“Lack of listening skills affects marriages, parents and children, teachers and students, employers and employees, foreign affairs, and the list goes on” ("The Importance of Listening"). This paper will discuss how poor listening skills adversely affect interpersonal relationships. Variable listening skills will be examined through different characteristics, real-life scenarios and the improvements that could be made with tips.
Let’s explore why listening is so critical. “Adam listened to Eve. In that first spoken word message and all since, no communication occurred until there was a listener. It follows, then, that there has become a much-heightened need to listen. We must understand the fundamental relationship involved, we cannot escape it” (Mills 1). The characteristics of good listening skills can be best understood by using the acronym MASTER. The “m” refers to mental. Mental is the ability to slow down and strategically control our ability to listen. “A” refers to active. Being active utilizes constructive listening responses and constant practice can keep this sharp. The “s” refers to sustaining attention. Experienced concentration is crucial for sustaining attention. “T” refers to target. There are four types of potential listening targets; responsive listening, implicative listening, critical listening and nondirective listening. Responsive listening is the agreement between listener and speaker. Implicative listening involves carefully understanding what is implied by hearing what is said. Critical listening is the process of coming to the point of a subject by clearing away all the non-important information. Nondirective listening is fully hearing the speaker out. The “e” refers to eliminating t...
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...e information to a clarifying understanding will quell any doubts that may be present. In order to listen at work, I need to work to listen.
The characteristics, scenarios and useful tips we’ve explored demonstrates why listening is so vital in our everyday lives. Without effective listening, we are depriving ourselves from being involved in meaningful conversations. Communication is key for any healthy relationship and listening is part of that process.
Works Cited
"The Importance of Listening." 123HelpMe.com. 2 Dec 2013
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Nicols, Ralph, and Leonard Stevens. ARE YOU LISTENING?. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1957. Print.
Mills, Ernest. LISTENING: KEY TO COMMUNICATION. New York: Petrocelli, 1974. Print.
Marshall, Lisa. " How to Improve Listening Skills." QuickandDirtyTips.com. N.p., 24 Aug 2012. Web. 2 Dec 2013.
James Petersen’s book, Why don’t we listen better? Communicating and connecting in relationships, outlines the requirement for a continual use of good communication, through a series of actions and steps, by the practice of comprehending, dynamic listening, and actively perceiving. Listening then becomes a creative force that creates a context in which the development of a communicative relationship can foster.
James C. Petersen (2007), author of Why Don’t We Listen Better, offers practical advice on how to communicate effectively and connect with others. In order to help his readers, communicate effectively, Petersen (2007) divides his book into five divisions. Each division builds on the content in the preceding portions. Every segment provides a great amount of information, which will aid people in how they choose to communicate.
Beebe, S.A., Beebe, S. J., Ivy, D. K. (2010). Communication Principles for a Lifetime (4th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson Learning Solutions.
In conclusion, I think we need to master different listening styles to be used in different situation in order to contribute to effective communication strategies and planning.
The Importance of Listening for Professional and Personal Relationships Listening is essential for communication, yet is a skill in which most are lacking. Though we are listening constantly, knowing what to listen to requires an enormous amount of discipline and practice, which is vital for communicating effectively. Learning to listen will benefit all relationships from professional to personal and not being able to listen effectively can cause these relationships to deteriorate. “Indeed, although aware of the instrumentality of listening, even trained communicators often fail to listen correctly or at opportune times” (Cline, 2013). In order for all of areas of communication in an individual to flourish, listening must be emphasized.
The skill of listening according to Dr. Robert Bolton (1979) extends beyond simply hearing sound as a physiological sensory process but instead requires and involves interpreting and understanding the sensory experience or what is being heard (p 32). It also is an active experience wherein the listener is fully engaged and has absorbed the information of the speaker while showing interest and providing feedback all while demonstrating that they have heard and understand the message. It is a fair assertion that most people in varying relationships and environments listen in what is considered a passive capacity or only digesting and processing bits and pieces of the speaker’s message. This type of listening lends itself to frequent miscommunication, mixed messages and overall misunderstandings. Effective listening on the other hand provides concise communication, decreases interpersonal conflict and mistakes and also...
Provide a short response of how the use of each of the elements of active listening assists you to be a more effective support worker. (50 words each) Using active listening assists in being a good support worker as active listening helps our clients feel comfortable each element of active listening plays it own role elements of active listening include being interested, being responsive, keeping on track, testing your understanding, evaluating and being neutral.
As a professional in today’s society, it is greatly important to be able to communicate effectively with other professionals, with clients, and with those that are encountered in daily living. In order to communicate in a proper manner, not only is talking and non-verbal communication, but a large aspect is the ability to listen. Listening is a vital task in order to build a relationship and find meaning in someone else’s words. In order to find this meaning one must follow the characteristics of active listening, face the challenges to listening, and reflect upon one’s own listening skills.
Listening and understanding what others communicate to us is the communication process needed for interpersonal effectiveness. If you listen well, you will understand the meaning of the message. If you are unfocused, you will not know most of what the other person is saying. However, there is a range of listening skills that can be learned to develop the communication effectiveness. Firstly, encouraging listening points to the listener that is willing to do more than listen. Usually it provides feedback that supports speakers to say more. Fur...
Listening Skills&id=179402>. Goldmann, John. " 5 Ways to Improve Your Hearing. " Personal Dream.
Listening is a big part of communicating well with others. Take time to carefully listen to what others are saying, and also take time to observe their nonverbal communications. A good listener does not interrupt the person while their talking. they make eye contact with the person speaking. they provide the speaker with their full attention, avoid unnecessary distractions, and try to understand the other persons point of view by being empathetic.
Overall, listening is something that is crucial to life and is something that I need to improve on.
The purposes of listening include accomplishing tasks and developing relationships. Although this skill is critical, listening is not regularly taught in schools. Therefore, I found that analyzing my listening skills taught me copious amounts about myself that I did not know before. I kept track of my self-talk and inner voice, did a seven-day mental review, took the HURIER listening profile, and assessed how I listened in different social situations and listening contexts and what communication circumstances I experienced the most. I also learned that my strengths as a listener are understanding and interpreting. My weaknesses are hearing and remembering. I also observed how well I adjust my hearing to different listening situations. Additionally, I created some listening goals that I would like to accomplish this term.
In all aspects in life effective listening plays an important role in our lives, both professionally and personally. As many of know from experience listening is never easy in fact it can be difficult to understand what is being said by the speaker. Because of laps in attention we tend to misunderstand some of the messages that are being relayed to us or disregard them altogether. Effective listening is important for receiving the correct feedback from those you’re speaking with and requires a focus that should be central to what is being said or what topic is being discussed.
The first phase in the listening process is attending. Attending is willfully striving to perceive selected sounds. The most important factor of attending is preparing to be physically and mentally ready to pay attention. We should focus mainly on attending to the message rather than encountering inner thoughts and feelings. In my day-to-day life, I try to get ready to attend even though it could be difficult at times. For instance, the other day when I was home, I had an argument with my mother and I started back talking her. But I realized that I should look directly at her and situate myself correctly. After she finished speaking, I understood what she had meant and that was when I saw an improvement in myself because it made it look like I was interested in what she was saying. To advance your attending skills, another important factor is making the shift from speaker to listener...