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Listening Skills
                         
Mod 2

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What is Listening?
• Listening :to hear something with
thoughtful attention

• Effective communication is 2-way

– depends on speaking and listening

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Listening vs. Hearing

• Hearing- physical process; natural

• Listening- physical & mental process;

active; learned process; a skill

• Listening is hard!

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 Types/Styles of Listening
• Critical listening Ex.: Found in Courts of Law
• Content listening: Ex.: Lectures by teachers
• Empathic listening: Listener attempts to listen
to the message from the sender’s perspective
• Active listening: Ex.: Business Meetings
where whole body is actively involved in the
process of listening
 Active vs. Passive Listening
Passive Listening is listening without
reacting: Allowing someone to speak,
without interrupting

Active listening is reacting or doing

something that demonstrates you are
listening
 Purposes/Role of Listening
• To gain new information and ideas

• To question and test evidence and assumptions

• To be inspired

• To improve your own communication

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The Anatomy of Poor Listening

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 The Anatomy of Poor Listening

• 75% of the time we are distracted, preoccupied or

forgetful

• 25% of the time, we remember what we hear

• Less than 2% of people have had formal education

with listening
JVIMS Features of a Good Listener
OR
How a listening improves superior and
subordinate relationships in an
organization?/Essentials of good listening

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The Good Listener Acknowledges Others

Listening is the most powerful form of acknowledgment

…a way of saying, “You are important.”

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The Good Listener Builds Stronger Relationships

…creates a desire to cooperate among people

because they feel accepted and acknowledged.

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The Good Listener promotes being heard

…”Seek first to understand, then be

understood.”
- Stephen Covey

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The Good Listener creates acceptance and

openness

…conveys the message that “I am not judging

you.”

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The Good Listener is open to learning

(new ideas)

…openness encourages personal growth and learning

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The Good Listener reduces stress and tension

by asking questions

…minimizes confusion and misunderstanding,

eliminating related stress and tension

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The Good Listener Listens With His
Whole Body

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The Good Listener goes beyond the Message;

Takes Interest in the Message-Sender Too

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The Good Listener Sincerely Seeks
to Understand

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 Who is a Kinesthetic speaker?
• That person who takes help of actions,
gestures, posture and body language to
make understand audience his point
correctly
The Listening Process –Steps/Stages
(Also known as HURIER model of
listening/Cognitive process)
•Hearing
•Understanding
•Remembering
•Interpreting
•Evaluating
•Responding
Model best applicable in hospitality organizations)
 What is Empathetic Listening?
• Is a process where the listener empathizes (to put
oneself in the other person’s mental frame) with
the speaker and tries not only to listen to the
verbal message but also the emotions and feelings
of the speaker

• Example: A manager also needs to be empathic

listener while listening to an aggrieved customer
 Question
• Discuss the three levels of listening.
 Three levels of Listening

• Level 1: Half Listening

– Paying attention some; tuning out some.

– Commenting to others.
– Waiting for a chance to break in.
– Distracted by personal thoughts and what’s
going on around you.
–  texting
 Three levels of Listening

• Level 2: Sound Listening

– Hearing the words, but not the meaning behind
them.
– Missing the significance of the message.
– Responding but with logic only
 Three levels of Listening
• Level 3: Active Listening
– Ignoring distractions.
– Ignoring delivery quirks and focusing on the message.
– Making eye contact.
– Being aware of own body language.
– Understanding the speaker’s ideas.
– Asking clarifying questions.
– Recognizing the speaker’s basic objective.
– Acknowledging the emotion involved.
– Responding appropriately.
– Remaining engaged even when taking notes.
 Question
• As a manager in a firm, you find that your
subordinates are passive listeners, how as
an manager would you help them in
becoming attentive listener in order to
enhance the communication of your firm
 Strategies/Methods for
Improving Listening Skills
• Be Prepared
• Have a Positive attitude
• Listen to understand, not criticize
• Focus your attention
• Concentrate on context
• Take notes
• Do not interrupt
• Summarize and evaluate
Qualities of Effective and Ineffective Listeners
OR
Ways through which one can enhance the
effectiveness of listening
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Effective listener /Positive connotations of good

listening/Essentials of good listening
Eye contact
Person looks interested
Person asks questions
They nod and react to what’s being said
They try to stay on the topic

Ineffective listener /Barriers in effective listening

No eye contact
The person looks bored
They look at their watch, or at other people
They don’t say anything… or just say ‘yes’, ‘no’, ‘yes’, ‘no’
They change the subject to talk about themselves GTU
They don’t ask questions
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References
• Monippally – anatomy, features

• Definition, types, purposes, process of

listening - Effective Business
Communication:- Murphy, Hildebrandt,
Thomas, 7th edi. GTU series

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