LISTENING SKILLS

Theory and Practice

Queen Sarkar
 What is Listening ?

• Listening is the ability to accurately receive

and interpret messages in the
communication process.

• It is the process of receiving, constructing

meaning from, and responding to spoken
and/or nonverbal messages; with
attention .
 Listening is not Hearing
Listening and hearing are not the same. Hearing is the first
stage of listening. Hearing occurs when our ears pick up
sound waves which are then transported to our brain. This
stage is our sense of hearing.

Listening is a communication process and, to be successful,

is an active process. In active listening, meaning and
evaluation of a message must take place before a listener
can respond to a speaker. Therefore, the listener is actively
working while the speaker is talking.

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ctive Listening Proc
STEPS:
• Hearing
• Filtering
• Comprehending
• Remembering
• Responding
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 HEARING
Hearing is the first essential step in the listening process and relates to the
sensory perception of sound. The listener further processes the perceived
sound. For learning to be effective, hearing needs to be done with
attentiveness and concentration.

FILTERING
The next step involves sensing and filtering of heard sounds. The heard
message is categorized as wanted or unwanted. The unwanted message is
discarded. The sense of judgement of the individual comes into play, that
is, the filtering process is subjective and a person chooses to retain what
makes sense to him.

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 COMPREHENDING
The listener understands what the speaker has tried to convey. This
activity can be described as absorbing, grasping or assimilating. The
listener uses his knowledge, experience, perception and cognitive
power.

REMEMBERING
The assimilated message is stored in memory to facilitate future recall.

RESPONDING
Responding to a message takes place at the end of the communication,
immediately after or later, to show that the message is being received
and comprehended. 6
Types of Listening
DISCRIMINATIVE LISTENING – It involves
identifying the difference between various
sounds. It also enables one to differentiate
between familiar and unfamiliar language.

COMPREHENSION LISTENING – It involves

attaching meaning to what is being listened
to. It may also include comprehending the
non verbal messages being conveyed by the
speaker.

EVALUATIVE LISTENING – It involves

evaluating and analyzing the message 7
being received. It involves judging the
Types of Listening
ATTENTIVE LISTENING – It involves paying
attention to the words that are being
spoken.
PRETENCE LISTENING – It involves more
hearing than listening. It means pretending
through facial expressions that one is
listening when actually one is not.
SELECTIVE LISTENING – It involves selecting
the desired part of the message and
ignoring the undesired part of the message.
INTUITIVE LISTENING – It means listening
through the intuitive mind by silencing the
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other forms of internal dialogues going on
Barriers to Effective Listening
• Physical Barriers
• People – Related Barriers
 Physiological Barriers
 Psychological Barriers

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Physical Barrier
• Noise
• Poor acoustics
• Defective mechanical devices
• Frequent interruptions
• Uncomfortable seating arrangements
• Uncomfortable environment
• Message overload
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ysiological Barrie
• State of Health – State of health of the listener
and the speaker affects the listening ability.
Fever, pain or any other form of bodily
discomfort makes it difficult for a person to
listen or speak comfortably.

• Disability – Hearing deficiencies may lead to

poor listening. Similarly, speech disorders of the
speaker may make a speech incoherent to the
listener. Speaker’s accent may also make it
difficult for the listener to comprehend.

• Wandering attention – Human mind can process

words at the rate of about 500 per minute, 11
ychological Barri
• Being unsure of the speaker’s ability –
Based on past experience or inputs from
sources, the listener may have a
preconceived notion of the speaker’s
ability. He may perceive the speaker to not
be well informed, or to be lacking in depth
and ability. Hence the listener will not listen
to what the speaker has to say.
• Personal anxiety – Sometimes the listener
is preoccupied with personal concerns and
anxieties. This makes it difficult to perceive
what is being said by the speaker.
• Attitude – The listener may be highly
egocentric with a “know it all attitude” and12
ychological Barri
• Impatience – The listener may not have
patience to wait for the other person to
finish what he has to say. He may be
intolerant or may be eager to add his own
points to the discussion. As a result, his
desire to speak overcomes his desire to
listen, thus acting as a barrier.
• Emotional blocks – Our deep seated beliefs
in certain ideas may make it difficult for us
to listen to ideas which go against our
belief. We may hear such an idea wrongly or
it may get distorted in our mind to match
our perception or we may completely block
it off by not listening to it. Many a time, we
block something off completely because of 13
You are not being a good listener if

• You keep interrupting people when they are talking.

