Which of the Following Is Not One of the Tips to Facilitate Active Listening and Reading?

5.3 Improving Listening Competence

Learning Objectives

1. Place strategies for improving listening competence at each stage of the listening process.
2. Summarize the characteristics of active listening.
3. Apply critical-listening skills in interpersonal, educational, and mediated contexts.
4. Do compassionate listening skills.
5. Talk over ways to improve listening competence in relational, professional, and cultural contexts.

Many people acknowledge that they could stand to improve their listening skills. This section will aid us do that. In this section, we volition learn strategies for developing and improving competence at each stage of the listening procedure. We will as well define active listening and the behaviors that go on with it. Looking back to the types of listening discussed earlier, we will learn specific strategies for sharpening our critical and empathetic listening skills. In keeping with our focus on integrative learning, we will besides use the skills we have learned in bookish, professional, and relational contexts and explore how culture and gender bear on listening.

Listening Competence at Each Stage of the Listening Process

We tin develop competence within each stage of the listening procedure, as the following list indicates (Ridge, 1993):

1. To improve listening at the receiving phase,
   • prepare yourself to listen,
   • discern between intentional messages and noise,
   • concentrate on stimuli most relevant to your listening purpose(s) or goal(s),
   • exist mindful of the selection and attending process as much equally possible,
   • pay attention to plough-taking signals so you can follow the conversational menses, and
   • avert interrupting someone while they are speaking in order to maintain your ability to receive stimuli and listen.
2. To better listening at the interpreting stage,
   • identify main points and supporting points;
   • use contextual clues from the person or environment to discern additional meaning;
   • exist aware of how a relational, cultural, or situational context tin can influence meaning;
   • exist aware of the unlike meanings of silence; and
   • note differences in tone of voice and other paralinguistic cues that influence meaning.
3. To improve listening at the recalling stage,
   • use multiple sensory channels to decode letters and make more than complete memories;
   • repeat, rephrase, and reorganize information to fit your cerebral preferences; and
   • employ mnemonic devices as a gimmick to aid with remember.
4. To improve listening at the evaluating stage,
   • separate facts, inferences, and judgments;
   • be familiar with and able to identify persuasive strategies and fallacies of reasoning;
   • assess the credibility of the speaker and the message; and
   • exist enlightened of your own biases and how your perceptual filters can create barriers to effective listening.
5. To improve listening at the responding phase,
   • ask appropriate clarifying and follow-up questions and paraphrase data to check agreement,
   • give feedback that is relevant to the speaker's purpose/motivation for speaking,
   • accommodate your response to the speaker and the context, and
   • do not let the training and rehearsal of your response diminish before stages of listening.

Active Listening

Agile listening refers to the process of pairing outwardly visible positive listening behaviors with positive cognitive listening practices. Active listening can assist address many of the ecology, physical, cognitive, and personal barriers to effective listening that we discussed earlier. The behaviors associated with active listening tin also enhance informational, critical, and empathetic listening.

Active Listening Tin can Help Overcome Barriers to Effective Listening

Being an active listener starts before you actually start receiving a bulletin. Active listeners brand strategic choices and take activeness in order to gear up up platonic listening weather condition. Concrete and environmental noises can oft be managed by moving locations or by manipulating the lighting, temperature, or furniture. When possible, avoid important listening activities during times of distracting psychological or physiological racket. For example, nosotros oftentimes know when we're going to be hungry, total, more awake, less awake, more anxious, or less broken-hearted, and advance planning tin can alleviate the presence of these barriers. For college students, who often have some flexibility in their class schedules, knowing when you best listen can assist you make strategic choices regarding what grade to take when. And educatee options are increasing, as some colleges are offering classes in the overnight hours to accommodate working students and students who are simply "night owls" (Toppo, 2011). Of course, we don't always have command over our schedule, in which case we volition need to utilize other effective listening strategies that we will learn more about later in this chapter.

In terms of cognitive barriers to effective listening, we tin can prime ourselves to mind by analyzing a listening situation before it begins. For example, you could ask yourself the post-obit questions:

1. "What are my goals for listening to this bulletin?"
2. "How does this message chronicle to me / affect my life?"
3. "What listening blazon and mode are most appropriate for this message?"

Every bit nosotros learned before, the divergence between speech and idea processing charge per unit means listeners' level of attending varies while receiving a message. Effective listeners must work to maintain focus as much as possible and refocus when attention shifts or fades (Wolvin & Coakley, 1993). Ane way to do this is to find the motivation to listen. If y'all can place intrinsic and or extrinsic motivations for listening to a item message, and so you will be more likely to remember the information presented. Ask yourself how a message could impact your life, your career, your intellect, or your relationships. This tin help overcome our tendency toward selective attention. As senders of messages, nosotros tin can assist listeners by making the relevance of what we're maxim clear and offering well-organized messages that are tailored for our listeners. We will learn much more about establishing relevance, organizing a bulletin, and gaining the attention of an audience in public speaking contexts later in the book.

