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Process of listening
1. Receiving
2. Understanding
3. Remembering
4. Evaluating
5. Responding
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Characteristics of Poor Listeners
Poor listeners
• use statements blocking the person speaking from
fully explaining his or her point.
• interrupt the speaker
• use thoughts from what the other person has just
said, and express their own thoughts.
• talk about their thoughts without giving any
indication that they heard what another person has
said.
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Good listening skills lead to
• better customer satisfaction
• greater productivity
• fewer mistakes
• increased sharing of information
• more creativity and innovative work
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Body language and listening skills
Good listening is more than what words you use when
listening. Active listeners communicate without
interrupting. They use body language to demonstrate their
attention and interest.
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While listening actively:
• Occasionally nod your head in agreement with what
the speaker is saying.
• Don't fold your arms. The speaker may interpret it as a
sign of negativity or hostility.
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While listening actively:
• Make eye contact.
• Smile encouragingly.
• Lean forward slightly.
• Give the speaker personal space.
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Active listening is listening beyond words, in order to
understand a deeper message. Active listening is
completely focusing on what is being said and absorbing it
without bias, as opposed to simply glossing over the
general message.
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Barriers of Listening Skills
• Physiological Barriers
• Physical Barriers
• Attitudinal Barriers
• Wrong Assumptions
• Cultural Barriers
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Barriers of Listening Skills
• Gender Barriers
• Lack of Training
• Bad Listening Habits
• Bringing in Emotions
• Fear
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How can you improve your active listening skills?
• Consider eye contact
• Be alert, but not intense
• Pay attention to nonverbal signs, such as body language
and tone
• Make a mental image of what the speaker is saying
• Empathise with the speaker
• Provide feedback
• Keep an open mind
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• Focus your attention on the speaker and the topic.
• Set aside your own feelings and prejudices. Remind
yourself that you're there to be the listener, not offer
your opinion.
• Pay attention to the speaker's body language and facial
expressions. This is often the way to sense how
someone is really feeling.
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• Use door openers. These statements convey interest
and keep the person talking.
Examples: "Tell me more..." "That sounds interesting..."
"When did it
happen...”
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• Paraphrase feelings accurately. The listener waits until
the speaker pauses, as if expecting some sort of
response from the listener.
• Paraphrase content accurately.
• Ask non-threatening questions.
• Use acknowledgment responses.
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Using mindfulness to improve listening skills
We can be more aware of obstacles to good listening while
remaining open to the speaker’s thoughts and messages if
we listen mindfully. Mindfulness can help you to enhance
your listening abilities.
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What is mindful listening?
Mindfulness is the act of paying attention in a specific way
– purposefully, in the present moment, and without
judgement.
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Mindfulness:
• teaches you to be present in the moment
• let go of distractions
• monitor your physical and emotional responses to what
others say to you.
Without mindfulness:
• vulnerable to your own prejudices
• distract you from truly hearing what other people are
doing and saying
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HOW TO LISTEN MINDFULLY
The following tips will help you to bring mindfulness to
your own daily interactions and so improve your
relationships with others.
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Listen with intent
We frequently engage in activities and interact with others
without giving it much thought. Mindful listening is a
process of “waking up” from that state of
unconsciousness.
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Mindfulness requires you to be “in the moment”, meaning
you should completely focus on the person you’re listening
to. There are several ways to go about this:
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Allow yourself time. Before meeting with someone, take a
minute or two to clear your head. Before the conversation,
practise a technique such as scanning down through your
body and releasing tension.
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Meditate. Meditation is a mindfulness technique that can
assist you in learning to focus on the present moment.
When you clear your mind of mental clutter, you can make
room for other people’s perspectives.
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Simplify your surroundings. Phones, computers, printers,
and other technological devices are common workplace
distractions. Keep your workspace neat and your devices
turned off.
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Pay attention to your own “cues”
Mindful listening can help us maintain awareness of our
cues and choose not to let them prevent us from
communicating.
Pay close attention to what other people are saying. Don’t
let other thoughts, such as what you’re going to say next,
distract you from paying full attention to the other person.
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Listen empathetically
When you’re empathic, you may see things from another
person’s perspective. You don’t need to agree with them;
it simply means you recognise that they have a different
viewpoint to you.
