It is often used by professionals working on audio productions.

This Listening Style is actively engaged with the music they are listening to; each element of a piece of
music is analysed in order to understand the intentions of the composer and/or lyricist. During Analytical
Listening, the listener looks for the deeper meaning of what is heard. Sound itself has no meaning; it’s
about the underlying layer.

When someone says something, it’s not just about the contents. It’s especially the way they say it that
gives meaning to the words. This intonation also applies in music.

The underlying emotional implications of a musical performance indicate the composer’s meaning and
intentions. Music is more than simply a mix of sounds. The composer and/ or lyricist is always trying to
convey a meaning or emotion, such as happiness, sadness, anger, or love.

Thus, music can be made about an endless array of subjects and emotions. This means there are many
details for the listener to find. It’s about finding out the message behind the message.

Analytical capacity
Analytical ability is very useful in many other occupations as well, however. Think of leadership roles,
technical occupations, and the medical world, where it comes down to making many analyses.

Listening analytically means looking at differences, possible risks, and the things that make no sense. By
analysing these, the cause of the problem becomes clear.

Addressing this will make the information clearer for both parties. In some cases, the analytical listener
will cause the other to feel annoyed. The other may feel ‘caught’ regarding the fact that they did not
provide complete information. By supporting and encouraging them, both parties will find common
ground again.

Analytical capacity is a trait that applies to the analytical listener. This analytical ability is a quality that
usually goes hand in hand with other abilities one has, such as empathic capacity, inquisitiveness,
curiosity, desire to learn, being critical and open-minded.
Analytical capacity is a mixture of all these traits and abilities.

Pitfalls
Apart from the power of this Listening Style, there are also a number of pitfalls. For example, those who
are strongly analytically minded and capable of good analytical thought tend to think things through too
much and hesitate too much before coming up with a final judgment.

Because of their analytical capacity, such a person will first go over all the options, weigh them, and
closely examine all the pros and cons before making a choice. The indecisiveness this brings may be
experienced by their environment as highly annoying.

The previously mentioned danger that the conversation partner will feel attacked is also a potential issue.
This is because the analytical listener ask a lot of questions, which can make them seem distrustful
towards their conversation partner.

Besides deeper questions, the analytical listener will ask many ‘why’ questions, which people will often
not be able to answer. The tip is to look for the answers together and not put the other on the spot. That
could be felt as a negative confrontation, which stalls the conversation and could make it take a different
turn.

Apart from that, the analytical listener is ‘allergic’ to ad hoc solutions that should be implemented in the
short term.

In some situations, however, they will need to accept these because not doing so would interfere with
business operations.

To the analytical listener, this will feel like implementing poorly thought out solutions without having
made a correct diagnosis. Depending on the situation, the analytical listener may have to learn to accept
this.

Analytical Listening & Decision Making

Analytical Listening forms one of the foundations of good decision making. Listening thoroughly and
analytically makes it easier to reconstruct a situation and find a solution rationally. This will then lead to
optimal decisions. Especially when it comes to decision making,
Analytical Listening is a large part of a leadership skill set. Complex problems are more easily
understood, meaning a better prediction can be made as to which solution or method would be best. It can
therefore contribute to all kinds of business roles that call for good planning and decision making.
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Analytical Listening & Problem Solving

Moreover, Analytical Listening helps bring balance to a conversation and process information
objectively.

In conversation with others, feeling plays an important role. When the atmosphere of the conversation is
good, chances are objectivity will disappear into the background.

Being mindful of this allows for a balance to be created between feeling and logical reasoning. Analyses
of causes can be made, after which the consequences of a problem can be better detected as well. An
analytical listener is able to critically look at elements of a problem and apply models to them.

By distinguishing main problems from partial problems, the analytic listener can collect a lot of
information, then research it.

After collecting all of the data, the analytical listener will be highly able to make logical connections,
detect the actual cause, and think of fitting solutions.
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It’s Your Turn

What do you think? What are your experiences with Analytical Listening? Do you recognize the practical
explanation or do you have any more additions? Does Analytical Listening help you to get to the core of
the problem or to make decisions more easily?

Share your experience and knowledge in the comments box below.