Unit 2.

Developing Effective Listening Ability

1. Listening

Introduction:

Listening is a significant part of communication process. Communication cannot take place until and
unless a message is heard and retained thoroughly and positively by the receivers/listeners. Listening is
a dynamic process. Listening means attentiveness and interest perceptible in the posture as well as
expressions. Listening implies decoding (i.e., translating the symbols into meaning) and interpreting the
messages correctly in communication process.

Listening is the ability to accurately receive and interpret messages in the communication process.
Listening is the key to all effective communication. Without the ability to listen effectively, messages are
easily misunderstood. As a result, communication breaks down and the sender of the message can
easily become frustrated or irritated.

Effective listening requires both deliberate efforts and a keen mind. Effective listeners appreciate flow
of new ideas and information. Organizations that follow the principles of effective listening are always
informed timely, updated with the changes and implementations, and are always out of crisis situation.
Effective listening promotes organizational relationships, encourages product delivery and innovation,
as well as helps organization to deal with the diversity in employees and customers it serves. To
improve your communication skills, you must learn to listen effectively. Effective listening gives you an
advantage and makes you more impressive when you speak. It also boosts your performance.

Effective Listening:

Effective listening is actively absorbing the information given to you by a speaker, showing that you are
listening and interested, and providing feedback to the speaker so that he or she knows the message
was received.  Delivering verbal communication, like writing a newsletter, involves trying to choose the
right words and nonverbal cues to convey a message that will be interpreted in the way that you
intend.  Effective listeners show speakers that they have been heard and understood.

Effective Listening Skills:

1. Repeat what is said to you. When someone is telling you a story or has information that is important
to them to share with you, repeat what they have said. This will not only show them you were listening,
but it will also ensure that you remember what was said to you later.

2. Write it down. If you are in a classroom, an interview, or on a sales call, one of the most effective
ways to listen is to write down what one is saying. Make sure they know you are going to take notes,
and then take out your notebook and pen to get started. You would be amazed at how much you will
remember of the conversation if you just write it down!

3. Maintain eye contact and provide non-verbal cues. One of the keys to listening is to pay attention to
the speaker. Maintain eye contact and acknowledge what they are saying as they are saying it.

4. Avoid outside distractions. If someone wants to talk with you, whether business or personal in
nature, turn off your phone, turn off your radio, turn off your TV, and make sure you are both
comfortable. In an office setting, make sure you are behind closed doors, and that outsiders know that
you are in a meeting in which you cannot be disturbed. Avoid meetings in your office, where your email
can become a huge distraction.

5. Listen from the heart. Empathy for the individual speaking is another critical factor in developing
effective listening skills. If you listen with your heart and not your head, you will listen more clearly,
because you won’t be thinking about yourself.
6. Practice, practice, practice. Every time someone speaks to you, practice your listening skills. Don’t
wait for “important” conversations. You can’t determine which conversations are important to the
other individual and which are not. Practicing effective listening skills with every conversation is critical
to deepening relationships and becoming known as an empathetic listener.

7. Mirror body language. If the person with whom you are engaging in conversation is sitting back,
cross-legged, with arms folded in their lap, it is important that you mirror a similar image in your own
body language. This will subconsciously indicate to them that you are listening to them, and will put
their mind at ease in being able to speak openly and honestly with you

8. Ask clarifying questions. If in listening to someone speak, there are points which are not clear, ask
questions. Don’t berate them, but ask questions that will show them that you are paying attention and
are truly interested in the topic in which they are discussing.

Conclusion:

Overall, effective listening starts with you. To become an effective listener, open your ears, shut your
mouth, and open your heart. Once you start truly listening to what people are saying vs. simply hearing
them, you will likely learn a lot about yourself in the process.

2. Hearing v/s Listening

Introduction:

Someone rightly said, “Hearing is through ears, but listening is through the heart.” The two activities
hearing and listening involve the use of ears, but they are different. The hearing is nothing but a sense
that helps you receive sound waves and noise by ears. It is the power of perceiving sounds.

On the contrary, listening is done when you receive the sound waves and understand it by paying full
attention to the words and sentences of the speaker. It is one’s ability to correctly receive and interpret
the message transferred by the other party in the process of communication.

For many people, these two activities are one, but the truth is, the difference between hearing and
listening is vital.

Definition of Hearing:

The natural ability or an inborn trait that allows us to recognize sound through ears by catching
vibrations is called the hearing. In simple terms, it is one of the five senses; that makes us aware of the
sound. It is an involuntary process, whereby a person receives sound vibrations, continuously.

A normal human being’s hearing capability ranges from 20 to 20000 Hertz, called as audio or sonic. Any
frequency above and below the given range is known as ultrasonic and infrasonic respectively.

