...After learning about effective listening, I have realized that listening is a vital aspect of communication and everyday life. Both listening and communicating allows us to share of knowledge and form relationships between. Listening allows individuals to understand the feelings, ideas, and opinions of others. After taking this course, I have discovered that listening plays an important role not only in our personal lives but also our professional lives. In the workplace, listening is used at least three times as much as speaking, and four to five times as much as reading and writing (Rastogi, 2010). I am currently majoring in communication and I believe that the listening skills that I have learned from this course, can benefit me in any...
Words: 907 - Pages: 4
...Effective Listening Strategies Paper LaDonna Landry BSHS 385 Audra Stinson June 15, 2015 Effective Listening Strategies Paper Thinking and acting in ways that connect you to a person that is speaking is attentive listening. The benefits of listening are codependent and synergistic not many people are attentive listeners but if they can possess the skill of listening there are many benefits. Some benefits are respect, airtime, information, increased likability, better relationship and clarity. When you are giving you full listening attention you are showing respect and in turn gain the respect of the speaker. If you listen first to the speaker usually the speaker will return the favor. I say usually because it depends upon the individual and what may be going on with them such as self-absorption, stress or other reason that they might not lend their ear as the listener has done. Attentive listening helps to get information so that you can learn more about the person. The more you know about the individual the more you can do to assist them. People like to be listened to the more you listen to people the more you like them and the more you listen to the person talking the more they began to like you just for the fact that you listened. Listening creates a feeling of goodwill in relationships. If you are to listen to others problems non-judgmentally this gives the individual a chance to hear themselves and possibly find their own solution to their problem. Listening...
Words: 994 - Pages: 4
...facial expressions, tone of voice, and body language. This paper will break down the different aspects of demonstrative communication along the lines of how It can be effective and ineffective, positive and negative on the sender and receiver as well as how it involves listening and responding. Effective and Positive Demonstrative communication can be very effective when trying to express ones point and have a positive reaction when communicating with other individuals. Understanding how demonstrative communication works greatly can benefit you in a professional setting, take for instance you have a job interview or better yet you are going to a promotion board how you enter the room and present yourself immediately sends non-verbal signals of your stature. This can go into even further depth by your handshake, and your facial expressions are you smiling or do you appear to be unhappy, these factors play a role in how demonstrative communication allows you to express freely to others without ever saying an audible word. Nine times out of ten people do not even realize they are demonstrating any sort of non-verbal communication, it is a second nature aspect programmed into our brains when we are happy we smile when we are sad we frown so on and so forth. The positive outcome from this type of communication can benefit you in many ways, the first impression that your leadership or boss acquires from you is very important on there...
Words: 782 - Pages: 4
...Harvey (2006:160) Listening is the first communication skill we practice as infants, and from listening to other people around us, we learn how to speak. We listen far more than we speak, read or write; possibly up to 75% of the time, yet it is a communication skill we are not formally taught. We can close our eyes and mouth and can leave the keyboard or pen alone, but our ears are constantly open. We are frequently told to ‘listen up’, that we ‘weren’t listening ‘, that we ‘never listen’, but we are seldom taught how to listen effectively. What make an effective manager? To be an effective manager, you have to be a good listener. Manager must possess three listening components: Hearing, Understanding and Retaining. Hearing is the ability to receive sounds. Understanding is the ability to make sense of what we hear. While retaining is the ability to remember what has been heard. Listening to an individual is the most important attribute of an effective manager. Manager who listen, earn employees respect and loyalty. They discover important things about how the business is going. Manager can show effective listening when employees or customers are communicating with them by their body language, facial expression and through eye contact. A manager who doesn’t listen is not a good communicator. As a manager you need to listen, to benefit from your employees thoughts then direct his or her thought to the mission, vision or goal. If the employee feels the manager hears theirs...
