how to develop good listening skills

2. Things to be discussed
What is Listening ?
Listening vs. Hearing.
Fast Facts.
Active listening skills.
Traits of a good Listener.
Importance of listening.
Listening technique.
Types of Listening.
Barriers to effective listening
Do’s of effective listening.
Don’ts of effective listening.
Closing Thought.

3. Listening
Listening is the process of receiving, constructing meaning from , and
responding to spoken and/or non verbal messages.
It is the most powerful form of acknowledgement and a way of saying to
your customer, “You are important”.
To hear something with thoughtful attention.
An essential management and leadership skill.

4. Listening vs. Hearing
Hearing – physical process, natural , passive.
Listening – physical and mental process, active, learned
process, a skill.
Listening is hard.
You must choose to participate in the process of LISTENING.

5. We listen at 125-250 wpm, think at 1000-3000 wpm.
75% of the time we are distracted, preoccupied or forgetful.
20% of the time, we remember what we hear.
More than 35% of businesses think listening is a top skill for success.
Less than 2% of people have had formal education with listening.
Fast Facts

6. Active Listening Skills
It requires the listener to hear the words and identify the feelings associated
with the words.
Pay attention to the tone of the words and the nonverbal cues of the speaker.
Maintaining eye contact with the speaker, concentrating on the speaker’s
words, making verbal responses, and summarizing parts of what has been said
when clarity is needed. Overall it is active participation in a conversation.
As a listener you must actually hear and not assume what is said.
Don’t interrupt the speaker to interject your own thoughts.
Let speakers finish out their own sentences. We cannot learn anything from
others if we try to do all the talking.

7. L – Look
I – Inquire
S – Summaries
T – Take Notes
E – Encourage
N – Neutralize

8. Traits of a good listener
Being non-evaluative.
Paraphrasing.
Reflecting implications.
Reflecting hidden feelings.
Inviting further contributions.
Responding non-verbally.

9. Improves relationships.
Improves our knowledge.
Improves our understanding.
Prevents problems escalating.
Saves time and energy.
Can save money.
Leads to better results.
Importance of Listening

10. Listen
Don’t interrupt.
Let the speaker finish.
Concentrate on what is being said and how it is being said.
Make notes if this helps.
Show the speaker that you are listening.
Question
Check understanding.
Summarise
Paraphrase what the speaker has just told you.
Listening Technique

11. Types of Listening
Informative Listening :
Where your aim is to concentrate on the message being given. This may be
the content of a lesson, directions, instructions, etc.

12. Appreciative listening :
Where the listener gains pleasure/ satisfaction from listening to a certain type of
music or listening to a particular charismatic speakers or entertainers, etc.

13. Empathic listening :
Where the listener tends to listen rather than talk.
Their non-verbal behavior indicates that the listener is attending to what is being
said.
The emphasis is on understanding the speaker’s feelings and being supportive
and patient.

14. Discriminative listening :
Where the listener is able to identify and distinguish inferences or emotions
through the speaker’s change in voice tone, their use of pause, etc.
Some people are extremely sensitive in this way, while others are less able
to pick up these subtle cues.
Where the listener may recognize and pinpoint a specific engine fault, a
familiar laugh from a crowded theatre or their own child’s cry in a noisy
playground.
This ability may be affected by hearing impairment.

15. Critical listening :
Where the listener may be trying to weigh up whether the speaker is credible,
whether the message being given is logical and whether they are being duped or
manipulated by the speaker.
This is the type of listening that we may adopt when faced with an offer or sales
pitch that requires a decision from us.

16. Interrupting – knowing the answer.
Trying to be helpful.
Seeing discussion as competition.
Distraction - red flag words – emotional triggers.
Mind- Reading.
Noises.
Avoidance.
Day-Dreaming.
Barriers to active Listening

17. Be mentally prepared to listen.
Evaluate the speech not the speaker.
Be unbiased to the speaker by depersonalizing your feelings.
Fight distractions by closing off sound sources.
Be open minded.
Ask questions to clarify and not to overshadow intelligence.
Paraphrase from time to time.
Send appropriate non-verbal signals time to time.
Do’s of Effective Listening

18. Not to pay undue emphasis on vocabulary as you can use the context to
understand the meaning.
Not to pay too much attention to the accessories and clothing of the
speaker.
Not to prepare your responses while the speaker is speaking.
Avoid preconceptions and prejudices.
Not to get distracted by outside influences.
Not to interrupt too often.
Not to show boredom.
Don’ts of Effective Listening

19. “Every good conversation starts with good
listening.”
Closing Thought