Definition of Listening:

Listening is defined as the learned skill, in which we can receive sounds through ears, and transform
them into meaningful messages. To put simply, it is the process of diligently hearing and interpreting
the meaning of words and sentences spoken by the speaker, during the conversation.

Listening is a bit difficult, because it requires concentration and attention, and the human mind is easily
distracted. People use it as a technique to comprehend, what is being said, through different verbal and
non-verbal signs, i.e. how it is being said? What type of words are used? Tone and pitch of voice, body
language and so on.
Active listening is the key element; that makes the communication process effective. Further, it
encompasses making sounds that show listener’s attentiveness and providing feedback. It had a greater
influence in our lives and used to gain information, learn and understand things and so on.

Key Differences Between Hearing and Listening:

The following points are vital so far as the difference between hearing and listening is concerned.

1. An individual’s ability to perceive sounds, by receiving vibrations through ears, is called the
hearing. Listening is something done consciously, that involves the analysis and understanding of
the sounds you hear.
2. The hearing is the primary and continuous in nature, i.e. the first and foremost stage is hearing,
followed by listening and it occurs continuously. On the other hand, listening is temporary, as we
cannot continuously pay attention to something for long hours.
3. The hearing is physiological, which is through one of our senses in the living organisms. On the
contrary, listening is a psychological (conscious) act.
4. While hearing is a passive bodily process that does not involve use of the brain. As opposed to
listening, it is an active mental process, which involves the use of brain to draw meaning from
words and sentences.
5. Hearing involves receipt of the message through ears. Conversely, listening encompasses
interpretation of the message received by ears.
6. The hearing is an inborn ability but listening is a learned skill.
7. In the hearing, we are not aware of the sounds that we receive; however, in the case of
listening, we are completely aware of what the speaker is saying.
8. Hearing involves the use of only one sense i.e. ears. In contrast, listening, involves the use of
more than one senses i.e. eyes, ears, touch etc. to understand the message completely and
accurately.
9. In the hearing, we are neither aware nor we have any control over the sounds we hear. On the
other hand, in listening, we are aware of what the other person is saying and so we listen to
acquire knowledge and receive information.
10. Hearing does not require focus whereas listening does.

Conclusion:

So, with the above points, it is quite clear that listening is one step ahead of the hearing. The hearing is
simply the ability to hear, i.e. natural or God-given whereas, listening is an acquired skill, which only a
few people possess. While the hearing is involuntary and performed effortlessly, listening is done
intentionally, wherein we are selective and pay attention to only those messages, we think important
for us.

3. Types of Listening

1. Discriminative listening:

The most basic kind of listening is discriminative. This listening is directed more towards the source of
the sounds, the type of sounds produced, and differentiating these sounds. When a child begins to make
a distinction between the voice of his mother and father, and reacts differently to them, he or she is
using discriminative listening.

Discriminative listening enables us not only to be able to tell the gender of the speaker, or how many
people are actually talking, but also recognize the differences in accents, stresses, and emphasized
sounds. We also use discriminative listening when we listen for cues in the speaker’s voice or tone to
determine emotions or understated feelings.

As an example, if you know someone to always be peppy and full of energy, then one day their voice is
down, you use discriminative listening to immediately understand that something is wrong.

2. Comprehensive listening:

Understanding the message is comprehensive listening. This kind of listening makes use of analysis and
evaluation to interpret the message that was delivered.

Understanding the message depends on the person who is hearing it because it takes into account that
person’s previous life experience. To expand comprehensive listening, expand your own horizons so you
can use more knowledge to fully comprehend the speaker.

3. Empathetic listening:

Empathic listening, more than any other listening skill, is focused on the needs of the speaker. When
you listen with empathy, you let the speaker know you care about her. Without passing judgment or
offering advice, the empathic listener encourages the speaker through body language and subtle cues
to tell his or her story or state his grievances. The purpose of empathic listening is to allow another
person to release emotions.

i.e https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t685WM5R6aM

4. Critical listening:

Critical listening judges and evaluates opinions on the message heard. Critical listening juxtaposes the
message with any existing rules, guidelines, or mores, and then evaluates or assesses positive or negative
aspects, understanding the strengths and weaknesses of the points and arguments presented, in order
to formulate a stand.

Unlike empathic listening, which is non-judgmental, critical listening involves judgment. During critical
listening, a listener takes into consideration the possible motives of the speaker and the context, as
well as the words. When a salesman points out the qualities of an item, a critical listener analyzes the
speaker's words and the situation and makes judgments about the speaker's truthfulness or sincerity,
as well as the usefulness of the item to the listener.

5. Appreciative Listening:

Appreciative listening happens when we enjoy the message, like listening to your favorite song.

