Improving Listening Skills

An Overview

1 14-11-2016 11:07:48
 Outline
Introduction and Importance

Process/Six Key Stages of Listening

Barriers to Effective Listening

Remedies to Barriers
s
 Introduction and Importance
Listening is paying attention to something or somebody

Cicero and Aristotle consider it most important skill

An average person remembers only half

We listen at only 25 % efficiency

Enlivening skill that enlightens the rest of skills

No input, no output

The deaf are also dumb

Send reinforcement; we’re going to advance.

A nice cake
 Listening Process: Six Stages
 1.Receiving

 2.Interpreting

 3.Remembering

 4.Evaluating

 5.Responding

 6.Acting
 Listening Process: Six Stages
 1.Receiving: physically hear, various external factors, e.g.,

poor hearing, inattention, physical impediments

 2.Interpreting: infer meaning, based on our needs, frame

of reference: similar or different

 3.Remembering: store
 4. Evaluating: assess the importance of the points

 5. Responding: verbal feedback or nodding, or sounds of

agreement
 6. Acting: sometimes, communication is an end in itself ---

an update or progress report

 At other time action is vital
 Barriers to Effective Listening
 1. Physical Barriers 6. Grandstanding

 2. Psychological Barriers 7. Delivery

 3. Language Problems 8. Faking Attention

 4. Nonverbal Distractions

 5. Thought Speed
 1. Physical Barriers:

 Hearing disabilities, poor acoustics

 Environmental Impediments: noisy fan, poor light, bang of

horn, background music, extreme weather

 Difficult to listen if you are tired, ill, uncomfortable, or

worried
 2. Psychological Barriers:

 Different set of cultural, ethical and personal values

 If others’ ideas run counter to ours, we tend to tune out.

 Abstracting

 Slanting

 Prejudgment
 3. language Problems:

 Unfamiliar words lack meaning

 We get fed up with some words and fillers

 Some words cause negative reaction

 We turn out the speaker because his words bother us

 4. Nonverbal Distractions:

 Unusual clothing

 Body twitches

 Excessive gestures

 Radical hairstyle
 5. Thought Speed:

 Average thinking capacity is 700 to 800 words a minute

 Average speaking capacity is 100 to 200 words a minute

 We can process thoughts four times faster

 We can get bored and allow our minds to wander

 6. Grandstanding:

 Our own thoughts and experiences are most important to us.

 We grab the limelight in conversations

 Thus we fail to listen carefully waiting for the next pause so

that we can have our turn to speak

 7. Delivery:

 Speaking too fast or too slow

 Monotone

 Speech mannerism
 8. Faking Attention:

 We have learned to look as if we are listening even when we

are not
 Such behavior is necessary as part of socialization

 Faked attention makes hard for us to concentrate even when

we want to.
 Tips for Becoming Effective Listener

1. Stop talking

2. Control your surroundings

3. Establish a receptive mindset

4. Listen objectively

5. Judge content, not appearances

6. Hold your fire

7. Take selective notes

8.Provide feedback