THE ART OF LISTENING

Listening is one of the most important skills anyone can have. How well you
listen has a major impact on your effectiveness and on the quality of your working
relationship with others.

WHERE LISTENING IS IMPORTANT

The answer is everywhere. But it is equally important in areas which are perhaps
more usually seen as situations of persuading, influencing or managing conflict. In
general, any situation involving communication requires listening skills..

WHY IS LISTENING DIFFICULT?

The reasons why listening does not come easily to us fall under five main headings.
a.) Society rewards the talkers
The main reason stems right back to our earliest conditioning and upbringing. Right
from the cradle we learn that making a noise brings attention and satisfaction. As
children, the noisiest and loudest often become the leaders and innovators of childhood
games and activities. Even in formal education the children who always answer
questions, and who speak out clearly and distinctly, are the more favored and praised.
b.) I’m more important than you
Listening means paying attention to someone else’s needs and concerns when clearly,
for most of us, our own needs are more important - the interesting part of the
conversation begins when we get a chance to talk
c.) Thoughts are faster than words
Another big problem is that we can think much faster than we can speak. This obviously
means that listeners have ‘time available’ which can either be put to good use, by
concentrating and trying to understand what is said, or to bad use, by allowing
distractions and their own thoughts to intrude.
d.) Past experience and learning
Our ability to understand everything we are currently dealing with depends on our past
learning and experience of similar situations and people. Depending on our past
experience, we will have a set of attitudes, beliefs and assumptions.
e) We’re not so good at speaking either
Finally, the fault is not all with the listener. As speakers we often send mixed or veiled
messages. We use language and speech patterns which are not suitable, are
uninteresting, or we simply send too much information. Thus we make it hard for
listeners to absorb and understand what we mean.
Keeping an open mind
Open-minded listening calls for self-discipline. We all have a strong tendency to jump to
conclusions. The skill is to slow down the process so you have time to think about what you are
hearing.
The hardest time to listen with an open mind — the time when you need all your reserves of
self-control — is when you are listening to something you don’t want to hear.
Open-minded listening is not the same as internally approving what the other is saying.
You can listen openly to other’s ideas about politics without approving of his points of
view. But if you listen with an open mind, you might learn something

Active Listening Techniques

The Core Components of Active Listening

Comprehending

To communicate, we must first understand what the other person (or people) are actually
saying. This is not as simple as it appears. Removing jargon and explaining things in your own
language results in massively improved comprehension of complex topics.

Retaining

To respond in an appropriate manner, we must understand and retain what the other person
has said. Not everyone will retain the same details. Some people recall very specific details,
while others hold on to the general idea. It is common for us to only retain details which are
relevant for our response.

Responding

Conversations are active, not passive. A conversation between people cannot occur without a
response.

Active listening requires careful responses which are made possible with comprehending and
retaining.

An active response should show that we understand what the other person has said, have paid
attention to their words and also read their non-verbal cues.
Ronald A. Heifetz writes that “The activity of interpreting might be understood as listening for
the song beneath the words.” To be an active listener, we must try to go beyond the words and
form a rich picture of the other person’s emotions and intentions. However, we must also avoid
inventing meaning or colouring their words with our own thoughts. The same potential barriers
apply to responding as to retaining and comprehending

Overpowering the difficulties to effective listening

If you want to gain respect and have people trust you, being an active listener is a good
start.
A listener who reflects on what the speaker says and the emotions which the speaker
displayed and uses their own words and own sentence structure, sometimes in the form
of questions, demonstrates total engagement.
1. External Distractions

 Physical distractions or things in your work environment that divert your attention away
from the person with whom you’re communicating.
Techniques to practice to overcome this barrier

 This is the simplest of all barriers to overcome. Find a quiet area and sit with your back to
windows and away from traffic, both vehicular and people.
2. Speaker Distractions

 Any speaker peculiarities or distinctive characteristics that get in the way of hearing the
speaker’s message. These may include perceptions by the listener of the speaker such as
culture, gender, age, communication style and job role. For example, a technical person
who is very left-brained may be difficult for a marketing person who is also very right-
brained to listen to.
Techniques to practice to overcome this barrier

 This is one of the more difficult barriers to overcome. The first step is to be self-aware that
the speaker is distracting you. The trick if you find the speaker is distracting you is to
paraphrase or reflect often. Don’t allow the distraction to build to a point where you stop
listening.
3. Message Intent/Semantics

