Business Communication

Listening Skills

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Cengage Learning Mallika Nawal
Topical Outline
Introduction
Listening Types
Listening ROI
Listening Process
Listening Styles Profile
Buddhist Model of Listening
Barriers to Effective Listening
Effective Listening Techniques

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Introduction
• Communication is a two-way process. Therefore,
listening is just as important (if not more) as speaking
• Ralph G. Nichols – book – Are You Listening? (1957)
• Nichols – regarded as – Father of Listening
• Importance globally acknowledged and led to the
founding of International Listening Association (1979)
• Purpose of ILA – advance the practice, teaching, and
research of listening throughout the world
• Listening is a “Skill”

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Listening Types
• Discriminative: learn to discern difference in sounds
• Biased: you hear what you want to hear
• Evaluative: listen and make judgments about message
• Appreciative: listen to things one appreciates
• Sympathetic: when we sincerely care about someone
• Empathic: not only caring, but showing compassion
• Therapeutic: take remedial actions to bring about
change
• Relationship: to build rapport with the other person

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Listening Types
• False: pretending to listen but does not hear
anything that is being said
• Initial: when we listen to the person in the beginning
but then stop midway
• Selective: listen only to things that you want to hear
and block out what does not interest you
• Partial: subtype of selective listening. The person
makes an effort to listen but gets distracted midway
• Full: concentrate completely on what is being said
• Deep: go beyond what is being said and fathom the
“unsaid”
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Listening ROI
• To participate in conversation
• To gain information
• To get feedback
• To create rapport and relationships
• To learn
• To make decision
• To avoid embarrassment

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Listening Process
• Hearing
• Focusing on the message
• Comprehending and interpreting
• Analyzing and evaluating
• Responding
• Remembering

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Listening Styles Profile
• Listening style is defined as an individual’s
predominant and preferred approach to listening
• Watson et al. (1995) identified 4 learning styles:
• People oriented
• Action oriented
• Content oriented
• Time oriented
• Research shows people-centered listeners are less
apprehensive in groups, meetings, and interpersonal
situations than other types of listeners

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Buddhist Model of Listening
• Compares listeners to 4 different types of clay pots
• 1st pot – holes at the bottom. Communicating to
such people is pointless
• 2nd pot – cracks in it. Such people tend to forget
what was said to them
• 3rd pot – completely full. Such people do not
listen to the other
• 4th pot – empty and intact. Listen well and learn
well

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Barriers to Effective Listening
• 5 types of listening barriers:
• Physiological barriers – physical ability to ‘hear,’
speed of thought, etc.
• Environmental barriers – physical distractions,
channel obstruction, and message overload
• Attitudinal barriers – preoccupied mind, ego,
attitude, prejudices, etc.
• Sociocultural barriers – language, accent, culture’s
predisposition to time, etc.
• Semantic barriers – same word, different meaning

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Effective Listening Techniques
• Eliminate distractions
• Concentrate
• Focus on the speaker
• Maintain an open mind
• Look for nonverbal cues
• Do not react to emotive words
• Ask questions
• Sit so you can see and hear
• Avoid prejudices

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Effective Listening Techniques
• Visualize the message
• Relate message to personal experience
• Listen between the lines
• Take notes
• Paraphrase
• Provide nonverbal feedback

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