Communication Skills

Project: Listening
Dated: May 28, 2009

Instructed by: Madam Neelma Rehan

Submitted by:
Sarfraz Ali Shahani
Aitzaz Ali Khan
Kamran Nawaz

Foundation University of Engineering and Manageme

Islamabad .
 Listening:
Listening is the type of communication. Listening
is an active pursuit. It’s demanding, hard work. Most of
all, when someone is truly listening, it takes time away
from the listener’s most important focus—himself.

Listening goes beyond hearing. It involves making a conscious effort to

hear, to give heed, and take advice.
Listening is the process by which spoken language is converted to meaning
in the mind. Applying listening to business it is the conscious, active process of
eliciting information, ideas, attitudes, and emotions in interpersonal, oral
exchange for the purpose of increasing the listener’s capacity or planning and
decision-making.
Involving your listeners in what you have to say is the key to effective
communication. The speaker and the listeners are interrelated. An effective
listener therefore must assume some of the responsibility for effective
communication.
Good listeners become good communicators, and skillful listeners learn
from others. Good listeners exert a positive effect on a speaker, helping to
improve the speaker’s effectiveness.
Listening perceives sounds from the speaker, attaching meaning to the
words, and designing an appropriate response, which involves remembering what
the speaker has said long enough to interpret what, is meant. Listening involves
grasping what the speaker means by seeing the ideas and information from
his/her point of view.
 Listening is an active search for meaning. In listening, two people are
thinking, sender and the receiver. To persuade, inform, or change the listener,
both parties—the speaker and the receiver (be it one or many)—must be actively
involved. So true communication must be a dialogue, an exchange between
you and your receiver. Two (or more) people actively engaged in the same
period.

The Process of Listening

1. Receiving/Hearing
The first element in the listening process is
hearing, which is the automatic psychological process
of receiving audio stimuli.
Sound waves are received by the ear and
stimulate neurological impulses to the brain. We place these sounds in a
meaningful order or sequence so that they may be recognized as words. We
recognize words in a pattern that constitutes a language, which then helps to
convey the message from the communicator to us.
Another factor in hearing is the speaker’s rate. The average speaker’s rate
is between 100 to 150 words per minute. However most of us are able to
comprehend rates up to 400 to 500 words per minute.
Unlike listening, hearing begins and ends with this first stage of receiving.
Listening begins (but does not end) with receiving the messages the speaker
sends.
Listening, unlike hearing, implies an active response to the sounds we hear
around us, a new cognitive dimension opens up for us. We may begin to realize
the importance of such a skill in everyday life and the need to find new ways to
promote it effectively.

2. Filtering.
Filtering is the process of giving
symbols meanings through the
unique contents of each person’s
mind.

3. Understanding.
Understanding is the stage at which you learn what the
speaker means.

4. Remembering.
Messages that you receive and understand need to be
retained fro at lease some period of time. What you
remember is actually not what was said, but what you
think (or remember) was said. Memory for speech is not
reproductive. Rather, memory is reconstructive.

5. Evaluating.
Evaluating consists of judging the
messages in some way. At times
you may try to evaluate the
speakers’ underlying intent. Often
this evaluation process goes on without much conscious thought. Evaluation is
more in the nature of critical analysis.

6. Responding
Responding occurs in two phases:
i. Responses you make while the speaker is talking.
ii. Responses you make after the speaker has stopped talking.
These responses are feedback. E.g. “I see”, “yes”, etc.

Levels of Listening
1. Active Listening
Active listening is a special kind of listening. It
is a process of sending back to the speaker what you
as a listener think the speaker meant—both in content and in feelings.
Active listening is less common but more beneficial and in order to get
good grades, you have to be able to really listen to what is being said in the
classroom.

Characteristics of Active Listeners

1. Active listeners are willing to give the speaker a chance to develop his or her
ideas.
2. Active listeners are open-minded about people who look or sound different
from themselves.
3. Active listeners can follow several methods of organization—even poorly
organized material will be listened to with some degree of tolerance.
4. Active listeners are likely to listen even more attentively when the material
becomes difficult. It becomes a challenge to them.

2. Protective Listening
Listeners may not listen to a speaker because they
have learned to tune out certain kinds of stimuli.
Listeners become speakers, and speakers become
listeners and the sequence goes on. As a listener, you
will sometimes hear negative and even hostile
expressions aimed directly at you. While no one really
likes to be subjected to hostile remarks, you have to control protective listening
so verbal attacks are perceived without your having to defend or retaliate.

3. Partial Listening
Listening must be a complete process where all
the communicative stimuli transmitted by the speaker
are acknowledged and evaluated. Responding to some
of the stimuli while ignoring others will make a
listener miss important facts and points that are needed for clarity and
understanding.
A speaker’s voice, mannerism, grammar, and pitch
will increase or decrease the listener’s tendency for
partial listening.

4. Preferential Listening
Listening that is directly affected by a person’s
beliefs, interests, or an emotion is preferential listening.
Just as people may see what they expect to see, listeners may listen for what they
want to hear. Personal background, experiences, habits, and family tradition will
many times change or distort the speaker’s intended meaning into what the
listener really wants to hear. Miscommunication is usually the result of
preferential listening.

