CHRIST

Deemed to be University

LISTENING

Dr. Philip Varghese

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General understanding about listening:

• Listening is the ability to accurately receive and interpret messages in the
communication process.
• Listening is key to all effective communication, without the ability to listen
effectively messages are easily misunderstood.
• Listening is one of the most important life skills one should have.
• It is an active process of getting information and ideas.
• Thus, it is the process of receiving, constructing meaning from, and
responding to spoken.

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The cornerstone of Servant Leadership

● Listening is a key practice for the servant
leadership – and also a responsibility which helps
in building a sense of community.

● Listening entails truly feeling the emotions of the

other person and doing so without judgement and
criticism.

● Make a deep commitment to listening intently to

others and making an effort to understand others.

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What is Listening?

❑ Listening is not just about being quiet while someone

else is speaking
❑ Listening is with the mind
❑ Hearing with the senses
❑ Listening is conscious
❑ To improve our interpersonal & oral exchange
❑ Just listening to words is not enough; a good listener has
to pay attention to the non-verbal communication of the
speaker

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Process of Listening..

3 4

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Explaining the process..

1. Receiving

• Is the intentional focus on hearing a speaker’s message.

• This stage is represented by the ear because it is the
primary tool involved with this stage of the listening process.

2. Understanding

• In the understanding stage, we attempt to learn the

meaning of the message, which is not always easy.
• Deciding what the message means to you.

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Explaining the process..(contd..)

3. Remembering

• Remembering begins with listening; if you can’t remember

something that was said, you might not have been listening
effectively.

• However, even when you are listening attentively, some

messages are more difficult than others to understand and
remember. Highly complex messages that are filled with
detail call for highly developed listening skills.

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Explaining the process..(contd..)

4. Evaluating

• The fourth stage in the listening process is evaluating. •

evaluations of the same message can vary widely from one
listener to another.

• The stages two, three, and four are represented by the brain
because it is the primary tool involved with these stages of
the listening process.

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Explaining the process..(contd..)

5. Responding

• Responding—sometimes referred to as feedback—is the fifth and final

stage of the listening process.

• Your reaction to the message. It can be emotional and intellectual. For

example, you are giving positive feedback to your instructor if at the end
of class you stay behind to finish a sentence in your notes or approach the
instructor to ask for clarification. The opposite kind of feedback is given
by students who gather their belongings and rush out the door as soon as
class is over. This stage is represented by the lips because we often give
feedback in the form of verbal feedback; however, you can just as easily
respond nonverbally.

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Listening is second to none!!

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IMPORTANCE OF LISTENING

● We show that we are serious

● We display respect to other’s view point
● Helps us to learn
● Helps us to adapt and understand
● Empathize
● Also, to avoid communication errors
● Helps to learn something new
● It is the key to success

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BENEFITS OF LISTENING

● Enhances productivity
● Improves relations
● Avoids conflicts
● Improves understanding
● Improves negotiation skills,
● Adds to your image & personality.

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TYPES OF LISTENING..
1. Discriminative Listening – it involves identifying the
difference between various sounds. It also enables one to
differentiate between familiar and unfamiliar language.

2. Comprehensive 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.

3. Evaluate Listening – It involves evaluating and

analysing the message being received. It involves judging
the acceptability of what is said depending on how logical
one finds it to be.
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TYPES OF LISTENING..(Contd..)

4. Attentive Listening – It involves paying attention to the

words that are being spoken.
5. Pretence Listening – It involves more hearing than
listening. It means pretending through facial expression that
one is listening when one is actually not.
6. Selective Listening – It involves selecting the desired
part of the message and ignoring the undesired parts of the
message.
7. Intuitive Listening - It meaning listening through the
intuitive mind by silencing the other forms of internal
dialogue going on simultaneously.

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Listening Vs Hearing
● According to the Elhurst College
learning center; listening and hearing
are not the same.
● Hearing is the first stage of listening.
Hearing occurs when our ears pickup
sound waves which then are
transported to our brain. This stage
is our sense of hearing.

Listening is a communication process.

In other words, one must be an active
participant in this communication process.

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Fallacies about Listening..

● Listening is not my problem!

● Listening and hearing are the same
● Good readers are good listeners
● Smarter people are better listeners
● Listening improves with age
● Listening skills are difficult to learn

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Barriers to effective listening..

1. Pre-judgments about the speaker .

2. Assuming that the speaker is going to give some
unimportant information .
3. Arriving late for a speech, presentation or lecture .
4. Judging the speaker by his/her mannerisms, voice,
appearance, accent, etc. 5.Lack of concentration/interest.
6.Avoiding listening to difficult, boring or complex
information and selectively listening only to what is
considered interesting.
7.Speaker or listener being distracted by disturbances.

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How to listen effectively..

1. Stop Talking – Be Silent

2. Show Interest
3. Empathize
4. Ask Questions
5. Maintain Eye Contact
6. Take notes
7. Listen Creatively
8. Put Your Entirety
9. Send feedback
10. Avoid or eliminate distraction
11. Try to gather information about the topic to develop
interest and familiarity.

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Videos

● Active Listening: How To Communicate Effectively

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BW82k7lwI_U (04:39 mins)

● 5 ways to listen better | Julian Treasure - TedTalk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cSohjlYQI2A (07:50 mins)

● ‘The Big Bang Theory’ Series – Scene on Active Listening

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3_dAkDsBQyk (01:55 mins)

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Further readings..
● https://hbr.org/2016/07/what-great-listeners-actually-do

● https://positivepsychology.com/active-listening/

● https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-active-listening-3024343

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Thank you…
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