1. Communicating at Work

2. Chapter Outline The Importance of Listening
Chapter 4 Listening
Chapter Outline
The Importance of Listening
Barriers to Effective Listening
Listening Styles
Listening More Effectively
Types of Listening
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3. The Importance of Listening
Listening is one of Stephen Covey’s “Seven Habits of Highly Effective People”
“The better you listen, the luckier you will get.” – Kevin Murphy
Of all business skills, Listening is the most important and prevalent
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4. Barriers to Effective Listening
Misunderstandings: the rule, not the exception
Physiological Barriers
Hearing deficiencies
Rapid thought and Generative Listening
Environmental Barriers
Physical distractions: cold, noise
Communication channel noise
Overloaded communicant
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5. Barriers to Effective Listening
Attitudinal Barriers
Preoccupation
Egocentrism
Fear of appearing ignorant
Abdication of responsibility of conversation
Assumption that listening is passive
Assumption that talking is more advantageous than listening
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6. Barriers to Effective Listening
Big people monopolize the listening.
Small people monopolize the talking.
― David J. Schwartz
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7. Barriers to Effective Listening
Sociocultural differences
Cultural differences
Accent
Degree of experience with differing speech styles
Conversational parameters, such as topic flow and use/prevalence of silence
Gender differences
Listening purpose and ambiguous conversational events
Status and competition for others’ attention
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8. Barriers to Effective Listening
Lack of training
Though most people listen, few listen well
Listening skills are becoming part of a company’s training programs
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9. Listening Styles People-oriented Action-oriented Content-oriented
Creating and maintaining positive relationships
Action-oriented
Accomplishing the task at hand
Content-oriented
Evaluating an issue from a variety of perspectives
Time-oriented
Efficient use of time as a resource
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10. Listening More Effectively
Minimize distractions
Talk less
Pay attention to verbal cues
Pay attention to nonverbal cues
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11. Listening More Effectively
Ask questions
Sincere questions
Counterfeit questions
Statements and advice
Traps
Hidden agendas
Leading questions
Paraphrase
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12. Listening More Effectively
Paraphrase
Verify and Clarify
Paraphrasing content
“So we will talk after dinner, which is at 6?”
Paraphrasing intent
“You are doing this to see who’s interested?”
Paraphrasing feeling
“You seem disappointed.”
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13. Types of Listening Listening for information Withhold judgment
Be opportunistic
Look for an outline or thesis
Take notes
Repeat what you’ve heard
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14. Types of Listening Evaluative listening Get info before evaluating
Consider the speaker’s motives
Examine the data
Judge credentials
Examine emotional appeals
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15. Types of Listening Listening to help
Five categories of helping responses
Advising
Analyzing
Questioning
Supporting
Paraphrasing
Avoid being judgmental
Take time
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