Module 4

Listening Skills
 Listening is Not the Same as Hearing

• Hearing refers to the sounds that enter your ears. It is a physical process that,
provided you do not have any hearing problems, happens automatically.

• Listening, however, requires more than that: it requires focus and concentrated
effort, both mental and sometimes physical as well.

• Listening means paying attention not only to the story, but how it is told, the use
of language and voice, and how the other person uses his or her body. In other
words, it means being aware of both verbal and non-verbal messages. Your ability
to listen effectively depends on the degree to which you perceive and understand
these messages.

• Hence, while hearing is a physical ability, listening is a skill.

 Importance of Listening in Professional Life
(points to remember)
• Listening is key to all effective communication.
Without the ability to listen effectively, messages are easily misunderstood.
Listening is perhaps the most important factors that maintains effective
interpersonal relationships.
• Good listening skills can lead to better customer satisfaction, greater productivity
with fewer mistakes, and increased sharing of information that in turn can lead to
more creative and innovative work.
• Good listening skills make workers more productive. The ability to listen carefully
allows workers to better understand assignments they are given. They are able to
understand what is expected of them by their management.
• Workers who listen well tend to work better in a team-based environment. Team
members are usually assigned a portion of the work. Later, their completed tasks
will need to fit in with other team members' results. Those who were able to listen
well and perform accordingly will find their work results fit better than those who
simply hear and forget.
 Richard Branson the founder of the Virgin
Group in the 1970s, controls more than 400
companies in various fields frequently quotes
that “listening as one of the main factors
behind the success of Virgin”.
 Listening in personal Life
• Good listening skills also have benefits in our personal lives, including greater
number of friends and social networks, improved self-esteem and confidence,
higher grades at school and in academic work, and even better health and general
well-being.

• Studies have shown that, whereas speaking raises blood pressure, attentive
listening can bring it down.

• Listening can help us avoid problems due to misunderstanding and poor

communication. We need to remember that a happy life is a string of happy
moments, so if we can avoid not pleasant moments, the happy level of our life can
definitely improve.
 The Two main types of listening

There are two types of listening

• Discriminative Listening
• Comprehensive Listening
 Discriminative Listening

Discriminative listening is first developed at a very

early age – perhaps even before birth, in the
womb.
This is the most basic form of listening and does not
involve the understanding of the meaning of words
or phrases but merely the different sounds that are
produced. In early childhood, for example, a
distinction is made between the sounds of the
voices of the parents – the voice of the father
sounds different to that of the mother.
 and
As we grow older and develop and gain more life
experience, our ability to distinguish between different
sounds is improved. Not only can we recognise
different voices, but we also develop the ability to
recognise subtle differences in the way that sounds are
made – this is fundamental to ultimately
understanding what these sounds mean. Differences
include many subtleties, recognising foreign
languages, distinguishing between regional accents
and clues to the emotions and feelings of the
speaker.
Being able to distinguish the subtleties of sound made
by somebody who is happy or sad, angry or stressed,
for example, ultimately adds value to what is actually
being said and, of course, does aid comprehension.
When discriminative listening skills are combined with
visual stimuli, the resulting ability to ‘listen’ to body-
language enables us to begin to understand the
speaker more fully – for example recognising
somebody is sad despite what they are saying or how
they are saying it.
 Comprehensive Listening

• Comprehensive listening involves understanding the

message or messages that are being communicated.
• Comprehensive listening is the interpretation of the words
and ideas. Comprehensive listening involves
understanding the thoughts, ideas, and message.
• This type of listening requires that the listener
understands the language and vocabulary.
• Comprehensive listening builds on discriminative listening.
If you can’t understand the sound, you will not be able to
interpret language. Mismatches in vocabulary can disrupt
comprehension.
 Barriers to Comprehensive Listening
• In order to be able use comprehensive listening and therefore gain
understanding the listener first needs appropriate vocabulary and language skills.
Using overly complicated language or technical jargon, therefore, can be a barrier
to comprehensive listening.

• Comprehensive listening is further complicated by the fact that two different

people listening to the same thing may understand the message in two different
ways. This problem can be multiplied in a group setting, like a classroom or business
meeting where numerous different meanings can be derived from what has been
said.

• Comprehensive listening is complimented by sub-messages from non-verbal

communication, such as the tone of voice, gestures and other body language.
These non-verbal signals can greatly aid communication and comprehension but can
also confuse and potentially lead to misunderstanding. In many listening situations it
is vital to seek clarification and use skills such as reflection aid comprehension.
 Some other types of listening
• Informational Listening (Listening to Learn)
• Critical Listening (Listening to Evaluate and
Analyse)
• Therapeutic or Empathetic Listening (Listening to
Understand Feeling and Emotion)
• Appreciative Listening (listening for enjoyment)
• Rapport Listening (listening that encourages the
other person to trust and like us)
• Selective Listening (listening to create biasness)
 Principles of Effective Listening
1) Talk less, Listen more

When somebody else is talking listen to what they are saying, do not interrupt,
talk over them or finish their sentences for them. Stop, just listen. When the other
person has finished talking you may need to clarify to ensure you have received
their message accurately.

2) Monitor your question to statement ratio

A good way to say less than you think is to monitor your question to statement
ratio. It’s simply the ratio of questions you ask, compared to the statements you
make. Just being aware of the question to statement ratio improves
communication significantly. Most people are completely oblivious to this
principle. A good rule of thumb is to have a 2-to-1 question to statement ratio.
Principles of Effective Listening (...contd)
3) Seek first to understand, then to be understood.

If you’re like most people, you probably seek first to be understood; you want to get your point
across. And in doing so, you may ignore the other person completely, pretend that you’re
listening, selectively hear only certain parts of the conversation or attentively focus on only the
words being said, but miss the meaning entirely. So why does this happen? Because most
people listen with the intent to reply, not to understand. You listen to yourself as you prepare
in your mind what you are going to say, the questions you are going to ask, etc. You filter
everything you hear through your life experiences, your frame of reference.

4) Remove Distractions. Focus on what is being said.

Don’t doodle, shuffle papers, look out the window, pick your fingernails or similar. Avoid
unnecessary interruptions. These behaviours disrupt the listening process and send messages
to the speaker that you are bored or distracted
Principles of Effective Listening(...contd)

5) Empathise and be patient

Try to understand the other person’s point of
view. Look at issues from their perspective. Let
go of preconceived ideas. By having an open
mind we can more fully empathise with the
speaker. If the speaker says something that you
disagree with then wait and construct an
argument to counter what is said but keep an
open mind to the views and opinions of others.