Given that nosotros can process more words per infinitesimal than people tin can speak, we tin can engage in internal dialogue, making skillful employ of our intrapersonal communication, to become a better listener. Three possibilities for internal dialogue include covert coaching, self-reinforcement, and covert questioning; explanations and examples of each follow (Hargie, 2011):

• Covert coaching involves sending yourself messages containing advice about meliorate listening, such as "You're getting distracted by things you have to do later on work. Only focus on what your supervisor is maxim now."
• Self-reinforcement involves sending yourself affirmative and positive letters: "You're being a good active listener. This will assistance you exercise well on the adjacent exam."
• Covert questioning involves asking yourself questions nearly the content in means that focus your attention and reinforce the material: "What is the primary thought from that PowerPoint slide?" "Why is he talking well-nigh his blood brother in front of our neighbors?"

Internal dialogue is a more structured style to engage in active listening, but we can use more full general approaches as well. I propose that students occupy the "extra" channels in their heed with thoughts that are related to the master bulletin beingness received instead of thoughts that are unrelated. We can use those channels to resort, rephrase, and repeat what a speaker says. When nosotros resort, we can help mentally repair disorganized messages. When we rephrase, we can put messages into our own words in means that better fit our cognitive preferences. When we repeat, nosotros tin can help messages transfer from short-term to long-term memory.

Other tools tin aid with concentration and retentiveness. Mental bracketing refers to the process of intentionally separating out intrusive or irrelevant thoughts that may distract you from listening (McCornack, 2007). This requires that we monitor our concentration and attending and exist prepared to let thoughts that aren't related to a speaker's message pass through our minds without us giving them much attention. Mnemonic devices are techniques that can aid in information recall (Hargie 2011). Starting in ancient Greece and Rome, educators used these devices to help people remember data. They piece of work by imposing order and organization on information. Three main mnemonic devices are acronyms, rhymes, and visualization, and examples of each follow:

• Acronyms. HOMES—to help remember the Great Lakes (Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie, and Superior).
• Rhyme. "Righty tighty, lefty loosey"—to remember which way most light bulbs, screws, and other coupling devices turn to make them go in or out.
• Visualization. Imagine seeing a drinking glass of port vino (which is red) and the ruby navigation light on a boat to help retrieve that the red light on a gunkhole is ever on the port side, which will also aid you recall that the blueish light must be on the starboard side.

Agile Listening Behaviors

From the suggestions discussed previously, you can see that nosotros can prepare for active listening in advance and engage in sure cognitive strategies to help us listen better. We also engage in agile listening behaviors as we receive and process letters.

Eye contact is a key sign of active listening. Speakers unremarkably interpret a listener'southward center contact as a signal of attentiveness. While a lack of centre contact may point inattentiveness, it tin as well point cognitive processing. When we look away to process new data, we normally do it unconsciously. Exist aware, however, that your conversational partner may interpret this every bit non listening. If you really do need to have a moment to think about something, y'all could signal that to the other person past saying, "That's new information to me. Requite me just a second to remember through it." Nosotros already learned the role that back-aqueduct cues play in listening. An occasional head nod and "uh-huh" signal that you are paying attention. However, when we give these cues as a class of "autopilot" listening, others can usually tell that we are pseudo-listening, and whether they phone call us on information technology or not, that impression could lead to negative judgments.

A more direct manner to point active listening is to reference previous statements fabricated by the speaker. Norms of politeness usually phone call on us to reference a past statement or connect to the speaker's current thought before starting a conversational plough. Being able to summarize what someone said to ensure that the topic has been satisfactorily covered and understood or being able to segue in such a way that validates what the previous speaker said helps regulate conversational flow. Asking probing questions is another mode to direct indicate listening and to go along a chat going, since they encourage and invite a person to speak more. Yous can likewise ask questions that seek clarification and not just elaboration. Speakers should present circuitous information at a slower speaking rate than familiar information, but many will not. Remember that your nonverbal feedback can be useful for a speaker, every bit it signals that you are listening but likewise whether or non you lot sympathise. If a speaker fails to read your nonverbal feedback, you lot may need to follow upward with exact communication in the form of paraphrased messages and clarifying questions.

Equally active listeners, nosotros want to be excited and engaged, merely don't let excitement manifest itself in interruptions. Being an agile listener means knowing when to maintain our function as listener and resist the urge to take a conversational turn. Enquiry shows that people with higher social status are more likely to interrupt others, and then keep this in listen and be prepared for it if y'all are speaking to a high-status person, or try to resist it if y'all are the high-status person in an interaction (Hargie, 2011).

Good note-taking skills allow listeners to stay engaged with a bulletin and aid in call up of information.

