Effective Listening

Presented By: Antra Singh

Listening is the art of hearing and understanding what someone is saying Look (consistent in order and content) Identify (importance of the content) Set-up (ensure your senses are in function) Tune-in (concentrate) Examine (skim the context) Note (write the points)

Active & Passive Listening

Purpose of Listening

To obtain information To solve problems

To share experiences
To persuade

Process of Listening

Listener selects the important points from among Sensing/ Selecting Stage a multiple stimuli and converts it into message

Interpreting Stage

Listener is engaged with the act of decoding the message; he is faced with multiple barriers

Evaluating Stage Responding Stage

Memory Stage

Critical listening stage, he assigns a meaning to the message, draws inferences, takes an overview of message and seeks accuracy of information and evidence This is the feedback stage where the listener is ready to respond
Effective listening helps listeners retain chunks of what they have heard

Advantages of Listening

It is the highest compliment one human being can pay to another It breaks up the barrier between people We can understand each other more It minimizes the losses of potential revenues

It prevents miscommunication of objectives and priorities among people

Benefits of Listening for Leaders and Teams

It helps know the organisation It helps in making better policies It mollifies complaining employees It is important for the success of the open door policy It helps to spot sensitive areas before they become explosive It forms a bond of respect It increases productivity It can calm people down It increases confidence It increases accuracy

6 Habits of Highly Ineffective Listening

On-off Listening Red Flag Listening Open Ears-Closed Mind Listening Glassy-eyed Listening Too-complicated-for-me Listening Do Not Rock the Boat Listening

Types of Listening

Informative Listening
The situation where the listeners primary concern is to understand the message. There are three key variables related to informative listening viz: Vocabulary, Concentration and Memory

Attentive Listening
Here people listen attentively and their goal is to understand and remember what they are hearing There are three listening skills clusters associated to it viz: Attention skills, Following skills and Reflecting skills

Relationship Listening
The purpose is either to help an individual or to improve the relationship between people Three attitudes are key to effective relationship listening viz: Attending, Supporting and Empathizing

Appreciative Listening
It includes listening to music for enjoyment, to speakers because you like their style, to your choices in theatre, television, radio or film The quality of appreciative listening depends upon three factors viz: Presentations, Perception and Previous Experiences

Critical Listening
Three things on which it depends viz: ethos or speakers credibility, logos or logical arguments and pathos or psychological appeals

Discriminative Listening
There are three things to be considered viz: Hearing ability, Awareness of sound structure and Integration of non-verbal cues

Barriers to Effective Listening

Physical Condition Casual Attitude Speaking-thinking rate Premature evaluation Mindset of the listener Communication context Too much and too little knowledge of the listener Distractions

Strategies for Effective Listening

Decide what your goals are for the conversation Be aware of your options Planning what to Say when you Speak Focusing and Clarifying Attentive Listening