Types of Listening
1. Critical Listening
Critical listening is associated with being able to
detect propaganda devices employed by a communicator.
In adjusting your critical listening, focus on the
following guidelines:
• Keep an open mind.
• Avoid filtering out difficult messages.
• Recognize your own biases.
• Analyze the audience and adapt the message to the listeners.
• Clearly organize the speech so that the listeners can follow the train of thought.
• An intelligent, active listener is aware of the many possible meanings of words
and attempts to place those words in the correct context.
• Does the speaker seem to know or care about what he or she is saying?
• Are the speakers’ verbal and nonverbal messages consistent? Do the nonverbal
messages reinforce the speakers’ thesis?
• Does the speaker establish his or her credibility and behave in ways that
enhance credibility?
• Is the material presented relevant?
• What is your overall impression of the speech?

2. Empathic Listening
As the term suggests, the listener tries to
demonstrate empathy for the speaker. It can also be
described as listening “between the lines”. When we
listen between the lines we heighten our awareness and
interpersonal sensitivity to the entire message a person may be trying to
communicate.
Empathy is perception and communication by resonance, be identification,
by experiencing in ourselves some reflection of the emotional tone that is being
experienced by the other person.
Empathic listening often requires the opposite frame of mind from that
required for critical listening.
Empathic listening implies a willingness not to judge, evaluate, or criticize
but rather to be an accepting, permissive, and understanding listener.
Becoming an empathic requires focusing on the following
guidelines:
• A greater emphasis on listening than on talking.
• Responding to that which is personal rather than abstract.
• Clarifying what the other person has said about his own thoughts and feelings
rather than asking questions or telling him what we believe he should be thinking,
seeing, or feeling.
• Responding to the feelings implicit in what the other has said rather than the
assumptions or “content” that he has talked about.
• Listen respectfully
• Minimize misunderstandings.
• Recognize and identify emotions.

Improving Your Listening Skills

The success of many of our business activities
depends on how well we listen. The good news is that
listening efficiency can be improved by understanding the
steps involved in the listening process and by following
some basic guidelines.

How to Become a Better Listener

Don't talk--listen. Studies show that job
applicants are more likely to make a favorable
impression and get a job offer when they let the
interviewer do most of the talking. This demonstrates
that people appreciate a good listener more than they
do a good talker.
Keep an open mind. Don't just listen for statements that back up your own
opinions and support your beliefs, or for certain parts that interest you. The point
of listening, after all, is to gain new information.
 Be willing to listen to someone else's point of view and ideas. A subject
that may seem boring or trivial at first can turn out to be fascinating, if you listen
with an open mind.
Don't jump to conclusions. Many people tune out a speaker when they
think they have the gist of his conversation or know what he's going to say next.
Assumptions can be dangerous. Maybe the speaker is not following the same
train of thought that you are, or is not planning to make the point you think he is.
If you don't listen, you may miss the real point the speaker is trying to get
across. Listen "between the lines."
Concentrate on what is not being said as well as what is being said.
Remember, a lot of clues to meaning come from the
speaker's tone of voice, facial expressions, and gestures.
People don't always say what they mean, but their body
language is usually an accurate indication of their attitude
and emotional state. Ask questions. If you are not sure of
what the speaker is saying, ask. It's perfectly acceptable to
say, "Do you mean...?" or "Did I understand you to say...?"
It's also a good idea to repeat what the speaker has said--in
your own words--to confirm that you have under- stood him correctly.
Don't let yourself be distracted by the environment or by the speaker's
appearance, accent, mannerisms, or word use. It's sometimes difficult to overlook
a strong accent, a twitch, sexist language, a fly buzzing around the speaker's
head, and similar distractions. But paying too much attention to these distractions
can break your concentration and make you miss part of the conversation. If
outside commotion is a problem, try to position yourself away from it.
 Make eye contact with the speaker, and force yourself to focus on the
message, not the environment.
Take advantage of your brainpower . On
the average, you can think four times faster than
the listener can talk. So, when listening, use this
extra brainpower to evaluate what has been said
and summarize the central ideas in your own
mind.
Provide feedback. Make eye contact with the speaker. Show him you
understand his talk by nodding your head, maintaining an upright posture, and, if
appropriate, interjecting an occasional comment such as "I see" or "that's
interesting" or "really?" The speaker will appreciate your interest and feel that
you are really listening.
Motivation is an essential key to becoming a good listener. Think how
your ears perk up if someone says, "Let me tell you how pleased I am with that
report you did," or "I'm going to reorganize the department, and you are in line
for a promotion."
Fight off distractions. When you are speaking or
negotiating, try to create a situation in which you can think
clearly and avoid interruptions. Interruptions and distractions
tend to prevent communication from proceeding smoothly or
may even cause a setback. Employees, peers, children, animals,
and phones can all distract you and force your eye off the goal. If you can, create
a good listening environment.