Tuesday 26 February 2013

04:05 -

Explain the various strategies for effective listening [Preferably with examples suitable to various context.


                There are many way to improve listening skills.  Following are some of the strategies for improve listening skills.

1. Maintain eye contact with the speaker:

Eye contact keeps us focused on the job at hand and keeps you involved in the lecture/speech. It is important to position our self in such a way that helps us to maintain eye contact while allowing us to watch for body language and other non-verbal forms of communication.


2. Provide clues that you are actively involved in listening:

Clues that you are actively listening can go a long way. It is important to make the speaker feel that you care about what he/she is saying. Sit up straight and look directly at the speaker. Now and then, nod to show that you understand. At appropriate points you may also smile. Frown, laugh, or be silent. These are all ways to let the speaker know that you are really listening. Remember, you listen with your face as well as your ears!

3. Focus on content, not delivery:

Have you ever counted the number of times a teacher clears hi/her throat in a fifteen minutes period? If so, you weren’t focusing on content. Focus on what the speaker says and not on how his looks are or how his delivery style is.

4. Avoid emotional involvement:

When we are too emotionally involved in listening, we tend to hear what we want to hear—not what is actually being said. We should try to remain objective and open-minded.

5. Avoid distractions:

We should don’t let our mind wander or be distracted by anything. It is necessary that we must concentrate. Concentration requires willingness and practice. Practicing active listening helps to develop concentration but there are other elements that contribute to our ability to concentrate on what someone is saying. When we are involved in an exchange of information, we cant involve our self in multi-tasks. We have to concentrate on the speaker’s word completely without being distracted by anything.

6. Refrain from formulating an immediate response:

It is important to refrain from formulating an immediate response. Let our self finish listening before we begin to speak. We can’t really listen if we are busy thinking about what we want to say next, whenever it is our turn to talk.

7. Ask question:

 If we are not sure we understand what the speaker has said, we should ask. It is a good idea to repeat in our own words what the speaker said, so that we can be sure our understanding is correct.

8. Use the gap between the rate of speech and our rate of thought:

We can think faster than the speaker can talk. That’s one reason why our mind may tend to wander. All the above suggestions will help us keep our mind occupied and focused on what is being said. We can actually begin to anticipate what the speaker is going to say as a way to keep our mind from straying. Our mind does have the capacity to listen, think, write and ponder at the same time, but it needs to be trained.

7.    Be wiling to accept revisions:

It will keep the communication process running smoothly. Often people are so busy trying to defend their positions that they fail to really stop and think whether they could be improved upon or viewed in a different way. This is what is often referred to as “spending 90 seconds expressing an opinion and 9000 seconds blindly defending it.”

8.    Choose the right environment:

It is important because it will help us focus on what we are listening and avoid distractions. Although we cannot always create or call an environment ‘perfect’ for all types of communication, in general, it is best to avoid areas where there are high levels of activity, loud noises, and uncomfortable temperature, poor air flow, etc.

9.    Stay active by asking questions for our self:

Active listening keeps we on our toes. Here are some questions we can ask our self as we listen: What key point is the speaker making?
How does this fit with what I already know?
How is this lecture/speech organized?

10. Treat listening as a challenging mental task:

Listening to an academic lecture is not a passive act-at least it shouldn’t be. We need to concentrate on what is said so that we can process the information thoroughly.

Implementing all or some of these strategies needs willingness and patience. The effort is worthwhile however, as the long-term benefit of improved communication skills will greatly increase one’s chances of success in the business world.