• You are easily distracted by your surroundings.

• You only listen to what you want to hear.

• You constantly keep fidgeting, play with your hands or move

uneasily.

• You have a blank expression all the time.

• You start talking with other listeners when someone is speaking.

• You change the subject

• You are quick to opine, reject or respond with a knee jerk reaction

• You don't observe the body language of people who speak

 Traits of a Good Listener
• Good listeners are not hasty in making judgments.

• Good listeners pay careful attention to words. They don’t

assume that an idea they are hearing is identical to an idea
they are already familiar with simply because it has
similarities.
• Good listeners ask questions : adding value to a conversation.
Not to embarrass or attack, but to clarify and distill.
• Avoid the trap of selective listening: Listen to what is being
said, not what they want to hear.
for being a Good Lis
• Let yourself finish listening before you
begin to speak! You can't really listen if you
are busy thinking about what you want to
say next.
• Listen for main ideas. The main ideas are
the most important points the speaker
wants to get across. They may be
mentioned at the start or end of a talk, and
repeated a number of times. Pay special
attention to statements that begin with
phrases such as "My point is..." or "The
thing to remember is..."
• Ask questions. If you are not sure you
understood what the speaker has said, just16
s for being a Good Lis
• Give feedback. Sit up straight
and look directly at the speaker.
Now and then, nod to show that
you understand. At appropriate
points you may also smile,
frown, laugh, or be silent. These
are all ways to let the speaker
know that you are really
listening. Remember, you listen
with your face as well as your
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 IMPLICATIONS
• Good listening helps you to take better
decisions and make better policies in
organization.
• On the contrary lack of proper listening
can lead to embarrassing situations
because of a gap in coordination and
understanding.
 Body Language for Listeners
• Look Like You’re Listening
• If you want people to give you their ideas, don’t multi-
task while they do! Avoid the temptation to check your
text messages, check your watch, or check out how the
other participants are reacting. Instead, focus on those
who are speaking by turning your head and torso to face
them directly and by making eye contact. Leaning forward
is another nonverbal way to show you’re engaged and
paying attention. It’s important to listen to people — it’s
just as important to make sure that they know you are
listening.
• Use Your Head
• To encourage a team member to expand on
their comments, nod your head using clusters
of three nods at regular intervals. I’ve found
that people will talk much more than usual
when the listener nods in this manner. Head
tilting is another signal that you are interested,
curious and involved. The head tilt is a universal
gesture of giving the other person an ear.
• Activate Your Smile Power
• A genuine smile not only stimulates your own sense
of well-being, it also tells those around you that you
are approachable, cooperative, and trustworthy.
• A genuine smile comes on slowly, crinkles the eyes,
lights up the face, and fades away slowly.
• Most importantly, smiling directly influences how
other people respond to you. When you smile at
someone, they almost always smile in return. And,
because facial expressions trigger corresponding
feelings, the smile you get back actually changes
that person’s emotional state in a positive way.
• Lean In
• Leaning is another way your body indicates your emotions.
Leaning backward usually signals feelings of dislike or
negativity. It’s a hardwired response from the limbic brain;
we subconsciously try to distance ourselves from anything
unpleasant or dangerous. In a seated conversation, leaning
backward can also communicate dominance or disinterest.

