Importance of listening

Communication Arts
 Why don’t we listen sometimes?
WE HAVE ALREADY FORMULATED A
BEING WRAPPED UP IN OUR OWN THOUGHTS BEING DISTRACTED BY SOMETHING RESPONSE

o Our ability to properly listen can be influenced by a number of

things that could be going on in our own lives, or bad habits we have
picked up. More than ever it is easy to become distracted by
something, or by our own thoughts which disengages us from what
is being said.

2023 presentation title 2

 • Listening is a key component
of effective communication
skills.
• It allows you to come up

Why is listening so
with a substantial and
meaningful response.

important in life • Listening is also important

for productive collaboration.

and at work? • Listening is also crucial if

you want to learn effectively.
• Without attentive listening, it
can be easy to miss small
details that make a difference
in your learning.
Communication - The
importance of listening
Not only does listening enhance your ability
to understand better and make you a better
communicator, but it also makes the
experience of speaking to you more
enjoyable to other people.

Listening plays an integral part in

communicating and the differences between
actively listening can be seen in multiple
facets of our lives and development.

20XX 4
 THREE BASIC LISTENING MODELS

• Attentive Listening
• Responsive Listening
• Active Listening

20XX presentation title 5

 Attentive Listening
Attentive listeners focus on the
speaker and work hard to
eliminate distractions (such as
ambient noise or poor delivery
skills). They are also patient and
let the speaker finish their
thoughts without interruption.
While not easy, attentive listening
is essential for effective
communication.

20XX presentation title 6

 Responsive Listening
Responsive listeners demonstrate to the speaker that they are listening and understanding what
is being said, which encourages the speaker to continue. Encouraging responses may include
both nonverbal and verbal cues:

Nonverbal Responses Verbal Responses

Smiling “Uh-huh”
Appropriate facial expression “I see”
An affirmative nod of the head “Yes”
Good (appropriate) eye contact “Really?”
Minimizing distractions (turning off cell Occasionally repeating or paraphrase short
phones, etc.) phrases to show what you’ve heard
Taking notes (an under-utilized way to
broaden the depth of learning)
Leaning slightly towards the speaker

20XX 7
 Active Listening
Active listening doesn’t come
naturally to us. It is something that
we need to make a conscious effort to
do. It takes practice and can be
difficult to master. Active listening is
what it says on
the tin, it is fully concentrating on
what is being said, digesting it
without pre-judgment rather than
hearing the general message.
20XX 8
 Active listening helps to:
 LEARN AND UNDERSTAND THINGS BETTER IN A SOCIAL AND PROFESSIONAL
ENVIRONMENT

 BECOME BETTER AT SOCIALIZING

 BETTER SYMPATHIZE WITH FRIENDS AND FAMILY

 BUILD STRONGER RELATIONSHIPS BY MAKING PEOPLE FEEL VALUED

 IMPROVE PROBLEM-SOLVING SKILLS

 ABSORB INFORMATION BETTER

20XX 9
 How do I start active listening?
 Concentrate on what is being said - don’t be
distracted and don’t formulate a response early
 Show that you are engaged – look at the Click icon to add picture
person speaking, nod occasionally to show
that you’re listening
 Wait for the speaker to finish speaking before
asking questions and don’t interrupt
with a response
 Summarize your understanding if something
large or complicated has been explained

20XX presentation title 10

 1. INFORMATIONAL
LISTENING
2. DISCRIMINATIVE
LISTENING

7 types of listening 3. BIASED LISTENING

4. SYMPATHETIC
skills LISTENING
5. COMPREHENSIVE
LISTENING
6. EMPATHETIC OR
THERAPEUTIC LISTENING
7. CRITICAL LISTENING
 1. Informational listening
When you want to learn something, you’ll use
informational listening to understand and retain
information.
It usually takes a high level of concentration to
perform this type of listening. That’s because
you need to be highly engaged to understand a
new concept.
Some examples of informational listening
include:

• Work training
• Self-paced learning at home or at work
• Listening to an educational e-book
• Coaching

20XX 12
When you know how to use
informational listening, you
empower yourself to become a
better learner.
 2. Discriminative
listening
Discriminative listening is the first
listening type that you’re born with.

