Listening Skills
[alert-success] Listening [/alert-success]
[alert-primary] Short Summary [/alert-primary]
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Introduction
Listening is the active process of receiving, interpreting, and responding to spoken or nonverbal messages. Unlike hearing, which is a passive physiological process, listening requires conscious effort and engagement. It involves paying attention to the speaker, understanding their message, and offering feedback or a response.
Effective listening goes beyond simply hearing words; it includes interpreting tone, body language, and emotions to fully comprehend the message being communicated. Good listening skills are essential for clear communication, building relationships, and ensuring that information is accurately understood and appropriately acted upon.
Listening involves giving undivided attention to what is being said or heard. The mind can pay attention to only one thing at a time. Most of us just hear and do not listen. Hearing is, of course, not listening.
Listening is a complex process-an integral part of the total communication process. Speaking and writing are the sending parts of the communication process and are highly visible, while Listening and Reading are the receiving parts.
The process of listening moves through the first three steps-receiving, attending, understanding— in sequence. Responding and/or remembering may or may not follow. For example, it may be desirable for the listener to respond immediately or to remember the message in order to respond at a later time.
Listening is the first activity in the complex process called interaction with the external universe. It is listening that creates a bond for us with the world around. Learning cannot happen without attentive listening and intensive listening. Learning to listen actively will make a person to learn more.
Methods to Enhance Listening Skills
Listening is an active process and it requires effort. There are four methods to enhance listening skills. They are
1. Preparation
2. Controlling Distractions
3. Withholding Evaluation
4. Taking Notes
1. Preparation
Preparation for listening is crucial to ensure that you can actively engage with the speaker, understand their message, and respond appropriately. Effective listening doesn't just happen; it requires a conscious effort to focus, remove distractions, and create the right environment. Here are some steps to prepare for listening:
One should concentrate first on paricipatory or active listening. This skill improves with not only practice but by shifting his consciousness from himself to the other person- from what he plans to say to what the other person is communicating now.
Below are few tips to increase active listening process.
• Concentrate on other people while they are speaking
• Look them in the eye
• Do not turn away your body from the other person or keep scanning the area behind him or her
• Lean forward slightly
• Note the other person's body language
• Respond to what the other person says
• Do not counter a question with another question or shift the topic suddenly, but do not ask about what has been said to learn more about the other point of view
• Occasionally rephrase what the other person has said, and ask if your understanding is correct
These are the steps for preparing oneself to listen to a message.
2. Controlling Distractions
The listener's attentions to any personal inconveniences or to trivial happenings around are the potential enemies to his intensive listening. They are called distractions.
i. Physical distractions
They interrupt our concentration by their presence. Such things are noise: sounds within the room or from next door, people moving about, jarring sounds and the speaker's mannerism, habits, unpleasant facial expressions and hand movements.
ii. Personal distractions These include things like toothache, indigestion, and sleepiness, being too hot or too cold, body odour, cramp and hunger.
iii. Psychological distractions
Psychological distractions are somewhat subtler. Our minds often wander as a direct result of what is being said. This is because the speaker uses a word or words which "trigger off" reactions in the listener's mind.
3.Withholding Evaluation
We cannot let our evaluation of the topic come to the front before listening to the entire lecture. In order to truly listen we should withhold our evaluation of the message until our comprehension of it is complete.
We should not dismiss a topic as "uninteresting "until we have heard all that the speaker has to say. Some topics sound interesting at first, but if looked at closely enough they become fascinating. We should also remember that the things of our interest may not emerge until the speaker is well into the presentation.
We should not criticize the speaker's delivery or physical appearance.
Note-Taking
A major problem in listening is allowing insignificant details to distract the listener from the main points of the speech. In order to keep everything straight during the presentation, we should take notes on the main ideas on the details that we consider important and interesting, and on questions that come up as we listen. As it is impossible to keep all these things in our head and listen at the same time, we should record them in notes. By doing so we can keep our mind on what is being said.
Barriers to Effective Listening
• Forming a judgment or evaluation before we understand what is being said.
• Making unjustified inferences about the meaning of what is being said.
• Attributing our own thoughts and ideas to the speaker, causing distortion.
• Being inattentive.
• Having a closed mind.
• Hearing what we wish to hear.
• Fear of being changed ourselves.
• Excessive and incessant talking.
One can minimize the effect of distraction by planning in advance, i.e., predict them in advance and do not allow them have any effect Just by recognizing these distractions the Iistener can fight them. One can take preventive action against them by making an effort to concentrate in spite of their presence.
Conclusion
Listening skills are essential for successful communication and building strong relationships. Active listening involves more than just hearing words—it requires focus, empathy, and engagement. By paying attention, maintaining an open mind, providing feedback, and minimizing distractions, we can enhance our ability to understand and respond to others more effectively.
Good listening fosters trust, reduces misunderstandings, and creates opportunities for clearer and more meaningful exchanges. Developing strong listening skills is an ongoing process that can significantly improve both personal and professional interactions, ultimately leading to better communication and collaboration.
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