Note-taking can also signal active listening. Translating data through writing into our own cognitive structures and schemata allows us to ameliorate interpret and assimilate information. Of course, note-taking isn't e'er a viable option. Information technology would be fairly awkward to accept notes during a first date or a casual exchange betwixt new coworkers. But in some situations where we wouldn't normally consider taking notes, a little awkwardness might be worth it for the sake of understanding and recalling the information. For example, many people don't remember about taking notes when getting information from their doctor or banker. I really invite students to take notes during breezy meetings because I call up they sometimes don't call up near it or don't call up it'due south advisable. But many people would rather someone jot down notes instead of having to reply to follow-up questions on data that was already clearly conveyed. To aid facilitate your note-taking, y'all might say something like "Do you mind if I jot downward some notes? This seems of import."

In summary, agile listening is exhibited through verbal and nonverbal cues, including steady eye contact with the speaker; smiling; slightly raised eyebrows; upright posture; torso position that is leaned in toward the speaker; nonverbal dorsum-channel cues such as head nods; verbal back-channel cues such as "OK," "mmhum," or "oh"; and a lack of distracting mannerisms like doodling or fidgeting (Hargie, 2011).

"Getting Competent"

Listening in the Classroom

The following statistic illustrates the importance of listening in academic contexts: four hundred showtime-twelvemonth students were given a listening examination before they started classes. At the end of that year, 49 percent of the students with low scores were on bookish probation, while just 4 percent of those who scored loftier were (Conaway, 1982). Listening effectively isn't something that just happens; it takes work on the role of students and teachers. One of the most hard challenges for teachers is eliciting good listening behaviors from their students, and the method of educational activity teachers employ affects how a student volition listen and learn (Beall et al., 2008). Given that there are different learning styles, we know that to be effective, teachers may have to find some fashion to appeal to each learning style. Although teachers ofttimes brand this attempt, it is too not realistic or practical to remember that this practice can be used all the time. Therefore, students should as well remember of ways they can improve their listening competence, because listening is an agile process that we can exert some control over. The post-obit tips will assistance you listen more effectively in the classroom:

• Exist prepared to process challenging messages. You lot can employ the internal dialogue strategy we discussed before to "mentally repair" messages that you receive to make them more than listenable (Rubin, 1993). For instance, you might say, "Information technology seems like we've moved on to a unlike master point at present. Come across if yous can pull out the subpoints to help stay on track."
• Human activity like a expert listener. While I'g non advocating that y'all engage in pseudo-listening, engaging in agile listening behaviors can assist you listen ameliorate when you are having difficulty concentrating or finding motivation to listen. Make eye contact with the instructor and give appropriate nonverbal feedback. Students oftentimes take notes simply when directed to past the instructor or when there is an explicit reason to do so (eastward.g., to recall data for an exam or some other purpose). Since y'all never know what information y'all may desire to call up later, accept notes even when it's non required that you lot do so. Equally a caveat, however, do non try to transcribe everything your instructor says or includes on a PowerPoint, considering yous will likely miss information related to main ideas that is more important than minor details. Instead, heed for main ideas.
• Figure out from where the instructor most ofttimes speaks and sit close to that area. Being able to brand eye contact with an instructor facilitates listening, increases rapport, allows students to benefit more from immediacy behaviors, and minimizes distractions since the teacher is the primary stimulus within the student'southward field of vision.
• Figure out your preferred learning style and adopt listening strategies that complement it.
• Let your instructor know when yous don't understand something. Instead of giving a quizzical await that says "What?" or pretending you know what's going on, let your instructor know when you don't understand something. Instead of asking the teacher to merely echo something, inquire her or him to rephrase it or provide an instance. When you inquire questions, ask specific clarifying questions that request a definition, an explanation, or an elaboration.

1. What are some listening challenges that yous face in the classroom? What can you lot do to overcome them?
2. Have the Learning Styles Inventory survey at the following link to determine what your primary learning style is: http://world wide web.personal.psu.edu/bxb11/LSI/LSI.htm. Practise some inquiry to place specific listening/studying strategies that piece of work well for your learning style.

Becoming a Better Critical Listener

Critical listening involves evaluating the credibility, completeness, and worth of a speaker'south message. Some listening scholars note that critical listening represents the deepest level of listening (Floyd, 1985). Critical listening is likewise of import in a republic that values free speech communication. The Us Constitution grants US citizens the right to free speech, and many people duly protect that right for yous and me. Since people tin can say simply about anything they want, nosotros are surrounded past countless messages that vary tremendously in terms of their value, degree of ethics, accurateness, and quality. Therefore it falls on united states to responsibly and critically evaluate the messages we receive. Some messages are produced by people who are intentionally misleading, ill informed, or motivated by the potential for personal gain, merely such letters can be received as honest, apparent, or altruistic fifty-fifty though they aren't. Beingness able to critically evaluate messages helps united states of america have more control over and sensation of the influence such people may have on us. In order to critically evaluate messages, nosotros must raise our critical-listening skills.

