The Art of Listening

What is Listening??
Listening is the accurate perception of what is being communicated.
Listening is a communication technique that requires the listener to understand, interpret, and evaluate what they hear.

Stages of Listening

Selective Pretending

Active

Ignoring

Hearing vs. Listening

Hearing is simply the act of perceiving sound by the ear. If you are not hearingimpaired, hearing simply happens.
Listening, however, is something you consciously choose to do. Listening requires concentration so that your brain processes meaning from words and sentences. Listening leads to learning.

Why Listen??
We are blessed with two ears but only one mouth a constant reminder that we should listen at least twice as much as we talk.

Barriers to Effective Listening

Physical Barriers- whispers, cheers,
passing cars

Psychological Barriers- not paying

attention, jumping to conclusions, faking attention, tuning out topics that one considers to be dull.

 Semantic Barriers- Semantics refers to

specific meanings of a word . Semantic barriers, therefore, are the misunderstandings that occur when the words bear a different connotation for the receiver than they do for the sender.

Bad Listening Habits

Sheer laziness and/or just not caring. Criticizing the subject or the speaker. Tuning out to subjects that are considered to be dull. Resistance to difficult content. Letting a remark of the speaker (with which we disagree) put a stop to any further listening. Allowing personal characteristics of the speaker or his poor delivery to prevent understanding.

 Non verbal barriers such as rolling eyes, gestures made with exasperation (greatly annoyed ).

Rules to Effective Listening

1. Stop talking! You cannot listen when you are talking. 2. Put the speaker at ease: Relax, smile, look at the speaker and help that person feel free to talk. Look and act interested. 3. Pay attention to the nonverbal language of physical gestures, facial expressions, tone of voice, and body posture.
55 percent of the message meaning is nonverbal, 38 percent is indicated by tone of voice, and only 7 percent is conveyed by the words used in a spoken message

4. Avoid arguing mentally. Listen to understand, not to oppose.

5. Concentrate on "hidden" emotional meanings. What are the real feelings behind the words? What is the tone of voice saying? What does the emphasis on certain words mean?
What do you want?

What do you want? 6. Be Patient. Don't interrupt the speaker. 7. Be Empathetic. Understand the point of view the speaker is trying to convey.

People can hear four times faster than others can talk, which gives a skilled listener time to sort matters

Thank you