Effective Listening

A detailed Summary of Effective Listening

"What did you say?" "Could you repeat that; I wasn't listening?" "Sorry for the interruption; could you run that by me again?" Most people have probably found themselves repeating these words all too frequently. Effective listening is an under-emphasized and under-utilized business skill. The bad news is most of us have deficient listening skills. The good news is that listening effectively is a skill, and therefore can be taught and learned. (Boyle, 1999)

"A wise man once explained "we never learn anything with our mouth open. We can only learn by reading, by listening, by observing and by doing." (Rega, 2000) Most adults have not had training in listening since elementary school. Along the way some bad habits get picked up. The first step is to review some common mistakes that prevent you from effectively using what you hear. Many studies have been conducted on listening, according to Michael Rega, in his article Listening Ability (2000), and it is a well-accepted fact that people absorb only about one-tenth to one fourth of what they hear. To many people, that may come as a shock. People tend to assume that when they speak with others, they remember and comprehend what you say. Just as the prospect may have difficulty compreh

It is not easy, but most of you do it. While someone is speaking, one could be preoccupied with having lunch, thinking about children at home, or any one of several things. A major part of your success in listening will come from accepting that you can only do one thing at a time successfully.

This is one of the toughest traps of all since most people tend to react emotionally rather than logically.

You fall into the trap of trying to do more than one thing at a time because physically people have the ability to listen at a rate of 500 to 1,000 words per minute. However, the comfortable, average rate of speech is only 150 words per minute. This difference between your ability to comprehend and the rate of speech creates a problem for the listener. Usually, if you grasp the overall meaning you will remember most of the important details, but a fact isolated from its context can easily be forgotten or distorted.

A -- Acknowledge and paraphrase. This step is frequently left out. Without it, you risk short-circuiting the communication process. After you listen you must put into your own words a paraphrase of what you heard the speaker say. Until you have communicated what you heard do not assume you really understand what the speaker wishes to communicate. Tell the speaker, paraphrased in your own words, what you heard them say.

It is important that you and you alone take full responsibility for the communication process. In

Some common words found in the essay are:
Listening Ability, Test Request, , Evaluate Evaluate, Michael Rega, Listen Listen, effective listening, communication process, listening skills, michael rega, people tend, words minute, own words, rate speech,

Approximate Word count = 971
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: English