Some critical-listening skills include distinguishing between facts and inferences, evaluating supporting evidence, discovering your own biases, and listening beyond the message. Chapter three "Verbal Communication" noted that function of being an ethical communicator is being accountable for what we say past distinguishing between facts and inferences (Hayakawa & Hayakawa, 1990). This is an ideal that is not e'er met in exercise, and then a critical listener should also brand these distinctions, since the speaker may non. Since facts are widely agreed-on conclusions, they can be verified as such through some extra research. Take intendance in your inquiry to note the context from which the fact emerged, as speakers may take a statistic or quote out of context, distorting its significant. Inferences are not as easy to evaluate, because they are based on unverifiable thoughts of a speaker or on speculation. Inferences are usually based at least partially on something that is known, so information technology is possible to evaluate whether an inference was made carefully or not. In this sense, you may evaluate an inference based on several known facts every bit more than credible than an inference based on one fact and more speculation. Request a question like "What led you to recall this?" is a good way to get information needed to evaluate the strength of an inference.

Distinguishing among facts and inferences and evaluating the credibility of supporting fabric are critical-listening skills that too require good informational-listening skills. In more formal speaking situations, speakers may cite published or publicly available sources to support their messages. When speakers verbally cite their sources, you can utilize the credibility of the source to help evaluate the brownie of the speaker'south bulletin. For instance, a national paper would likely exist more than apparent on a major national consequence than a tabloid magazine or an anonymous blog. In regular interactions, people too have sources for their data just are not as likely to note them within their message. Asking questions similar "Where'd you hear that?" or "How do you know that?" can help go data needed to make critical evaluations. You can look to Chapter 11 "Informative and Persuasive Speaking" to learn much more well-nigh persuasive strategies and how to evaluate the force of arguments.

Discovering your own biases can help you recognize when they interfere with your ability to fully process a message. Unfortunately, most people aren't asked to critically reflect on their identities and their perspectives unless they are in higher, and fifty-fifty people who were in one case critically reflective in college or elsewhere may no longer be so. Biases are also hard to discover, because we don't encounter them as biases; we see them as normal or "the way things are." Asking yourself "What led you to think this?" and "How do yous know that?" tin be a good offset toward acknowledging your biases. We will besides learn more near cocky-reflection and critical thinking in Chapter 8 "Culture and Communication".

Terminal, to exist a better critical listener, think beyond the bulletin. A good disquisitional listener asks the post-obit questions: What is being said and what is not beingness said? In whose interests are these claims being made? Whose voices/ideas are included and excluded? These questions take into account that speakers intentionally and unintentionally camber, edit, or twist messages to make them fit particular perspectives or for personal gain. Likewise ask yourself questions like "What are the speaker's goals?" You lot can also rephrase that question and directly it toward the speaker, asking them, "What is your goal in this interaction?" When you experience yourself nearing an evaluation or conclusion, pause and ask yourself what influenced y'all. Although nosotros like to call up that we are most often persuaded through logical evidence and reasoning, we are susceptible to persuasive shortcuts that rely on the credibility or likability of a speaker or on our emotions rather than the strength of his or her evidence (Little & Cacioppo, 1984). So keep a check on your emotional interest to be aware of how it may be influencing your evaluation. As well, be aware that how likable, attractive, or friendly you think a person is may too pb you to more positively evaluate his or her messages.

Other Tips to Assistance Y'all Become a Meliorate Disquisitional Listener

• Enquire questions to help get more information and increment your critical awareness when you lot get answers similar "Because that's the way things are," "It's e'er been like that," "I don't know; I merely don't like it," "Anybody believes that," or "It's just natural/normal." These are not really answers that are useful in your disquisitional evaluation and may exist an indication that speakers don't really know why they reached the conclusion they did or that they reached it without much critical thinking on their part.
• Be especially critical of speakers who gear up "either/or" options, considering they artificially limit an event or situation to two options when there are always more than. Also exist aware of people who overgeneralize, peculiarly when those generalizations are based on stereotypical or prejudiced views. For example, the world is not merely Republican or Democrat, male or female person, pro-life or pro-option, or Christian or atheist.
• Evaluate the speaker's message instead of his or her advent, personality, or other characteristics. Unless someone's appearance, personality, or behavior is relevant to an interaction, direct your criticism to the bulletin.
• Exist enlightened that disquisitional evaluation isn't always quick or easy. Sometimes you may have to withhold judgment considering your evaluation volition accept more time. As well keep in mind your evaluation may not be final, and you should be open to critical reflection and possible revision later.
• Avert mind reading, which is bold yous know what the other person is going to say or that you know why they reached the conclusion they did. This leads to jumping to conclusions, which shortcuts the critical evaluation process.

