The concept of listening skills has to be delineated from the concept of hearing. While both terms appear similar in meaning, they serve different functions. What is, therefore, the difference between the two?
The term hearing is a passive activity of sound perception. It is an involuntary physiological process through which our ears perceive sound waves. For example, you may hear some noise at the back in a noisy café without listening to it seriously.
While listening is an active process where attention is placed on the said, interpretation of meaning, and comprehension of the message. It’s all a skill that asks you to maintain attention, be detailed, and filter things according to distraction. Your ability to listen becomes critical when your friend starts telling you about her day while sitting at the same café; you capture her words, tone, and facial expressions as a way to get her emotions and message across.
Characteristics of Listening Listening does not involve merely hearing words, but it rather involves how one processes and responds to what is said. Good listeners do the following: Pay attention to the context for which the message is given. Note the leading tone and emotion behind the words. Observe the speaker’s body language and facial expressions.
For example, you are in a meeting and your colleague informs you about something regarding a project. If you listen actively, you not only hear the information but also catch his or her tone-maybe he or she is excited or anxious-and his or her body language, which could reflect confidence or uncertainty. As you recognize both verbal and non-verbal signs, you understand their message better and how they feel about it.
Types of Listening
We basically have two main ways of listening to understand and internalize what we hear completely:
1. Discriminative Listening: This is the setting where one listens to distinguish between different sounds and selects some things in communication. For instance, it allows you, in a noisily crowded room, to listen to only one person speaking from among many people talking around you.
2. Comprehension Listening: The purpose of this type of listening is to understand. For example, if a teacher is explaining a difficult concept in the classroom, comprehension listening allows you to get the gist and ideas.
These two lead to more advanced forms of listening, namely active listening.
What is Active Listening?
It means more than passive hearing of words, but rather involvement with the speaker and conscious comprehension of the message relayed. It calls for undivided attention, asking questions for clarification, and giving feedback. Active listening comes in handy during personal conversations, at work, or during interviews.
Sample of Active Listening:
Suppose a friend shares his problem with you. You will listen actively, not by nodding your head, but rather by:
• Making eye contact.
• Paraphrasing and summarizing to ensure understanding of what they have said: “It sounds like you’re really frustrated with the situation at work.”
• Clarifying questions: “What do you think could improve things?”
• Feedback reflecting empathetic understanding: “I can see why that would be so overwhelming.”.
Active listening is as important in work fields. When in a job interview, you get to know what questions the interviewer has asked and respond appropriately and reciprocate with relevant questions. That depicts you are keen and interested, and all that gives your candidature an edge.
How to Improve Your Listening Skills
Active listening requires practice and patience. Here are some techniques to help improve your listening skills:
• Avoid distractions: Whether it is noisiness around, your phone, or inner thoughts, one should at least minimize everything that would shift his focus from the speaker.
• Be present: Being present and fully engaged in the conversation helps take in more information.
• Ask open-ended questions: This encourages the speaker to elaborate and indicates that one is interested in deeper understanding.
• Use non-verbal signals: Nodding, maintaining eye contact, and using facial expression congruent with the conversation indicates you are participating. active listening: passive.
Benefits of Active Listening
Active listening is the crucial premise of communication and good relationship. When you listen actively you:
• Establish trust and rapport.
• Have an increased understanding about the different aspects of others.
• Reduce misunderstanding or conflict.
• Enhance problem-solving and decision-making ability.
Example:
During business meetings, active listening lets the person exercise discretion in picking up subtle cues of concerns or hesitation by fellow colleagues with regard to a certain current project. Conversely, one is likely to draw such a conclusion through building trust and making the team get on board with the same goals, which ultimately facilitates better collaboration.
Why Take Our Classes?
Our classes will help you develop your active listening-through practices, personalized feedback, and exercises for discriminative and comprehensive listening-be it preparing for interviews, striving for better interpersonal relationships, or simply wanting to communicate effectively.
Improve your listening to have more confidence and be able to conduct more interesting conversations at work and in your personal life. Sign up today and start on the path to being a far superior active listener!
