Some Tips To Improve Listening Skill

In below you will find some tips that help you to improve your listening skill further:

• start listening with the first word and then listen intently
• stop what you are doing and listen – don’t be tempted to do two things at once
• turn off all negative thoughts you have about the speaker
• think at the speed they’re talking, don’t jump ahead
• do not interrupt
• find an area of interest
• judge the content and not the delivery
• suspend your judgement and keep an open mind
• actively listen for ideas
• resist distractions if you possibly can
• make listening noises, particularly if you are on the telephone, for example ‘uh, uh, yes’, and if face to face ensure that your body language looks as if it is listening, give good eye contact.
  

Exercises for improving your listening skills

1. Take five minutes a day to sit quietly somewhere, close your eyes and listen to all the sounds around you. Become conscious of them. How many different sounds can you hear? In addition to improving your listening skills this can also be relaxing.
   
2. When you are having a conversation with another person, receive what he or she has said before rushing in to make your contribution. If you feel you want to interrupt, think about pausing and breathing before you start to talk. A pause before you speak can also add significance.
3. Listen to the radio as much as possible - talk programmes, not music. What information did you receive? Can you summarize it?

This is all for you now. Try to practice it at home and then check your improvement.

The Barriers of Effective Listening

There are many things that prevent us from listening, not least of which is laziness. We simply can’t be bothered. Or maybe we’ve never been trained to listen. Our upbringing is such that no one has listened to us so why should we listen to them? No one has taught us how to listen.

The first thing we need to do is to open our minds and have the desire to learn this skill – after all it is good manners to listen. But what prevents us?

1. different perspectives: we see things differently to the person talking and we disagree with them
2. strong emotions: we have very strong feelings on the subject which prevents us from listening; we may also have prejudices
3. physical tiredness or discomfort: we may be tired or hungry; we may be hot or cold; we may be under stress and feel anxious or unwell
4. desire to talk: we love to talk most of the time, to be the centre of attention; we love the sound of our own voice and think that only our opinions really count
5. distractions and mind wandering: we may be distracted because of a noise; or we may be thinking ahead of all the things that need to be done; we may be worried about someone or something
6. reactions to the speaker: we may dislike the person who is talking to us; we may find them boring or opinionated

Listening- The Critical Part of Effective Communication

Listening, really listening, is the hardest thing to do and the highest form of courtesy!

Listening is an essential part of being a good communicator but it is a skill that is perilously close to becoming extinct. As more and more of our communication becomes visual and text driven, i.e. Internet, text and computers we are forgetting how to listen. Listening involves both:

• the ability to understand what is being said, and
• the ability to organize and analyze the messages in order to retain them for subsequent use.

There are two types of listening:

1. Casual listening
2. Critical listening

Casual listening

Casual listening is what we tend to do most of the time. We are only half listening, we retain bits of the conversation, we discard other parts of it. As a result you often get the following scenario between two people: ‘

Don’t forget we’re going out tonight.’

‘Are we? You didn’t mention it.’

‘Yes, I did, I told you two days ago. You weren’t listening.’

We often switch off, particularly when we are listening to someone we know well.

Critical listening

Critical listening requires concentration and stamina. Here you are making a real effort to understand the other person’s point of view. You are listening to them, retaining what they say, storing it away and then retrieving some of it later when you need it. These skills are essential in a sales situation and rather important too in an interview. If you have listened, and I mean really listened, it is highly likely that you will come away with a headache. You have exercised your mental powers to extremes! In both the above situations you are not only trying to concentrate on what the other person is saying but you are also reading their body language, thinking about your own body language and formulating your response to their questions, plus thinking of your own questions to ask. Is it no wonder you end up with a headache?

Listen Strategically: The Easy Steps to Follow

We can achieve success in communication at any given time by understanding the following four meanings of listening to listen strategically:

1. Facts
2. Meaning
3. Feelings
4. Intention
   

“The house is burning” is a simple, straight-forward statement. But those four words –
depending on how they are said – may mean:

• “A residential structure is being consumed by flames.” (Facts)
• “The house we are in is on fire.” (Meaning)
• “Ahhhhh!!!!!!” (Feelings)
• “Run for your life.” (Intention)
  

Sometimes we do not understand other people because we are not listening, or we are not listening well. We are destructed or simply are not paying attention. But sometimes we do not understand them because we are not hearing what they want to communicate. We are not listening to the right level. We may hear the facts for example but miss the feelings.

Level 1: The Facts

People want to-------- Convey Information
Your task is to-------- Listen to details and clarify
You need to ask------- “Who?” “What?” “Where?” “Why?” “When?” “How?”
Your goal is to--------- Picture the situation as the person is describing it

Level 2: Meaning

People want to-------- Make themselves understood
Your task is to-------- Listen to the big picture, summarize and paraphrase
You need to ask------- “Am I understanding you correctly?” “Is this what you are getting at?”
Your goal is to--------- Understand what the person means, and make the other person feel understood.


Level 3: Feelings

People want to-------- Connect on emotional level
Your task is to-------- Listen with empathy, pay attention to body language and tone of voice
You need to ask------- “How does it make you feel?” “It sounds to me like you are feeling …”
Your goal is to--------- Recognize how the person is feeling and make the other person feel connected


Level 4: Intention

People want to-------- Get their needs met
Your task is to-------- Listen to wants and needs, focus on solutions, action
steps and outcomes
You need to ask------- “What do you want to have happen?” “What would help you in this situation?” “What can you/we do about it?”
Your goal is to--------- Know what the person wants to achieve