"Getting Critical"

Critical Listening and Political Spin

In just the past xx years, the rise of political fact checking occurred as a effect of the increasingly sophisticated rhetoric of politicians and their representatives (Dobbs, 2012). As political campaigns began to adopt communication strategies employed by advertizement agencies and public relations firms, their letters became more ambiguous, unclear, and sometimes outright misleading. While at that place are numerous political fact-checking sources at present to which citizens can turn for an analysis of political messages, it is important that we are able to use our own critical-listening skills to meet through some of the political spin that now characterizes politics in the United states.

Since we go near of our political letters through the media rather than directly from a politician, the media is a logical place to turn for guidance on fact checking. Unfortunately, the media is often manipulated by political advice strategies equally well (Dobbs, 2012). Sometimes media outlets transmit letters even though a critical evaluation of the message shows that it lacks brownie, completeness, or worth. Journalists who engage in political fact checking accept been criticized for putting their subjective viewpoints into what is supposed to be objective news coverage. These journalists have fought back against what they call the norm of "false equivalence." One view of journalism sees the reporter as an objective conveyer of political letters. This could be described as the "We report; you decide" brand of journalism. Other reporters run into themselves equally "truth seekers." In this sense, the journalists appoint in some critical listening and evaluation on the part of the citizen, who may not take the time or ability to do and then.

Michael Dobbs, who started the political fact-checking program at the Washington Postal service, says, "Fairness is preserved not by treating all sides of an argument equally, just through an independent, open-minded approach to the show" (Dobbs, 2012). He also notes that outright lies are much less mutual in politics than are exaggeration, spin, and insinuation. This fact puts much of political discourse into an ethical gray area that tin be peculiarly difficult for even professional fact checkers to evaluate. Instead of simple "true/false" categories, fact checkers like the Washington Post issue evaluations such as "Half truthful, mostly true, half-flip, or full-flop" to political statements. Although nosotros all don't have the time and resources to fact check all the political statements we hear, it may be worth employing some of the strategies used by these professional fact checkers on issues that are very important to united states or have major implications for others. Some fact-checking resources include http://world wide web.PolitiFact.com, http://www.factcheck.org, and http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/fact-checker. The circumspection here for whatever critical listener is to be aware of our tendency to gravitate toward letters with which we agree and avert or automatically reject messages with which we disagree. In short, it's often easier for us to critically evaluate the messages of politicians with whom we disagree and uncritically accept messages from those with whom we agree. Exploring the fact-check websites to a higher place can assist expose ourselves to critical evaluation that we might non otherwise encounter.

1. One school of thought in journalism says information technology's upward to the reporters to convey information every bit it is presented and then up to the viewer/reader to evaluate the bulletin. The other school of idea says that the reporter should investigate and evaluate claims made by those on all sides of an effect equally and share their findings with viewers/readers. Which approach practise you think is meliorate and why?
2. In the lead-up to the war in Iraq, journalists and news outlets did not critically evaluate claims from the Bush administration that there was clear evidence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. Many at present cite this equally an instance of failed fact checking that had global repercussions. Visit i of the fact-checking resources mentioned previously to discover other examples of fact checking that exposed manipulated letters. To enhance your critical thinking, observe one instance that critiques a viewpoint, politician, or political party that yous typically agree with and one that you disagree with. Discuss what you learned from the examples you found.

Condign a Meliorate Empathetic Listener

A prominent scholar of empathetic listening describes information technology this way: "Compassionate listening is to exist respectful of the dignity of others. Empathetic listening is a caring, a love of the wisdom to be found in others whoever they may be" (Bruneau, 1993). This quote conveys that empathetic listening is more philosophical than the other types of listening. It requires that we are open to subjectivity and that we engage in it because nosotros genuinely see it as worthwhile.

Combining active and empathetic listening leads to active-empathetic listening. During active-empathetic listening a listener becomes actively and emotionally involved in an interaction in such a way that information technology is conscious on the office of the listener and perceived by the speaker (Bodie, 2011). To exist a better empathetic listener, we need to append or at least endeavour to suppress our judgment of the other person or their message so nosotros tin can fully attend to both. Paraphrasing is an important part of empathetic listening, considering information technology helps the states put the other person's words into our frame of experience without making it about united states. In improver, speaking the words of someone else in our ain way can help evoke within us the feelings that the other person felt while saying them (Bodie, 2011). Active-empathetic listening is more than than echoing back verbal messages. We tin besides appoint in mirroring, which refers to a listener's replication of the nonverbal signals of a speaker (Bruneau, 1993). Therapists, for example, are often taught to prefer a posture and tone similar to their patients in order to build rapport and project empathy.

Empathetic listeners should not steal the spotlight from the speaker. Offer back up without offering your own story or communication.

Blondinrikard Froberg – Spotlight – CC BY ii.0.