There are a few reasons we practice appreciative listening. The presentation itself may be appealing to
us. Nobody wants to listen to someone who grates on our nerves. So, if the presentation is appealing, we
will likely relish the experience more.

Our perceptions have much to do with appreciative listening. Some people are just not big fans of opera.
They may feel it's too dramatic or complicated. That perception may change if introduced to a more
modern style of opera.
Sometimes past experiences affect listening. A song from childhood may bring back pleasant memories,
making it more likely that we will appreciate listening to the tune again. If a not-so-pleasant message is
sent, it may require a more compassionate listening skill.

4. Barriers to Effective Listening

Introduction:

Listening is one of the most important aspects of communication. Unfortunately, in today’s world
people have lost the desire and the patience to listen to what others have to say. Most of us are too
engrossed in our own thoughts, too eager to speak instead of listen. However, listening is very
important. Not only does developing your listening skills allow you to gain access to the complete
information and make you much less likely to misunderstand or misinterpret things, but it will also help
you to work well with others.

Effective listening is not as easy as it sounds. There are several factors that can affect how well you can
listen to and understand others. Followings are the list of the most common barriers to effective
listening and how to overcome them.
1. State of Health

The physical condition of the individual affects the listening ability. Fever, pain or any other form of
bodily discomfort makes it difficult for an individual to listen attentively. Similarly, poor health
conditions of a speaker reduce his ability to speak well and this in turn reduces the listening efficiency of
the listener.

2. Disability

Hearing is the first step of the listening process and, therefore, hearing deficiencies may lead to poor
listening. Similarly, speech disorders of the speaker may make speech incoherent to the listener. At
times the speaker’s accent, though not a disability, may make it difficult for the listener to comprehend.

3. Emotions
Human emotions and feelings can also act the significant Barriers to Effective Listening. If a person is
going through a breakup, divorce, financial issues, family problems, and office politics is quite likely to
get lost in his series of thoughts that form a vicious circle.

Such issues need to be cured and correct at the earliest as they can result in anxiety, depression, and
various other mental ailments.

4. Visual distraction
If the meeting is happening at a hotel, and you are unable to take away your attention from the
interiors or other people at the hotel is also a form of a visual distraction.

Watching television or presentation slides without giving proper attention to the discussion results in
the Barriers to Effective Listening.

5. Noisy environment
When the environment at the workplace is quite noisy, it gets difficult for the employees to work
properly and listen effectively during the meetings and important presentations.

Fights between the employees, construction work, domestic work at the office, and issues with the IT
infrastructure of the office results in the noisy environment leading as one of the major Barriers to
Effective Listening.

6. Tired or Exhausted
There are days when we come to work and we have not slept well, we don’t feel well.   A tired mind
doesn’t listen well.  For some of us, the best thing we could do for our careers and our interpersonal
relationships is to get a good night’s sleep.  Eliminate whatever that makes it hard for you to rest, so
you can come to the office and bring your best listening ears.  Your staff will notice the difference.
If you find yourself in a meeting and you know you are just too tired, at least you can acknowledge it.  
That goes a long way to people being patient with you.  Faking it won’t really help and you are going to
miss important information anyway.

7. Interruption
Regardless of who you are talking to; if you interrupt the person, or over-talk someone, it becomes a
barrier to effective listening. It's important that you let the person complete what he or she has to say
before you interject or say what you were planning to. When you interrupt people, it means you aren't
listening to what they are saying and you are only thinking about what your response will be. That isn't
really conducive to communicating effectively.

8. Lack of interest

Often times, we find ourselves trapped in a conversation that simply can’t hold our interest. In such
cases, we’ll be tempted to drift off in our own thoughts or focus on something else – which,
unfortunately, can be a barrier to listening. Of course, it’s not really a good idea to force your attention
on a topic you find dreadfully boring. If the discussion isn’t important, steer the conversation to a
different direction. If it is important, however, try to focus on the relevant points and note them down.

9. Speaking too quickly

Each listener will have a certain ability to comprehend what's being said. You can almost compare it to a
computer processor. You're listening, and processing everything that's going in. Sometimes, people may
simply be going too fast for the listener to understand. As the listener, if this happens, you need to
mention it. Get the person to slow down. As the speaker, it's always worthwhile doing a check every
now and again to see that the person is keeping up and understands. You may need to slow down!

10. Knowing the answer

Sometimes, you think you know the answer to what's about to be said or asked. So why listen further?
You just need to wait until they ask the question, right? Well, sometimes you can get that wrong, and
are suddenly faced with a different question, and you haven't been listening.
It's better to listen to everything, and then have to think of an answer before giving one.
Conclusion
Various Barriers to Effective Listening can affect the productivity skills of the employees and the overall
organization. The management and HR department of the firm has to figure out such issues and take
necessary actions to iron out the same for the efficient and effective workflow.