 Any phrases and words that can be misinterpreted or have different meanings depending
on who is using them or who is receiving them. Acronyms are a classic example. However,
often people do not speak in full sentences or if they do, do not give context to a complex
message. People seemingly refrain from telling the whole story.
4. Emotional Language
 Phrases that generate emotion and, as a result, inhibit understanding. Use of extreme
language such as “you always”, “we never”, “you must” or “we are forever” make it difficult
for people to listen to a speaker.
Techniques to practice to overcome this barrier

 Another difficult one for those of us not in control of our own emotions. Whilst it may
not seem intuitive given that we are talking about being able to paraphrase and reflect
what the speaker is saying, this is the time to stop the speaker and call them out for the
emotional/extreme language. Inform them that you really want to listen to what they
have to say and really want to engage, but it is very difficult to have a conversation
when one person is using very emotional or extreme language.
5. Personal Perspective

 Priorities or personal “baggage” that people carry with them, affecting the communication
process. This may include preformed solutions in the mind of the listener which occupy
their mind when the speaker talks about a problem. The compulsion to solution find is great
and can effectively stop us from listening.
Techniques to practice to overcome this barrier

 Personal baggage when listening is, to my mind, the most difficult noise to
overcome. This is because the baggage usually triggers emotions which put us in a
place where we are not in full control of ourselves. The technique is to watch for emotional
triggers. Are you already not listening? Have you gone flush in the face? Are you thinking
more about what you are going to say rather than concentrating on what the speaker is
saying? If you can recognise that you are reacting poorly and if you cannot immediately
recover your active listening capacity, then ask for a short break. Clear your head and focus
on what was your goal of being an active listener. Start the conversation again with a steely
determination to focus on what you want to achieve through being an active listener. If you
find that you cannot recover your active listening capacity, you can either defer the
conversation or ask someone else less likely to be impacted as you are to join the
conversation, after providing them an appropriate briefing.

THE GOAL OF READING

The first rule of effective communication is to know your audience. Reading about other people
can help you understand them better. The same neurological regions of the brain are
stimulated when you read about something as when you experience it. Unlike watching the
television or listening to the radio, reading gives the brain more time to stop, think, process and
imagine the narrative form in front of us. Therefore, reading can help put you in someone else’s
shoes, to get inside their heads and experience the things they have. The more you understand
someone, the more you can tailor your communications to what they need.
The more we read, the more likely we are to come across new words. Business books, in
particular, have words and phrases that are unique to their topic. If you need to communicate
with particular sectors and industries, understanding the language being spoken is essential.
And a strong brain means more effective communication overall. Reading is to the mind what
exercise is to the body. As we read, our brain decodes abstract symbols, makes connections,
and conducts various visual and auditory processes. Indeed, multiple studies suggest that
mentally challenging tasks, such as reading, help to maintain and build brain cells and
connections between those cells, helping to preserve the memory and thinking skills.
The more we read, the more our brains are able to link cause and effect. The ability to
communicate cause and effect is a central component of any argument, sales pitch,
negotiation or story. As such, a well-written article or book will be structured in a way
that helps us to think in sequence rather than jumping from point to point.

Levels of Comprehension
“Reading comprehension is the reconstructing, interpreting, revaluating, reacting
emotionally, and creating new ideas from the author’s written content by means of prior
knowledge gained from life.”
The following are the four levels of comprehension (from lowest to highest)

Comprehension

It is the reader’s ability to extract ideas and information not directly stated in the textbook
material, using prior or background knowledge to assist in such understanding.

Example: John slammed the front door upon entering the house, ran upstairs, and threw his
books on the bedroom floor. What is John’s mood?

Critical Comprehension

It is the reader’s ability to respond with personal judgments and ideas about the content of the
textbook material, using his or her past knowledge and thoughts on the subject.

Example: After reading an editorial on abortion, the student gives his reasons for disagreeing
with the columnist’s views.

Creative Comprehension

It is the reader’s “emotional” response to the content of the textbook material read. This level
of comprehension also includes creating new ideas from what was learned in school and life.

Example 1: While silently reading the novel “The Call of the Wild,” Bobby laughs aloud at the
actions of Buck, as the dog experiences his first snowfall (emotional response).
Example 2: After reading a mathematics selection on linear equations, the student correctly
devises a simpler method for solving the problems (creating new ideas).

Group 1

Llacuna Cherry A.
Arroyo Crislyn D.
Agraviador Jean Marie B.
Bustillo Mae gleen M.
Datuin Gwyneth G.
Salimbot Analy.
Gellera Carlo Ethan.
Colanog Lyndon
Yanong Edjohn Vic
Nardo Nel mark
Encabo, Bryan