Paraphrasing and questioning are useful techniques for empathetic listening considering they allow us to respond to a speaker without taking "the floor," or the attention, away for long. Specifically, questions that ask for elaboration act as "verbal door openers," and inviting someone to speak more than and then validating their spoken communication through active listening cues can help a person feel "listened to" (Hargie, 2011). I've establish that paraphrasing and asking questions are too useful when we feel tempted to share our ain stories and experiences rather than maintaining our listening office. These questions aren't intended to solicit more information, so we tin can guide or straight the speaker toward a specific course of action. Although it is easier for us to slip into an informational mode—saying things like "Well if I were y'all, I would…"—we have to resist the temptation to give unsolicited communication.

Empathetic listening can be worthwhile, but information technology too brings challenges. In terms of costs, compassionate listening can apply up time and endeavor. Since this type of listening can't be contained within a proscribed fourth dimension frame, information technology may be specially difficult for time-oriented listeners (Bruneau, 1993). Empathetic listening can also exist a test of our endurance, as its orientation toward and focus on supporting the other requires the processing and integration of much exact and nonverbal information. Considering of this potential strain, it's important to know your limits as an compassionate listener. While listening tin can be therapeutic, it is not appropriate for people without training and training to attempt to serve as a therapist. Some people have chronic bug that necessitate professional person listening for the purposes of evaluation, diagnosis, and therapy. Lending an ear is different from diagnosing and treating. If you have a friend who is exhibiting signs of a more serious event that needs attention, listen to the extent that you feel comfortable and then be prepared to provide referrals to other resources that accept training to aid. To face these challenges, skillful empathetic listeners typically have a generally positive self-concept and self-esteem, are nonverbally sensitive and expressive, and are comfy with embracing some other person'due south subjectivity and refraining from too much analytic thought.

Condign a Amend Contextual Listener

Active, critical, and compassionate listening skills can be helpful in a variety of contexts. Agreement the part that listening plays in professional, relational, cultural, and gendered contexts can help us more than competently employ these skills. Whether nosotros are listening to or evaluating messages from a supervisor, parent, or intercultural conversational partner, we have much to gain or lose based on our ability to apply listening skills and knowledge in various contexts.

Listening in Professional Contexts

Listening and organizational-communication scholars note that listening is 1 of the near neglected aspects of organizational-communication research (Flynn, Valikoski, & Grau, 2008). Bated from a lack of research, a study also found that business schools lack curriculum that includes didactics and/or preparation in communication skills similar listening in their master of business assistants (MBA) programs (Alsop, 2002). This lack of a focus on listening persists, even though we know that more effective listening skills take been shown to heighten sales operation and that managers who exhibit good listening skills help create open up advice climates that tin lead to increased feelings of supportiveness, motivation, and productivity (Flynn, Valikoski, & Grau, 2008). Specifically, empathetic listening and active listening can play key roles in organizational communication. Managers are wise to heighten their empathetic listening skills, equally being able to empathize with employees contributes to a positive communication climate. Agile listening among organizational members also promotes involvement and increases motivation, which leads to more cohesion and enhances the communication climate.

Organizational scholars have examined various communication climates specific to listening. Listening environment refers to characteristics and norms of an system and its members that contribute to expectations for and perceptions nearly listening (Brownell, 1993). Positive listening environments are perceived to be more employee centered, which can improve job satisfaction and cohesion. Just how do we create such environments?

Positive listening environments are facilitated past the breaking down of barriers to concentration, the reduction of noise, the creation of a shared reality (through shared linguistic communication, such every bit similar jargon or a shared vision argument), intentional spaces that promote listening, official opportunities that promote listening, training in listening for all employees, and leaders who model good listening practices and praise others who are successful listeners (Brownell, 1993). Policies and practices that back up listening must go manus in paw. After all, what does an "open-door" policy mean if it is not coupled with actions that demonstrate the sincerity of the policy?

"Getting Real"

Condign a "Listening Leader"

Dr. Rick Bommelje has popularized the concept of the "listening leader" (Heed-Coach.com, 2012). As a listening charabanc, he offers preparation and resources to help people in various career paths increase their listening competence. For people who are very committed to increasing their listening skills, the International Listening Association has at present endorsed a programme to become a Certified Listening Professional (CLP), which entails advanced contained study, close work with a listening mentor, and the completion of a written exam.^[1] At that place are also training programs to help with empathetic listening that are offered through the Empathetic Listening Project.^[2] These programs evidence the growing focus on the importance of listening in all professional contexts.

Scholarly research has consistently shown that listening ability is a primal function of leadership in professional contexts and competence in listening aids in determination making. A survey sent to hundreds of companies in the United states constitute that poor listening skills create bug at all levels of an organizational hierarchy, ranging from entry-level positions to CEOs (Hargie, 2011). Leaders such every bit managers, squad coaches, department heads, and executives must exist versatile in terms of listening blazon and style in order to adapt to the various listening needs of employees, clients/customers, colleagues, and other stakeholders.

