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Importance of listening in communication
Importance of listening in communication
Importance of effective listening skills
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Recommended: Importance of listening in communication
The Perception of Listening
Listen up! Are you really listening? What is Listening and why is it important? This paper will address the viewpoint of listening skills and its outcome. Listening is an essential tool, which is one of the constructive aspects in the communication process, for communicating with other people. To listen well is a talent that is learned. However, for people to listen effectively, they would need to practice to obtain the skill. ”As with any new skill, learning to listen takes effort, attention, and practice” (Stewart, 2006, p. 202).Listening skills allow people to make sense of and understand what another person is saying. In other words, listening skills allow you to identify with the meaning of what people are talking about.
Listening skills is a beneficially sensible approach for doing what is appropriate when it comes to communicating with other people. In today’s society, listening has become a modern way of life since people are always listening to something, such as the television, the radio, or merely a conversation with family and friends. Stewart (2006) comments that “about 45 percent of our day are spent on listening” (p. 199).However, the attention span for some people needs improvement, especially if they are easily distracted.
Consistency should be a concept of listening and the only way to make this happen is by practice. In other words, people should be able to communicate their comprehension of what the other person is talking about. For example, if a friend, teacher, or speaker speaks about the need to improve various types of environmental issues in our society, the listener or receiver should be able to execute his/her listening skills by clarifying what was addressed by question...
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...er because each person can benefit by enhancing their listening habits. Depending on the situation, the three learning styles, active listening, critical listening, and empathic listening should suffice for effective communication.
On a final note, while listening skills consist of paying attention to words and interpreting those spoken words correctly, people can develop a creative character as they express such a rewarding attribute. Furthermore, when people obtain listening skills, it is an impressive tool for learning new concepts about each other. Above all, the perception of listening is his or her personal choice if they decide to be an effective interpersonal communicator.
References
Hybels, S. & and Weaver, R.L., (2007). Communicating effectively (8th Ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill.
Stewart, J. (2006). Bridges not walls, (9th ed). New York: McGraw-Hill
Listening and responding to others has a major role to play in good communication and as such, satisfy their own purposes in life. People communicate with each other for getting information across, for learning and evaluating purposes, for listening and observation purposes or for mere enjoyment or recreation. However, it is a well known fact, that no two people listen, communicate or respond in the same way, and we know that it is true because research in the field has proved that it is so. According to
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.
For example, James Van Fleet sheds light on the most effective strategies you can take and use in every one of your relationships with every communication and moment of interaction with others. For example, one of the huge components of good communication is active listening. Though "listening" by itself may seem mundane, Van Fleet presents real-life examples of how this works. One of the benefits of Conversation Power is the fact that you can listen to this audiobook repeatedly for different occasions.
Throughout my life I have had struggles communicating to other individuals, because instead of having a normal conversation with another person, it seems I am only part of that to be a listener. When I started thinking about this topic I realized that the fault didn’t lay on the other person but on me for not being able to express my experiences in the simple way other do. It is a fact that not everyone knows how to communicate, and to this properly, there are many factors that go in that need to be learned. In order for communication skills to improve we must be receptive of our own capacity to effectively understand what a proper conversation with another person is like while still having in consideration that
The purpose of this self-assessment is designed to help me establish my strengths and weaknesses on various dimensions of active listening (McShane & Von Glinow, 2016, p. 250)
A vital aspect of interpersonal communication is the style in which one listens. While every individual possesses their own preferred method of listening in communication, it can be enlightening to analyze our own strengths and weaknesses so as to maximize effectual communication. Within the confines of four main listening style categories, I have chosen those which best describe my own personal listening style.
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 Seven Habits of Highly Effective People: The Seven Habits and Their Contribution to Listening
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...
As The Gift of Listening describes, “Opening one’s heart and listening at a deep level does not come easily and is rarely achieved simply by life experience” (Browning & Waite, 2010, p. 151) There are different aspects to being a good listener that are often difficult to achieve and lead to poor listening. One significant challenge to listening is the attention needed in order to actively listen to another person. Proper listening does not occur due to a passive process but instead it takes deliberate action and thought towards what a person in saying. Like previously stated, actively listening is achieved by sitting in a comfortable and open way and maintaining good eye contact. When a person does not exhibit these techniques good listening often does not occur. The challenge of utilizing different techniques in order to listen to others in a better way often gets blocked by barriers that make active listening unable to occur. In our society today one major barrier to listening is technology. In a casual setting, proper listening often doesn’t occur due to someone being tied to their cell phone. The millennial generation is often guilty of passively listening to others due to the mobile technology that is being used today. Many conversations occur without eye contact or full focus on what the other has to say and instead is spent staring at a
In terms of my listening strengths, I do a good job at making and maintaining eye contact with people. Specifically, this helps me stay focused and listen to what the person speaking is saying. I do not become distracted with external factors and pay attention to the person and the conversation. I think that eye contact is important because it gives a non-verbal message that you are listening and are hearing what is being said. This listening skill occurs daily; whether it be in a meeting where I am introduced or talking to a client, in class listening to my professor, or at home with my family.
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.
One of the main aspects in communicating is listening. An effective listener is one who, not only comprehends how the speaker feels but, also understands what they are stating. Building a strong connection between the speaker and the listener is one of the first steps to become a good listener. By building this connection speakers should first be in an environment with open minded listeners, it makes them feel more comfortable to state their opinions, feelings and ideas. Listeners should avoid being judgmental. The individual does not have to agree with the ideas, values or opinions of the speaker; however, to fully understand them, one must put aside their criticism. Speakers will believe that they can trust the listeners with their information when they know that they will not be judged. Miscommunication happens frequently, listene...
To be effective listeners, the listening process should be incorporated into our lives. We should be attentive to what people say, clarify what the speaker is trying to come across, and respond in a way the speaker can understand what we are saying. I think I was aware that I needed some improvement in certain areas of this process but I feel as everything is slowly changing. In the future, I’m going try not to interrupt people, get distracted, tune out, and try to get a bigger picture of what the person is telling me. If good listening habits are applied in our day-to-day life, we can easily communicate with anyone and everyone.
A skill, according the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, is a learned power of doing something competently: a developed aptitude or ability. The skill of listening is a skill that I believe everyone should have but most people lack. Many people do not realize that listening is not merely the act of hearing a sound but of paying close attention to what someone is saying and trying to understand the message that they are trying to relate to you. Most times people say they are listening when in all actuality they are merely hearing you but not even attempting to understand what is being spoken of. The advantages of being a good listener are vast. This skill can positively affect many parts of our everyday life and interaction with people. Nevertheless, it is a skilled that is overlooked in today’s unmindful society. The reason I believe that listening is of such importance is because nowadays people have developed the mentality of “every man for himself.” People are not concerned about their fellows anymore. We are only concerned about our own issues and problems. Listening is a skill that is acquired throughout a lifetime. It is an important virtue when it comes to communication.People should be taught from childhood the importance of learning how to listen. If we realized how much we would benefit from being good listeners, I believe that things would change. Lack of listening skills affects marriages, parents and children, teachers and students, employers and employees, foreign affairs, and the list goes on.