Words: 1142 - Pages: 5
...Without a doubt communication is the hallmark of the effective manager. “Research spanning several decades has consistently ranked communication skills as crucial for managers. Typically, managers spend 75 to 80 percent of their time engaged in some form of written or oral communication.” (Blaylock, Marty) There are several parts to the communications process. To paraphrase the basic model a message is encoded by the sender, and then transmitted to a receiver who then decodes the message. After decoding the receiver provides feedback. This process is known a two communications. For the manager two important skills to ensure effective two way communication are listening and asking questions. Listening is how we receive the message during oral communication. If we do not listen well we risk missing the correct message. “When we listen it is important to listen well. Listening is not a passive activity.” (Thorogood Publishing Ltd., 1999) The mark of a good manager is one who sincerely shows interest in what others are telling him. “In the orai/interpersonal area, business professionals rated the listening competency higher than business faculty rated them” (Waner, Karen K.) In that survey of Business professionals rated listening first while business faculty rated listening as second. Listening is important because it ensures the correct receipt of the message, but there other reasons for good listening. Good listening boosts confidence of the subordinates, peers, and supervisors...
Words: 1542 - Pages: 7
...average of 70% of their time engaged in some sort of communication, of this an average of 45% is spent listening compared to 30% speaking, 16% reading and 9% writing.” (Adler, R. et al. 2001). Based on the research of: Adler, R., Rosenfeld, L. and Proctor, R. (2001). Interplay: the process of interpersonal communicating (8th edn), Fort Worth, TX: Harcourt. In this fast paced, technology-based world where the need to communicate is more important than ever, we all seem to be in so much of a hurry, that we do not really take the time to listen to what people are saying. Listening can help improve accuracy, solve problems, resolve conflict, and build relationships. As simple as good listening seems, through poor listening, we can misinterpret and misunderstand, which can cause confusion, frustration, and even conflict in both our professional and personal relationships. In a study of over 8,000 people employed in businesses, hospitals, universities, the military and government agencies, results showed that most people responding felt that they communicate as effectively or more effectively than their co-workers. However, research shows that the average person listens at only about 25% efficiency. Interestingly, while most people tend to agree that effective listening is an important skill, they do not feel the need to improve the level of their listening skills. (Haney, W. V. 1979). Despite the date of this study, it reflects an important statistic, one...
Words: 1118 - Pages: 5
...Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, is a learned power of doing something competently: a developed aptitude or ability. The skill of listening is a skill that I believe everyone should have but most people lack. Many people do not realize that listening is not merely the act of hearing a sound but of paying close attention to what someone is saying and trying to understand the message that they are trying to relate to you. Most times people say they are listening when in all actuality they are merely hearing you but not even attempting to understand what is being spoken of. The advantages of being a good listener are vast. This skill can positively affect many parts of our everyday life and interaction with people. Nevertheless, it is a skilled that is overlooked in today’s unmindful society. The reason I believe that listening is of such importance is because nowadays people have developed the mentality of “every man for himself.” People are not concerned about their fellows anymore. We are only concerned about our own issues and problems. Listening is a skill that is acquired throughout a lifetime. It is an important virtue when it comes to communication.People should be taught from childhood the importance of learning how to listen. If we realized how much we would benefit from being good listeners, I believe that things would change. Lack of listening skills affects marriages, parents and children, teachers and students, employers and employees, foreign affairs, and the list goes...
Words: 757 - Pages: 4
...states that “Communication is the real work of leadership” To be a good communicator and an effective manager, a manager must sharpen his listening and presentation skills. By doing so will help the manager reach his goals and the company goals. Manager must realize and accept that clear communication is always a two-way process. It’s not enough to speak clearly; you have to make sure you’re being heard and understood. To facilitate this, use the following two-way communication primer. This document explains the importance of effective listing and presenting for a manager. Also the author sets an action plan to for improving his listening and presenting skills 2. Listening According to Daft (2012), Managers perform a wide variety of activities that fall within four primary management functions. One of the most important tools of manager communication is listening, both to employees and customer. Most managers should now recognize that important information flows from bottom up, not top down. Listening is an activity that most of us take very lightly. Generally as human beings we are more concerned about our outputs than inputs in terms of communication. Hence listening is an activity that most managers in organizational circles take very lightly even though it is as important, maybe even more important, than some of the other skills a manager should sharpen. Without effective listening...
