Effective Listening

In my business communications class this week, we will be discussing effective listening and I thought this would be something I would share with everyone. All around us are distractions that keep us from listening to someone when they are speaking. This could cause some trouble along the way. For example, in your workplace, your boss may decide to call together a meeting about a very important issue that has risen. It would be in your best interest to listen carefully to what he/she is saying, in case there is an action you need to take. Now, in the workplace, there are telephones ringing, employees talking with customers, maybe a low sound of music, computers running, air conditioning, sounds of things outside, etc. Let's say the meeting is taking place and in the background you hear the sound of the air conditioning. You know its there and you try to block it out, right? It seems like all your focus is on that air conditioning sound, and sometimes it seems to get louder and louder with the more attention you steer towards it. At that point, there goes your concentration and listening to your boss in the meeting.

So now the question is: What do I do? You don't want to be rude and disrupt the whole meeting, nor do you want to miss out on anything. It all begins with filtering, which it eliminating all the troubles around you, which is commonly referred to as unwanted stimuli. It may help to ask a question to get back on track with the topic and then from there try to rid of the mental distractions. Try not to allow your mind to wander back to that annoying sound of air conditioning, and try not to make an opinion of what is being said in the meeting, if you only caught little pieces of it.

The following are the guidelines for effective listening:

1) Concentrate on the message
2) Determine the purpose of the message
3) Keep an open mind
4) Provide Feedback
5) Minimize note taking
6) Analyze the total message
7) Do not talk or interrupt


Barriers to Listening include the following:

1) Physical distractions
2) Mental distractions
3) Health concerns
4) Nonverbal distractions
5) Inappropriate timing
6) Ineffective speech characteristics

There are many things that need to be carefully examined for effective listening. I know that background noise can bother me and make me lose my concentration, but I need to realize that effective listening will benefit me. It will allow me to gain more information about something, help me improve upon relationships and attitudes towards others, help to solve problems effectively, resolve any conflicts occurring, and most importantly, it will improve my accuracy of understanding a particular issue, whether it be personal or within my job.

And just to add some fun facts in here:
People speak at 150 to 200 words per minute and hear at 450-500 words per minute.

The difference between hearing and listening is that hearing is only a physical process, but listening is your mental process in which you need to break down the information.

Hopefully this is helpful to some of you! It's very important to focus on your listening skills, because employers will be expecting these skills from you. It's one of the top 5 skills they look for when hiring, so be prepared!!!

I hope everyone enjoyed their Labor Day Weekend! Summer has officially come to an end! How sad! Have a great week!