Even if we don't have the fourth dimension or money to invest in one of these professional person-listening training programs, we can draw inspiration from the goal of becoming a listening leader. By reading this book, you are already taking an important step toward improving a variety of advice competencies, including listening, and you can e'er take it upon yourself to further your study and increment your skills in a particular area to meliorate ready yourself to create positive communication climates and listening environments. You can also use these skills to make yourself a more desirable employee.

1. Brand a listing of the behaviors that you call back a listening leader would showroom. Which of these do you call back you do well? Which practise you need to work on?
2. What do you think has contributed to the perceived shortage of listening skills in professional person contexts?
3. Given your personal career goals, what listening skills exercise you think you will need to possess and employ in guild to be successful?

Listening in Relational Contexts

Listening plays a cardinal role in establishing and maintaining our relationships (Nelson-Jones, 2006). Without some listening competence, we wouldn't be able to appoint in the cocky-disclosure process, which is essential for the establishment of relationships. Newly acquainted people get to know each other through increasingly personal and reciprocal disclosures of personal information. In order to reciprocate a conversational partner's disclosure, we must procedure information technology through listening. In one case relationships are formed, listening to others provides a psychological advantage, through the simple act of recognition, that helps maintain our relationships. Listening to our relational partners and being listened to in return is office of the word of any interpersonal relationship. Our thoughts and experiences "support" inside of united states, and getting them out helps us maintain a positive residue (Nelson, Jones, 2006). And then something as routine and seemingly pointless as listening to our romantic partner debrief the events of his or her twenty-four hours or our roommate recount his or her weekend back home shows that nosotros are taking an interest in their lives and are willing to put our own needs and concerns aside for a moment to nourish to their needs. Listening as well closely ties to disharmonize, every bit a lack of listening often plays a large function in creating conflict, while constructive listening helps us resolve information technology.

Listening has relational implications throughout our lives, likewise. Parents who engage in competent listening behaviors with their children from a very young age make their children experience worthwhile and appreciated, which affects their evolution in terms of personality and grapheme (Nichols, 1995).

Parents who exhibit competent listening behaviors toward their children provide them with a sense of recognition and security that affects their hereafter evolution.

A lack of listening leads to feelings of loneliness, which results in lower self-esteem and higher degrees of anxiety. In fact, by the historic period of 4 or v years old, the empathy and recognition shown past the presence or lack of listening has molded children's personalities in noticeable ways (Nichols, 1995). Children who accept been listened to abound upward expecting that others will exist available and receptive to them. These children are therefore more likely to interact confidently with teachers, parents, and peers in means that aid develop communication competence that will be built on throughout their lives. Children who have not been listened to may come up to expect that others will not want to listen to them, which leads to a lack of opportunities to practice, develop, and hone foundational communication skills. Fortunately for the more-listened-to children and unfortunately for the less-listened-to children, these early experiences become predispositions that don't change much equally the children go older and may actually reinforce themselves and become stronger.

Listening and Culture

Some cultures place more than importance on listening than other cultures. In general, collectivistic cultures tend to value listening more than individualistic cultures that are more speaker oriented. The value placed on verbal and nonverbal meaning also varies by culture and influences how we communicate and heed. A depression-context advice style is one in which much of the meaning generated inside an interaction comes from the verbal communication used rather than nonverbal or contextual cues. Conversely, much of the meaning generated by a high-context communication style comes from nonverbal and contextual cues (Lustig & Koester, 2006). For example, US Americans of European descent generally use a low-context communication style, while people in East Asian and Latin American cultures use a high-context communication fashion.

Contextual communication styles affect listening in many ways. Cultures with a loftier-context orientation more often than not use less verbal communication and value silence every bit a form of communication, which requires listeners to pay close attention to nonverbal signals and consider contextual influences on a bulletin. Cultures with a low-context orientation must use more verbal advice and provide explicit details, since listeners aren't expected to derive pregnant from the context. Note that people from depression-context cultures may feel frustrated by the ambiguity of speakers from high-context cultures, while speakers from high-context cultures may feel overwhelmed or even insulted by the level of particular used past depression-context communicators. Cultures with a low-context communication mode also tend to accept a monochronic orientation toward time, while loftier-context cultures accept a polychronic time orientation, which as well affects listening.

As Chapter 8 "Culture and Advice" discusses, cultures that favor a structured and commodified orientation toward time are said to exist monochronic, while cultures that favor a more flexible orientation are polychronic. Monochronic cultures like the United States value time and action-oriented listening styles, especially in professional contexts, because time is seen as a article that is scarce and must exist managed (McCorncack, 2007). This is evidenced by leaders in businesses and organizations who ofttimes request "executive summaries" that only focus on the most relevant information and who use statements like "Become to the point." Polychronic cultures value people and content-oriented listening styles, which makes sense when we consider that polychronic cultures also tend to be more collectivistic and use a high-context communication style. In collectivistic cultures, indirect communication is preferred in cases where direct communication would be considered a threat to the other person's face up (desired public image). For case, flatly turning downwards a concern offer would be likewise direct, so a person might answer with a "maybe" instead of a "no." The person making the proposal, however, would exist able to draw on contextual clues that they implicitly learned through socialization to interpret the "maybe" as a "no."

