Listening skills

“Listening is the process of receiving, constructing meaning from, and responding to spoken.”
 Listening is the ability to accurately receive and interpret messages in the communication
process.
 Listening is key to all effective communication, without the ability to listen effectively
messages are easily misunderstood.
 Listening is one of the most important skills you can have.
 An active process of getting information, ideas.
Listening is a conscious activity which improves our interpersonal and oral exchange. The listener has
to pay attention to the non-verbal cues as well.

Process of Listening

Receiving
• Is the intentional focus on hearing a speaker’s message.
• This stage is represented by the ear because it is the primary tool involved with this stage of the
listening process.
Understanding
• In the understanding stage, we attempt to learn the meaning of the message, which is not always
easy.
• Deciding what the message means to you
Remembering
• Remembering begins with listening; if you can’t remember something that was said, you might not
have been listening effectively.
• However, even when you are listening attentively, some messages are more difficult than others to
understand and remember. Highly complex messages that are filled with detail call for highly
developed listening skills.
Evaluating
• The fourth stage in the listening process is evaluating.
• Evaluations of the same message can vary widely from one listener to another.
• The stages two, three, and four are represented by the brain because it is the primary tool involved
with these stages of the listening process.
Responding
• Responding—sometimes referred to as feedback—is the fifth and final stage of the listening process.
• Your reaction to the message. It can be emotional and intellectual
• For example, you are giving positive feedback to your instructor if at the end of class, you stay
behind to finish a sentence in your notes or approach the instructor to ask for clarification. The
opposite kind of feedback is given by students who gather their belongings and rush out the door as
soon as class is over.
This stage is represented by the lips because we often give feedback in the form of verbal feedback;
however, you can just as easily respond nonverbally.

Why is listening important?

Listening plays an integral part of communicating and the differences from actively listening can be
seen in multiple facets of our lives and development.
Active listening helps to:
 Learn and understand things better in a social and professional environment
 Become better at socialising
 Better sympathise with friends and family
 Build stronger relationships by making people feel valued
 Improve problem solving skills
 Absorb information better
 Limits judgments
 Enhances leadership skills
 Reduces misunderstandings

Types of Listening
Active Listening

The first type is known as active listening. Active listeners focus on the speaker’s words to understand
their meaning and context. This type of listener pays close attention to the speaker’s body language,
facial expressions, and tone of voice. They engage with the speaker, ask meaningful questions, and
clarify information. Active listening is helpful in personal relationships and professional settings
when you need to build a strong rapport with someone.

Biased Listening or Selective Listening

Biased listening happens when the person hears only what they want to hear, typically misinterpreting
what the other person says based on the stereotypes and other biases that they have. Such biased
listening is often very evaluative in nature.
Evaluative Listening
In evaluative listening, or critical listening, we make judgments about what the other person is saying.
We seek to assess the truth of what is being said. We also judge what they say against our values,
assessing them as good or bad, worthy or unworthy.
Appreciative listening
In appreciative listening, we seek certain information which will appreciate, for example that which
helps meet our needs and goals. We use appreciative listening when we are listening to good music,
poetry or maybe even the stirring words of a great leader.
Sympathetic listening
In sympathetic listening we care about the other person and show this concern in the way we pay
close attention and express our sorrow for their ills and happiness at their joys.

Types of Listeners
 Active listeners
 Passive listeners
 Non-listeners
 Evaluative listeners

Principles of Listening
1) Stop Talking
When somebody else is talking, it is important to listen to what they are saying. Do not interrupt, talk
over them or finish their sentences for them. Right now, the most important thing that you can do is
simply listen to them. As the saying goes, there is a time and a place for everything—and that
includes both listening and speaking.
2) Prepare yourself to listen
Focus on the speaker. Put other things out of your mind. The human mind is easily distracted by other
thoughts, such as wondering what’s for lunch, or what time you need to leave to catch your train, or
whether it is going to rain later.
When you are listening to someone, try to put other thoughts out of your mind and concentrate on the
messages that are being communicated.
3) Put the speaker at ease
It is not always easy for someone to talk freely, especially if they find the topic is difficult, or it causes
an emotional reaction. However, as a listener, there are actions you can take to make the speaker feel
more confident. For example:
 Nod and smile, or use other gestures or words to encourage them to continue;
 Maintain eye contact but don’t stare;
 Echo back their last few words, in a technique known as mirroring, which is part of reflecting;
and
 Summarize or paraphrase what they have said, finishing with a question (or a questioning
tone) to encourage them to continue.
4) Remove distractions
Remove as many distractions as possible so you can focus on what is being said.
The human mind is prone to being distracted. It is therefore important to ensure that you don’t give
your mind too much opportunity for escape.
When you are listening to someone, it is a good idea to remove possible distractions. Put down your
phone, or turn away from your computer screen. It is also a good idea to avoid unnecessary
interruptions. For example, at work, you might leave your desks and go to a meeting room, leaving
your phones behind.
5) Empathize
Try to understand the other person’s point of view.
When you are listening, it is important to see issues from the speaker’s perspective: to empathize with
them. This helps you to understand their point of view, and to understand their concerns.
The best way to do this is to let go of preconceived ideas.
By opening your mind to new ideas and perspectives, you can more fully empathize with the speaker.
If the speaker says something that you disagree with, then wait. Keep listening to their views and
opinions without comment, until they have finished speaking.
6) Be patient
A pause, even a long pause, does not necessarily mean that the speaker has finished.
Sometimes it takes time to formulate what to say and how to say it. Be patient and let the speaker
continue in their own time. Never be tempted to interrupt or finish a sentence for someone. This is
particularly important if the speaker has a speech impediment such as a stammer.
 7) Avoid personal prejudice
Try to be impartial.
Our personal prejudices can lead us to pre-judge someone’s words and meaning based on their habits
or mannerisms. This prevents effective listening, because you have effectively already decided
whether their words have value.
Don’t become irritated and don't let someone’s habits or mannerisms distract you from what they are
really saying.
8) Listen to the tone
Volume and tone both add to what someone is saying.
A good speaker will use both volume and tone to help them to keep an audience attentive. Equally,
everybody will use pitch, tone and volume of voice in certain situations. Effective listening means
using these non-verbal cues to help you to understand the emphasis and nuance of what is being said.
9) Listen for ideas – not just words
You need to get the whole picture, not just isolated bits and pieces.
10) Wait and watch for non-verbal communication
Gestures, facial expressions, and eye-movements can all be important in understanding someone’s full
meaning.
We tend to think of listening as being something that happens with our ears—and hearing is of course
important. However, active listening also involves our eyes.
Some experts suggest that up to 80% of communication is non-verbal. That includes hearing the
volume and tone—but a substantial element of any communication is body language. This is why it is
much harder to gauge meaning over the phone.