ETHICAL LISTENING

By Ms Diyana
Listening
Paying close attention to and making
sense of, what we hear

Examples of someone who are typically good listeners:

• Top-flight business executives
• Successful politicians
• Brilliant teachers
• Presidents of major corporations

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Importance of Listening
 Part of communication process (two-way comm)
 60% of errors in business came from poor listening
 64% respondents stated – listening became more difficult due to digital
distractions such as workplace-phones, computers, messages, notifications and
so on.
 Good listening improves : efficiency, sales, customer satisfaction, and employee
morale.
 Effective listeners hold higher positions & are promoted more often.
 All depends on LISTENING (Employers-employees, parents-children, wives-
husbands, doctors-patients, students-teachers).
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Importance of Listening

 Important for us as a speaker. Why?

 Get most ideas & information from television, radio, conversation
and lectures.
 If not listening well = not understand what you hear = pass your
misunderstanding to others.

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CAUSES OF POOR
LISTENING
Causes of Poor Listening

Not Concentrating Listening Too Hard

Focusing on Delivery and

Jumping to Conclusions
Personal Appearance

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 Not Concentrating
 Brain can process 400 to 500 words a minute
 Has its opposite effect
 Due to this fact, we still have plenty of spare “brain time”

Spare “brain time” = The difference between the rate at which most people
talk (120 to 180 words a minute) and the rate at which the brain can process
language (400 to 500 words a minute).
 What usually happen if we have spare “brain time”? – We tend to interrupt our
listening by thinking about other things.

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 Not Concentrating
A senior majoring in kinesiology, Jessica Chen is excited to be wrapping up her course work. She is particularly eager to
finish her class on exercise and mental health, which meets at 3 PM on Fridays. Her professor is great – this is her second
class with him – but keeping focused on Friday afternoon can be a challenge.
On this particular Friday in April, Jessica’s professor is lecturing on the relationship between body temperature and anxiety.
“This calming effect,” he explains, “often stems from a person’s increased temperature…”
“Temperature,” thinks Jessica, her eyes drifting out the window next to her. “I bet it’s almost 75 degrees. Beach weather. I
can’t wait for Newport in July…”
Sternly, Jessica pulls her attention back to the lecture. Her professor is now reviewing research on regular exercise and the
immune system, which Jessica heard about last semester. As a result, her attention wanders once more.
“I haven’t been to the gym in five days,” she thinks. “But the student gym is always so busy. Maybe I should get a
membership at the health club. I wonder how much that would cost?”
“… a topic that Jessica encountered during her internship last summer,” the professor is saying. Uh oh! What topic does the
professor mean? Everyone looks at Jessica, as she frantically tries to recall the connection between exercise, the immune
system, and her internship.

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 Listening Too Hard
 Some people usually not paying close attention to what they hear. Some listen
too hard.
 Try to remember every information but we miss the main points from the
speaker along the process.
 Ended up being confused.
 Example: A student, Ryan losing the speaker’s point by concentrating on details
because he had fixed his mind on remembering all the statistics in the
speaker’s presentation, which eventually neglected the main message.

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 Jumping to Conclusions
 Let’s take a look at this scenario:
Alyssa is a recent college graduate who took a job as a staff writer for a local
entertainment and fashion blog. Shortly after Alyssa arrived, the blog’s editor left
the magazine for another job. For the next two months, Alyssa struggled to handle
the former editor’s blog posts by herself. She often felt in over her head, but she
knew this was a good opportunity to learn, and she hated to give up her new
responsibilities.
One day Michael Perkins, publisher of the blog, calls Alyssa to talk. The
following conversation takes place:

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 Jumping to Conclusions
Michael: You’ve done a great job these last two months, Alyssa. But you know we really
need a new editor. So we’ve decided to make some changes.
Alyssa: I’m not surprised; I know this is an important site.
Michael: Yes, it is. And it’s not an easy job. We really need an editor and a staff writer or
two to handle all the work. That’s why I wanted to tell you…
Alyssa: I understand. I knew all along that I was just filling in.
Michael: Alyssa, you’re not listening.
Alyssa: Yes, I am. You’re trying to be nice, but you’re going to tell me that you’ve hired a
new editor and I’ll be going back to my old job.
Michael: No, that’s not it at all. I think you’ve done a fine job under difficult
circumstances. You’ve proved yourself, and I intend to make you the editor. We’re also going
to hire two new writers to work under you.

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 Jumping to Conclusions
 What’s happening here? Why is there so much confusion here?

Allysa is unsure about her future at the blog. So

when Michael starts to talk about making
changes, Alyssa jumps to a conclusion and
assumes the worst.

 One form of jumping to conclusions – putting words into a speaker’s mouth.

 Prematurely rejecting a speaker’s ideas as boring or misguided.
 Every speech has something to offer you, regardless of their topics.
 “You are cheating yourself if you prejudge and choose not to listen.”
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 Focusing on Delivery and Personal Appearance
 Let’s take a look at this scenario:
As new parents interested in finding a good day care for their young daughter,
Abby and Noah were excited to attend an information session at a school close to
their apartment. At 10:00 AM Saturday morning, they gathered in a classroom
with 20 other parents to hear from the school’s director.
When the director entered the room in a wheelchair, Noah glanced quizzically at
Abby. For the next 20 minutes, they listened as the director discussed the school’s
curriculum, activities, and opportunities for young children. “It sounds like a great
school,” Abby said when they got back to the car. But Noah seemed concerned.
“What’s wrong?” Abby asked.

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 Focusing on Delivery and Personal Appearance
 Let’s take a look at this scenario:
“I know you’re going to think this is stupid,” Noah began, “but I never pictured
the director in a wheelchair. Now I can’t get the idea out of my head. Would she
really be able to handle a school full of energetic little kids?”

 We judge people by the way they look or speak and don’t listen to what they say. It’s
easy to become easily distracted by a speaker’s dialect/accent, personal appearance, or
vocal mannerisms and lose sight of the message.
 Additional point (example) to ‘interference’.

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How To Become A
Better Listener

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 Take
Listening
Seriously

Develop
Be an Active
Note-taking
Listener
Skills

Focus Your Resist

Listening Distractions

Don’t Be
Suspend Diverted by
Judgement Appearance
or Delivery
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 Take Listening Seriously
 No one’s born a good listener
 Comes with practice and self-discipline
 Make serious effort to improve

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 Be an Active Listener
 Passive listening is a habit, so is active listening.
 Active listeners give undivided attention to the speaker to understand
their pov
 Not allowing any interferences

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 Resist Distractions
 Hard to eliminate physical and mental distractions in real world
 Make conscious effort to pull your mind back to what the speaker
says

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 Take Listening Seriously
 No one’s born a good listener
 Comes with practice and self-discipline
 Make serious effort to improve

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 Thank you

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