Listening and Responding
Wait a minute! Say that again,Doris! . . . you know the part about,'If only we had some means ofclimbing down.'
The Ship That Couldn't Be Sunk
One of the greatest tragedies in the history of seatravel occurred on the night of April 14, 1912,when the crew of the Titanic refused to listen torepeated warnings of icebergs. The crew hadbeen led to believe that this brand-new passenger liner was "unsinkable." Even after theship struck an iceberg and was slowly sinking,some of the passengers ignored the captain'sorders to get into the lifeboats.
When the ship finally began tiltingdangerously, it was too late. There weren'tenough lifeboats for all the passengers andworse still, the Californian, the only other shipin the area (about 10 miles away) made noattempt to reach the wreck. Her radio operatorhad gone off duty. He, too, wasn't listening. As aresult, more than a thousand people needlesslylost their lives.
Listening facts
•Employees of major North American corporationsspend 60% of time listening
•Of North American executives, 80% believe listeningis one of the most important skills needed in thecorporate environment.
•In committed relationships, listening in everydayconversations is ingredient of satisfaction
•The ideal manager has ability to listen effectively,according to 1000 human resource executives
•Fewer than 2% of us have had any formal listeningtraining (page 88)
•Students are in listening situations 65%-90% of thetime.
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Types of Listening
•Appreciate listening
•Discriminative listening
•Comprehensive listening
•Empathic listening
•Critical listening
Listening and Hearing are NOT the same thing
•Hearing is a physiological process (passive and physical)
•Listening is a cognitive process (active and mental)
Listening Process:
1. Attending – paying attention to a signal / focusing on what aspeaker is saying
2.Understanding – making sense of a message / decoding themessage
3.Remembering – retaining the information and recalling it
Unfortunately, research suggests people only remember 50%immediately after hearing it, only 35% within eight hours andwithin 2 days only remember 20% of the original message(page 88)
4.Evaluating – critically analyzing the message
5.Responding – providing feedback
•Research shows link between effectivelistening and school success (page 97)
•Unfortunately, people seem to get worse atthe skill of listening as they get older:
–Teachers at various grade levels were asked to stoptheir lectures periodically and ask students torepeat what the teacher had been saying:
•90% of first graders could repeat
•80% of second graders could repeat
•44% of junior high students could repeat
•28% of senior high students could repeat
Reasons for Poor Listening
•Effort – heart rate quickens, respirationincreases, body temperature rises
•Rapid thought – we are capable ofunderstanding speech at rates between 400-800 wpm, the average person only speaksbetween 120-150 wpm (page 91)
• Message overload
Reasons for Poor Listening cont.
•Psychological noise
•Physical noise
•Hearing problems
•Faulty assumptions – heard it all before,information is too simple or complex,information is unimportant
•Selective Listening
•Pseudolistening (fake listening)
Reasons for Poor Listening cont.
•Talking has more apparent advantages – talkingallows us to gain more (admiration, respect,liking). One study revealed that men interruptmore than women. Men interrupt to dominate orcontrol conversation. Women interrupt to agree,elaborate on speaker’s idea, or participate intopic.
•Media Influences – programming consists ofshort segments
•Short attention spans – A 1999 study revealedthe average attention span for adults is 20minutes or less. (page 91)
Improve Your Listening
•Get physically and mentally ready to listen (Effective listenersare likely to sit uprights, lean forward, cease unnecessary movement, look directly atinstructor, page 91)
•Resist mental distractions
•Don’t argue, interrupt, or judge prematurely – Hear thespeaker out! (We typically stop listening before they have finished if wethink we know what they are going to say, page 92)
•Observe nonverbal cues – gestures, voice, facialexpressions
•Adjust to the listening goals of the situation
•Identify the benefits of the message – Be opportunist
Improve Your Listening
•Ask questions to gain additional information
•Paraphrase
•Look for key ideas
•Repeat the information – if information is not reinforced itwill be held in short-term memory for as little as 20 seconds (page 97)
•Construct mnemonics - AURER
•Take GOOD notes