Everyone innately has discriminative

listening skills.

You use this type of listening before

you even know how to understand
words. Instead of relying on words,
discriminative listening uses tone of
voice, verbal cues, and other changes
in sound.

14
3. Biased listening
• Biased listening is also known as selective listening.
• Someone who uses biased listening will only listen for
information that they specifically want to hear.
• This listening process can lead to a distortion of facts. That’s
because the person listening isn’t fully in tune with what the
speaker wishes to communicate.

15
 4. Sympathetic listening
• Sympathetic listening is driven by emotion.
• Instead of focusing on the message spoken through words, the
listener focuses on the feelings and emotions of the speaker.
• This is done to process these feelings and emotions.
• By using sympathetic listening, you can provide the support
the speaker needs. You can understand how they’re really
feeling, not what they say they are feeling.

20XX 16
 LINKEDIN'S 2019

At work, communication is an important soft

skill. The Global Talent Trends report, 80%
of companies say that soft skills are
increasingly important to their success.

20XX 17
 5. Comprehensive listening
UNLIKE PEOPLE USE AT WORK AND IN YOUR
DISCRIMINATIVE LIFE, YOU’LL LIKELY USE A YOU’LL ALSO USE
COMPREHENSIVE
LISTENING, COMBINATION OF COMPREHENSIVE
LISTENING TO
COMPREHENSIVE COMPREHENSIVE AND LISTENING WHEN
UNDERSTAND WHAT
LISTENING DISCRIMINATIVE YOU RECEIVE
SOMEONE IS
REQUIRES LISTENING TO FEEDBACK.
SAYING USING
LANGUAGE SKILLS. WORDS. UNDERSTAND THE
MESSAGES PEOPLE ARE
Several other types of GIVING YOU.
listening build on
For example, let’s say your
This type of listening is comprehensive listening.
colleague briefs you on a
usually developed in For example, you need to
project. You’ll need to use
early childhood. use comprehensive
comprehensive listening to
listening to use
analyze the words and
informational listening and
understand the message.
learn something new.

20XX 18
 6. Empathetic or therapeutic listening
• Empathetic listening is useful to help you see from other people’s
perspectives.

• This is different from sympathetic listening.

With sympathetic listening, you try to understand someone’s feelings to
provide support. But you don’t necessarily try to imagine what it’d feel
like to be in their position.

20XX 19
7. Critical listening YOU NEED TO USE THIS
SKILL TO ANALYZE
SOLUTIONS OFFERED BY
OTHER PEOPLE AND
DECIDE IF YOU AGREE OR
IF YOU NEED TO ANALYZE NOT.
COMPLEX INFORMATION,
YOU’LL NEED TO USE
CRITICAL LISTENING. USING CRITICAL THINKING
WHILE LISTENING GOES
DEEPER THAN
COMPREHENSIVE
LISTENING. TO DO THIS, YOU DON’T
JUST NEED TO HEAR THEIR
CRITICAL LISTENING IS WORDS. YOU ALSO NEED
CRUCIAL WHEN PROBLEM- TO LOOK AT THE BIGGER
SOLVING AT WORK. PICTURE AND COMPARE
EVERYTHING YOU KNOW.
 Learn all types of listening to improve
ONE TYPE OF LISTENING ISN’T BETTER THAN THE
OTHER. INSTEAD, THESE SEVEN TYPES OF
LISTENING WORK TOGETHER TO HELP YOU
BETTER UNDERSTAND THE MESSAGES YOU
RECEIVE.

BY BEING A GOOD LISTENER, YOU CAN BECOME A

BETTER COMMUNICATOR, AVOID
MISUNDERSTANDINGS, AND LEARN NEW
INFORMATION MORE EASILY.

20XX 21
 THE ART OF ADULT LISTENING

"We were given two ears but only

one mouth, because listening is
twice as hard as talking."

20XX presentation title 22

thank you
I’ll see you next meeting. 