Listening and Gender

Enquiry on gender and listening has produced mixed results. As nosotros've already learned, much of the research on gender differences and communication has been influenced by gender stereotypes and falsely continued to biological differences. More recent research has plant that people communicate in ways that conform to gender stereotypes in some situations and not in others, which shows that our communication is more influenced by societal expectations than past innate or gendered "difficult-wiring." For example, through socialization, men are more often than not discouraged from expressing emotions in public. A woman sharing an emotional experience with a human may perceive the man's lack of emotional reaction as a sign of inattentiveness, specially if he typically shows more than emotion during individual interactions. The man, however, may be listening but withholding nonverbal expressiveness because of social norms. He may non realize that withholding those expressions could be seen equally a lack of empathetic or active listening. Researchers too dispelled the conventionalities that men interrupt more than than women do, finding that men and women interrupt each other with similar frequency in cantankerous-gender encounters (Dindia, 1987). So men may interrupt each other more in aforementioned-gender interactions as a conscious or subconscious attempt to constitute dominance considering such behaviors are expected, as men are by and large socialized to be more competitive than women. However, this blazon of competitive interrupting isn't as nowadays in cross-gender interactions because the contexts have shifted.

Fundamental Takeaways

• Yous can better listening competence at the receiving stage past preparing yourself to listen and distinguishing betwixt intentional letters and noise; at the interpreting stage past identifying main points and supporting points and taking multiple contexts into consideration; at the recalling phase by creating memories using multiple senses and repeating, rephrasing, and reorganizing letters to fit cognitive preferences; at the evaluating stage by separating facts from inferences and assessing the credibility of the speaker'south message; and at the responding stage by asking advisable questions, offering paraphrased letters, and adapting your response to the speaker and the state of affairs.
• Active listening is the process of pairing outwardly visible positive listening behaviors with positive cerebral listening practices and is characterized past mentally preparing yourself to listen, working to maintain focus on concentration, using appropriate exact and nonverbal back-channel cues to bespeak attentiveness, and engaging in strategies like note taking and mentally reorganizing information to assist with recall.
• In lodge to apply critical-listening skills in multiple contexts, nosotros must be able to distinguish between facts and inferences, evaluate a speaker's supporting evidence, discover our own biases, and recollect beyond the bulletin.
• In order to practise compassionate listening skills, we must be able to support others' subjective experience; temporarily set aside our own needs to focus on the other person; encourage elaboration through active listening and questioning; avoid the temptation to tell our own stories and/or requite advice; effectively mirror the nonverbal communication of others; and acknowledge our limits as compassionate listeners.

• Getting integrated: Unlike listening strategies may need to exist applied in different listening contexts.

  • In professional contexts, listening is considered a necessary skill, merely most people practice not receive explicit instruction in listening. Members of an organization should consciously create a listening environment that promotes and rewards competent listening behaviors.
  • In relational contexts, listening plays a key role in initiating relationships, as listening is required for mutual self-disclosure, and in maintaining relationships, as listening to our relational partners provides a psychological reward in the course of recognition. When people aren't or don't feel listened to, they may experience feelings of isolation or loneliness that can accept negative effects throughout their lives.
  • In cultural contexts, loftier- or low-context communication styles, monochronic or polychronic orientations toward time, and individualistic or collectivistic cultural values affect listening preferences and behaviors.
  • Research regarding listening preferences and behaviors of men and women has been contradictory. While some differences in listening be, many of them are based more on societal expectations for how men and women should listen rather than biological differences.

Exercises

1. Go on a "listening log" for role of your solar day. Note times when you feel like you lot exhibited competent listening behaviors and note times when listening became challenging. Analyze the log based on what you lot accept learned in this section. Which positive listening skills helped yous heed? What strategies could yous utilise to your listening challenges to amend your listening competence?
2. Apply the strategies for effective disquisitional listening to a political message (a search for "political spoken communication" or "partisan speech" on YouTube should provide you with many options). Equally you analyze the speech, make sure to distinguish between facts and inferences, evaluate a speaker's supporting evidence, discuss how your ain biases may influence your evaluation, and think across the bulletin.
3. Discuss and analyze the listening environs of a identify you lot have worked or an organization with which you were involved. Overall, was it positive or negative? What were the norms and expectations for effective listening that contributed to the listening surround? Who helped set the tone for the listening environment?

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Source: https://open.lib.umn.edu/communication/chapter/5-3-improving-listening-competence/