Habits to Differentiate Good From Poor Listening
Entered by Carter McNamara, MBA, PhDThis information isfrom "How to Be a Better Listener" by Sherman K. Okum, Nation's Business, August 1975, and from "Building a Professional Image: Improving Listening Behavior" by Philip Morgan and Kent Baker, Supervisory Management, November 1995
Only about 25 percent of listeners grasp the central ideas in communications. To improve listening skills, consider the following:
|
|
|
| tends to "wool-gather" with slow speakers | thinks and mentally summarizes, weighs the evidence, listens between the lines to tones of voice and evidence |
| subject is dry so tunes out speaker | finds what's in it for me |
| distracted easily | fights distractions, sees past bad communication habits, knows how to concentrate |
| takes intensive notes, but the more notes taken, the less value; has only one way to take notes | has 2-3 ways to take notes and organize important information |
| is overstimulated, tends to seek and enter into arguments | doesn't judge until comprehension is complete |
| inexperienced in listening to difficult material; has usually sought light, recreational materials | uses "heavier" materials to regularly exercise the mind |
| lets deaf spots or blind words catch his or her attention | interpret color words, and doesn't get hung up on them |
| shows no energy output | holds eye contact and helps speaker along by showing an active body state |
| judges delivery -- tunes out | judges content, skips over delivery errors |
| listens for facts | listens for central ideas |
For the Category of Interpersonal Skills:
Related Library Topics
Recommended Books
General Information
The following books are recommended because of their highly practical nature and often because they include a wide range of information about this Library topic. To get more information about each book, just hover your cursor over the image of the book. A "bubble" of information will be displayed. You can click on the title of the book in that bubble to get more information, too.
