Listening

                                                                  

                                                                   Listening is one of the most important parts of Oral communication. When you listen, you must get meaning from what's being said before you can respond.It is one of the mandatory social traits for a good communicator.Listening is a major learning tool and plays a vital role in human relation. listening not only means not speaking or just hearing, but involves reacting through,

• Eye Contact
• Posture
• Gesture
• Using of Paraphrase     

                                                                   Research says that a manager spends 45% of his work time in listening. The remaining 30%,16% and 9% in speaking, reading and writing respectively. Generally people have the desire to be heard, to be appreciated and to be accepted. The purpose of listening  may vary such as for gathering information, for problem solving or for maintaining human relationship.
                                                                   Content listening is choosen when your need is only to understand and retain the speaker's message even if you don't agree or disapprove. Critical listening is done when we stick to the logic of the argument or when we need a validity of the conclusion. Empathic listening is done to understand speaker's feeling and to help them solve the problem. Active listening is done to show concern over other's views and feelings, whether you agree or not.
Really good listeners are rare. Most people have one of these bad listening habits.

• Faking listening
• Over listening
• Limited attention span
• Criticizing delivery or appearance
• Avoiding subjects as uninteresting
• Avoiding difficult listening

                                                                   These bad habits are reflected in the attitude of the listeners. When the listener does not understand the speakers message, it is only the listener's blame because, most of the bad listening habits are the listener's fault and definetly not the speaker's fault or either the subject of the message.

When the speaker delivers a message the listener should be empathic into the speaker's situation and try to understand him. This could be developed only through practice . Trying not to interrupt the speaker and encouraging him through signs such as nodding of head, a smile or even paraphrasing makes a good listener.





                                                                                            - Gurusheela Palanichamy