• Positive attitudes toward others tend to be accompanied

by leaning forward – especially when sitting down. When
two people like each other, you’ll see them both lean in.
Research also shows that individuals who lean forward
tend to increase the verbal output of the person they’re
speaking with
 The Four Levels of Listening
• Like personality types, listeners can also be
thought of in four general

• categories; the non-listener, the marginal

listener, the evaluative listener, and the active
listener.
 The Non Listeners
• The non-listener, generally, makes no effort to
hear what is being said or will pretend to listen
while thinking of something else. You can
recognize the non-listener by the blank stare and
possibly nervous mannerisms and gestures.
Frequently the non-listener wants to do all (or
most) of the speaking. The non-listener constantly
interrupts and has to have the last word. The non-
listener is perceived as insensitive and irritating.
 THE MARGINAL LISTENER

• The marginal listener is a superficial listener.

Generally this listener is too busy preparing a reply to
what is being said to really pay attention to the
meaning or intent of the message.
• The marginal listener is easily distracted by
environmental noises, movements, or his own train
of thoughtThe main problem with marginal listening
is that there is enormous potential for
misunderstanding since the listener is only
superficially concentrating on the message.
 THE EVALUATIVE LISTENER
• The evaluative listener actively tries to hear what the
speaker is saying but doesn't make an effort to
understand the speaker's intent. The evaluative
listener tends to be logical and unemotional. The
evaluative listener evaluates the message strictly on
the basis of the words delivered, totally disregarding
the vocal tone, body language and facial expressions.
This listener is accomplished at deciphering the
words, statistics, and facts of the message but lacks
the sensitivity to "read" the rest of the message.
 THE ACTIVE LISTENER
• Active listening is the most comprehensive
and the most powerful level of listening. This
is also the most demanding because it
requires the deepest level of concentration
and attention.
• The active listener does not judge the
speaker's message but instead focuses on
understanding the speaker's point of view.
 ACTIVE LISTNER
• The active listener focuses attention on
understanding the thoughts and feelings of the
other person as well as the spoken word. Active
listening involves suspending our own thoughts and
feelings in order to give attention solely to the
message and the intent of the speaker.
• Active listening also requires that the listener send
verbal and nonverbal feedback to the speaker
indicating that what is being said is really being
understood.
 Speed Difference
The difference between speech speed and listening
speed creates a listening gap.
For example, the average person speaks at about 135-
175 words a minute while the average person can listen
to 400-500 words a minute.
For poor listeners, the difference between listening
speed and speaking speed is time spent jumping to
conclusions, daydreaming, planning a reply or mentally
arguing with the speaker instead of evaluating body
language and really listening to what is being said.
 Lack of Training
• We do more listening than speaking, reading,
or writing, yet we receive almost no formal
training in listening. Many people assume that
they are good listeners when, in truth, few
people really are. The normal, untrained
listener is likely to understand and retain only
about 50 percent of a conversation. This 50
percent retention rate drops to an even less
impressive 25 percent after 48 hours.
 TIPS FOR EFFECTIVE LISTENING
• DO’s
• Be mentally prepared to listen
• Evaluate the speech not the
speaker
• Be unbiased to the speaker by
depersonalizing your feelings
• Fight distractions by closing off
sound sources
• Be open minded
• Ask questions to clarify and not
to overshadow intelligence
• Paraphrase from time to time
• Send appropriate non-verbal
signals time to time
• Don’ts
• Not to pay undue emphasis on
vocabulary as you can use the
context to understand the
meaning
• Not to pay too much attention to
the accessories and clothing of the
speaker
• Not to prepare your responses
while the speaker is speaking
• Avoid preconceptions and
prejudices
• Not to get distracted by outside
influences
• Not to interrupt too often
• Not to show boredom
 CONCLUSION
• You do not listen with just your ears. You
listen with your eyes and with your sense
of touch. You listen with your mind, your
heart, your imagination. (Egan Gerard)

• A good conversationalist is popular, a

good listener even more so. Talk only if
you have something to say.
Thank You