Words: 2318 - Pages: 10
...Public Speaking 210-50 Informative Speech September 7, 2011 Chapter 5: Listening to Speeches Listening is an important part of the communication process. It is stated as being the active processing of the information we receive. How well you listen has a major impact on the quality of your relationships with others. Listening is a skill which everyone can benefit from improvement. A great deal of our communication process is devoted to listening. Chapter five focuses on improving your listening skills with suggestions and principles and also identifies barriers that keep people from listening at peak efficiency. In this essay, we will go over all key points and terms that will help you become an effective listener. To become an effective listener we first need to develop certain skills that can be used in stages to guide us through the process. Effective listening involves selecting, attending to, understanding, and remembering the meaning behind the message. The goal as a public speaker is to develop and deliver a speech that audience members will listen and respond to. (62) Although it seems easy, there are barriers that can hinder a speech from being received by the listener. These barriers are referred to as listening barriers. Listening barriers are created when we fail to select, attend to, or understand a message or remember what was said. (62) There are many listening barriers that can vary depending on the individual; however, the book has narrowed...
Words: 1250 - Pages: 5
...1. From the interaction does it seem to you that Alan is actively listening? Why or why not? I don’t feel that Alan is using active listening at all during his interactions with his employees. Being mindful is the first step to communicating effectively. In her book, Interpersonal Communication, Wood states “that instead of focusing on information, we concentrate on what lies between and behind the content in order to understand what another is feeling, thinking, needing, or wanting in a conversation” (2013, pg.158). Alan shows this unwillingness to be mindful in both interactions with his employees. He concentrates on the negative and doesn’t care or concern himself with the reasoning for his employee’s shortcomings. Wood also suggests that initially one should avoid passing judgments. “Imposing our own judgments separates us from others and their feelings” (Wood, 2013, pg.158). During the first interaction, Alan starts the conversation by criticizing the woman for working too slow and how it is in turn slowing the entire team. This leads to the employee feeling that her job is now being threatened, leaving them both feeling uncomfortable and ineffective. 2. Describe how Alan’s opening thoughts on his job, narrated in the video, affect his approach to the performance reviews. Does Alan’s view of his job foster a negative or positive work atmosphere with his employees? Explain. Alan had extremely negative self-talk regarding his performance at work which lead to a very negative...
Words: 1022 - Pages: 5
...EFFECTIVE LISTENING ‘An effective listener is a person who is able to respond empathetically to another person, retaining objectivity and not becoming sucked into someone else’s mire’ (Porrit, L. 1990 p.83). There is a difference between listening and hearing. Hearing, a psychological activity which involves occurs when various sound eaves hit our ear drums. Whereas, listening, it relies on our ears, minds, hearts, and whole body. What do we hear first? Is it the message or oral sound? Do absorb what is being said or not being said? Do we accept the person wholeheartedly during the situation, if we hear? The focus of the essay will verify that there are seven processes to listening. Secondly, whilst listing positive aspects of effective listening. Finally, I hope to show that effective listening benefits all those involved and improves a situation when entering their understanding by leaving out judgments and reasons. Why must we effectively listen? According to Julia T.Wood (2012), Interpersonal Communication: Everyday Counters, she states three guidelines to effective listening. That is being mindful, adapt listening appropriately, and listen actively. When receiving communication one-way, a good communicator must be mindful. This bears a lot of discipline as it the first and most important principle of effective listening. It requires that we put aside preoccupations such as checking text messages or daydreaming and preconceptions such as avoiding argument and try to understand...
