Listening Skills

Contents
• Listening
• Two Types of Communication: Active and Passive Listening
• Types of Listening
• Barriers to Listening
• Effective Listening Skills
• Role of Listening in an Organisation
• Feedback Skills
• Skills and Components of Effective Talk
• Oral Presentation
• Role of Audio Visual Aids
 Listening
• Listening the process of receiving, constructing
meaning from, and responding to a spoken
and/ or non-verbal message (International
Reading Association)
• Listening in short involves analysing speech
sounds, organising them into recognisable
patterns and then understanding the message
by inferring the meaning. (An Approach to
Communication Skills)
 Two Types of Communication;
Active listening and Passive listening
Basis of Distinction Active Listening Passive Listening

Passive listening means

Active listening means mindful
and actively hearing and
Definition attempting to comprehend the
meaning of the speakers.
showing like listening to the
speaker but not making an
attempt to comprehend the
meanings.

Listener connects with the Listener disconnects himself

world and actively participates
Connectivity Level with the goal of problem- from the outsiders and has
minimal interaction with others
solving

Self-Responsibility Take responsibility for their Avoids responsibility for

own learning and growth learning and problem-solving

Accepts and retain information

Sharp mind, alert to explore, as-is with no intention to
Mental Approach
reflect on information question or challenge the idea
for improvement

Self-Motivation Level Strong Week

Engagement Level High Low
Narrow-minded, low or no will
Strong willed, interested in new
Will-Power ideas, open minded power, unreceptive to new
ideas
 Types of Listening
• Discriminative listening: is the most basic type of listening,
whereby the difference between different sounds is identified.
If you cannot hear differences, then you cannot make sense of
the meaning that is expressed by such differences.
• Comprehensive Listening: involves understanding the message
or messages that are being communicated. In order to gain
understanding, the listener first needs appropriate vocabulary
and language skills.
• Critical listening: is listening in order to evaluate and judge,
forming opinion about what is being said. Judgment includes
assessing strengths and weaknesses, agreement and approval.
• Biased listening: happens when the person hears only what they want to
hear, typically misinterpreting what the other person says based on the
stereotypes and other biases that they have.
• Appreciative listening: we seek certain information which will appreciate, for
example that which helps meet our needs and goals. We use appreciative
listening when we are listening to good music, poetry or maybe even the
stirring words of a great leader.
• Sympathetic listening
• In sympathetic listening we care about the other person and show this
concern in the way we pay close attention and express our sorrow for their
ills and happiness at their joys.
• Empathetic listening: When we listen empathetically, we go beyond
sympathy to seek a truer understanding of how others are feeling. This
requires close attention to the nuances of emotional signals.
 Barriers to Listening
Technical Barriers (Communication Environment)
• Timing of Communication
• Overloaded information
• Cultural Divergences
Language Barriers
• Vocabulary
• Semantics (Meaning of Words)
• Jargon (Technical Words)
Psychological Barriers
• Information Filtering
• Lack of Trust and Openness
• Jealousy
• Preoccupation
• Hearing What we expect to hear
• Noise
• Perception Set Differences
 Effective Listening Skills
• Concentration
• Mental Alertness
• The chemistry between the speaker and the
listener
• Eye Contact
• Posture
• Note-Taking
• The Speaker’s Frame of Reference
Role of Listening in an Organisation
• In a business organization, listening is key to
effective working relationships among
employees and between management and staff.
• To Gain Information
• Developing Trust
• Maintaining Your Reputation
• Reduce Conflict
• Motivating Employees
 Feedback Skills
• Observations without Judgement (Frankness
Sincerity and Clarity)
• Concentration on Specificity
• To be Positive and Constructive
• Indicating the ways to improve
• Generating a Feel for Receiving Feedback
• Proper Timing of Feedback
• Feedback for Agreement
 Skills and Components of Effective Talk
• Good Content
• Gentle eye contact
• Kind facial expression
• Warm tone of voice
• Relaxed disposition Slow speech rate
• Self Confidence
• Use Your Personality
• Credibility
• A Strong opening and conclusion
• Effective Body Language
• Charisma
• Straightforward Introduction
• Be concise
• Anticipation: Always leave them wanting more
• Inspiration: Speak to serve
• Use of Audio Visual Aids
 Oral Presentation
• Who? Audience Research
• What? Preparation of the Subject
• Introduction of the Speech or An Oral Presentation
• The conclusion of the Speech
• Preparing the notes for the Speech
• The Environment for Speaking While Making An Oral Presentation
• The Manner of Speaking in Oral Presentation: Words, Expression, Pace
of the Voice, Pitch of the Voice, Power of the Voice, Pausing, Clarity,
speaking with required loudness
• Body Language: Smile, Eye contact, Hand Movements,
• The timing for the Speech
• Audio Visual Aids
 Role of Audio Visual Aids
• The primary advantage is clarity.
• If you are citing statistics, showing how something works, or
demonstrating a technique, a visual aid will make your information more
vivid to your audience.
• Another benefit of visual aids is Interest.
• The interest generated by visual images is so strong that visual aids are
now used routinely in many areas, not just speechmaking.
• Visual aids helps in retention. Visual images often stay with us longer
than verbal ones.
• When used well, visual aids can enhance almost every aspect of a speech.
• One recent study showed that an average speaker who uses visual aids
will come across as better prepared, more credible, and more
professional than a dynamic speaker who does not use visual aids.
Thanks