Listening Self-Assessment

To prepare yourself for effective customer interactions with internal and external customers and to
quickly assess how good your listening skills are, take the following assessment. Depending on your
responses, you will be asked to develop a listening improvement plan using some of the strategies in
this chapter and available from other sources.

Place a check mark in the appropriate column.

Always Sometimes Never

When someone speaks to me, I stop what I am doing to focus on
what they are saying
I listen to people even if I disagree with what they are saying.
When I am unsure of someone’s meaning, I ask for clarification.
I avoid daydreaming when listening to others.
I focus on main ideas, not details, when someone speaks to me.
While listening, I am also conscious of nonverbal cues send by the
speaker.
I consciously block out noise when someone speaks to me.
I paraphrase the messages I receive in order to ensure I understood
the speaker’s meaning.
I wait until I have received a person’s entire message before forming
my response.
When receiving negative feedback (e.g., a customer complaint), I
listen with an open mind and do not interrupt.
Total each column: Always=5 Sometimes=3 Never=0
40-50 Your listening is excellent
26-39 Your listening is above average
15-25 Your listening likely falls below normal
14-0 You have a serious listening problem and should seek
additional training or resources to improve.

After completing this assessment, start to develop an Action Plan to improve your listening skills. Even
though you may have done really well on this assessment, there is always room for improvement.

1. Identify someone or a couple of people who can give you honest feedback on how they think
you listen. Share your assessment and ask them to take it evaluating you.
2. Identify areas you are willing to work on to improve your skills.
3. Describe actions you are willing to take to improve your listening skills.
4. Describe what you will do by when.
5. Submit your typed Action Plan to your instructor.