Words: 1370 - Pages: 6
... body language, and the most important element: eye contact. The unique aspect of nonverbal communication is that this type of communication occurs with friends, family, and even strangers. People may not be aware that they are performing any of these actions, as they communicate with people by making unintentional eye contact in passing. Nonverbal communication is also categorized as demonstrative communication. Demonstrative communication between people can be positive as well as effective because people who use proper communication methods are ensuring the speaker that listening is occurring. When used incorrectly, or to be rude or unreceptive to someone else’s message, the results of demonstrative communication will be ineffective and negative for both the sender and receiver. Demonstrative communication, much like verbal communication is broken down into positive, negative, effective, and ineffective. A prime example of how demonstrative communication can be both positive and effective is during a presentation either at school or at the workplace. When the sender of the message, or presenter, is conveying his or her message to their audience they are telling their audience that this message is important and commands respect and full attention. Because the audience should not talk throughout the presentation, they have to figure out a way to promote confidence to the sender. People can achieve this goal by using demonstrative communication. Maintaining eye contact with...
Words: 901 - Pages: 4
...Department Note-taking and Listening Comprehension of Conversations and Mini-Lectures Any Benefit? Sinan Özyurt M.A. Thesis Proposal May, 2013 1. Introduction 1.1 Background of the study How to instruct listening has been an important issue for both teachers and researchers for a long time. Although much emphasis has been done on the significance of listening, there is still little known about how to increase students’ listening skills. That is because teachers often have a tendency to make more focus on reading, writing, and speaking rather than listening as a receptive skill in their language classes. However, in time, it has been understood that listening is challenging for almost any language learners because a great many of them do not have any idea on how to be effective learners in listening and succeed in listening tasks. That is why, most of the time our students’ listening skills are not as improved as we expect them to be. This somehow results in their inefficiency in listening comprehension as well. Considering this, our students might even feel demotivated towards listening lectures, which is something not desired by any teachers. 1.2 Statement of the Problem As teachers, we often expect our students to do their listening tasks or activities as efficiently as possible. Even though we do our best to enhance our students’ listening skills, there is still much to do when considering their incompetence in their listening classes (Aminifard, 2012). It...
Words: 2761 - Pages: 12
...Demonstrative Communication BCOM/275 22 May 2012 Demonstrative Communication When the question, “What do you think of when you hear the word communication?” is asked, usually the first or second response is “speaking.” Of course that is an important component, but the area of nonverbal communication, research indicates, is more “telling” of our thoughts than the verbal words we speak (Clark, 2004). Communication is often expressed either verbally, nonverbally, written, or visually. The focus of this paper is to discuss and examine communication that does not involve verbal stimuli. This type of communication is commonly referred to as Demonstrative Communication. Demonstrative Communication involves the use of nonverbal cues. Examples of nonverbal cues include facial expression, postures, eye gaze, gestures, facial expressions, and body language. Nonverbal communication is a very crucial but often neglected area of communication. In comparison, verbal communication make up seven percent of a message, and the remainder is composed of 38% percent tone and 55% nonverbal cues (Lee, 2011). Verbal communication involves using speech to exchange information with others. Verbal communication is more than just talking; it also includes written and mediated communication. A response of “yes” is considered an example of verbal communication, as long as it involves at least one sender and one receiver using spoken words, it can be considered an example of verbal communication...
Words: 1017 - Pages: 5
...Effective Listening Strategies BSHS 385 April 21, 2015 Dr. Barbara Hughson Effective Listening Strategies Effective listening is an important part of the human service profession. This paper will review three articles about effective listening. For each article, I will provide a summary that includes my thoughts of the article, what was learned about effective listening, and how I can apply it to my daily life as a human service professional. I will also discuss my thoughts on how I will use these strategies and how effective they may be. The first article I read is called “Listen Carefully." This article is discussing teaching listening skills to school-aged children. Some of the research reviewed shows the importance of listening when it comes to human learning and development. Learning how to listen is the first skill in language most children will develop first. Once children begin school, listening becomes even more important because the majority of what children learn is through listening. An interesting fact to me was when McPherson (2008) stated, “Teaching listening skills to middle school at-risk readers improved their reading comprehension scores and found that listening to a story while reading the story's words also improved elementary children's reading comprehension.” (McPherson, 2008) This speaks volumes to me especially when the teaching of listening skills in the classroom is not being done today. Teachers who start teaching listening strategies have...
Words: 1228 - Pages: 5
