Effective Listening: A Practical Guide

Do you have problems truly listening? Do you find your mind wandering in the middle of conversations? Then this series in Effective Listening is for you!This course, Listening Basics, is the first in a series of courses to help you understand how you listen and how you can improve your listening skills.This course covers the three essential aspects for understanding how you listen. The three lessons in this course are: -The Communication Process-The Listening Process-Listening as a Function of Communication.According to a U.S. Department of Labor study Skills and the New Economy, the average worker spends 55 percent of the day listening. Listening activities include using the telephone, engaging in conversation, and listening while in meetings and presentations. Unfortunately, most people fail to listen effectively and only remember 25 percent of what they hear. Could you listen more effectively at work?In dollar terms, it is extremely important for companies and employees to take listening seriously. One communications analyst has estimated that business personnel receive 63 percent of their salary for listening.Once you understand the listening process, you can learn and then practice listening skills. Training and practice can enhance your present listening skills. Otherwise, listening mistakes can cost your company clients and profits, and can decrease production.Imagine a trucking company dispatcher misunderstanding Albany, New York for Albany, Georgia. Such a simple listening error could cost a company thousands of dollars to redirect a truck and its goods.Better listening skills will prevent you from making expensive or embarrassing mistakes. This course will enable you to begin improving your listening ability.We need a definite purpose, a specific reason for listening, otherwise we don't pay attention and don't really hear or understand.--Robert MontgomeryOne of the key elements of communication is listening. If you have developed good listening skills, it will be easier for you to pay attention, hear and understand messages.You can learn to be a more effective listener by learning specific listening skills. These skills can reinforce, improve, or change your present listening behavior in a variety of situations.This course, the second in the Effective Listening path, focuses on getting the most information possible out of a message.So, how do you listen for comprehension? First, you should be able to identify and interpret verbal and nonverbal cues that add context to a verbal message. Second, you should also be able to comprehend the meaning of the speaker's verbal message. Your comprehension is based on understanding what you hear and what you need to ask questions about.This course covers the following lessons that will help you develop better listening skills: -Identifying Verbal and Nonverbal Cues-Interpreting Cues-Understanding What You Hear-Checking Your Understanding-Understanding in Special Listening SituationsBecause this course teaches listening skills, it is important to have your audio turned on for certain sections. In some instances, the text that is spoken will display in the caption text box. In these cases, the important feature is not what is said, but how it is said. In these sections, it would be most effective for you to turn off the captions to get the full effect of the audio. In other instances, audio is presented without accompanying text. To complete these sections, you must have your audio turned on.Listening to identify and comprehend messages helps you become a more effective communicator. When you can better understand what's said to you, you can become a more flexible listener.