The 5 Purposes of listening:
#1. Mattering. Listen to let others know they matter.
People who feel they matter courageously work to make a difference. Those who feel they don’t matter go through the motions.
- What’s important?
- What are their hopes or fears?
- What do they really want?
You infuse value into others when you attend to their words.
#2. Humility. Listen to humble yourself.
Arrogance talks. Humility listens.
No one can humble you. You must humble yourself. One way to practice humility is to let another speak their mind.
Listening elevates others.
#3. Clarity. Listen to help others find clarity.
Provide opportunity for people to hear their own voice. Those who hear their own voice learn what they really think.
“Seek first to understand, then to be understood.” Stephen R. Covey
#4. Effectiveness. Listen to act effectively.
It’s a waste of energy to solve the wrong problem.
Listen in order to do the right stuff.
#5. Curiosity. Listen to ask a question.
Questions:
What is the purpose of listening?
On a scale of 1 to 10, how would you rate your listening? What might help you become a better listener?
Thanks for sharing.
What is Purpose of listening?
Learning to Listen: Antony Gormley’s statue “Untitled [Listening],” Maygrove Peace Park
Listening is a skill of critical significance in all aspects of our lives–from maintaining our personal relationships, to getting our jobs done, to taking notes in class, to figuring out which bus to take to the airport. Regardless of how we’re engaged with listening, it’s important to understand that listening involves more than just hearing the words that are directed at us. Listening is an active process by which we make sense of, assess, and respond to what we hear.
The listening process involves five stages: receiving, understanding, evaluating, remembering, and responding. These stages will be discussed in more detail in later sections. Basically, an effective listener must hear and identify the speech sounds directed toward them, understand the message of those sounds, critically evaluate or assess that message, remember what’s been said, and respond [either verbally or nonverbally] to information they’ve received.
Effectively engaging with all five stages of the listening process lets us best gather the information we need from the world around us.
Active Listening
Active listening is a particular communication technique that requires the listener to provide feedback on what he or she hears to the speaker, by way of restating or paraphrasing what they have heard in their own words. The goal of this repetition is to confirm what the listener has heard and to confirm the understanding of both parties. The ability to actively listen demonstrates sincerity, and that nothing is being assumed or taken for granted. Active listening is most often used to improve personal relationships, reduce misunderstanding and conflicts, strengthen cooperation, and foster understanding.
When engaging with a particular speaker, a listener can use several degrees of active listening, each resulting in a different quality of communication with the speaker. This active listening chart shows three main degrees of listening: repeating, paraphrasing, and reflecting.
Degrees of Active Listening: There are several degrees of active listening.
Active listening can also involve paying attention to the speaker’s behavior and body language. Having the ability to interpret a person’s body language lets the listener develop a more accurate understanding of the speaker’s message.
We Spend a lot of Time Listening
Adults spend an average of 70% of their time engaged in some sort of communication.
Of this, research shows that an average of 45% is spent listening compared to 30% speaking, 16% reading and 9% writing. [Adler, R. et al. 2001]. That is, by any standards, a lot of time listening. It is worthwhile, therefore, taking a bit of extra time to ensure that you listen effectively.
Based on the research of: Adler, R., Rosenfeld, L. and Proctor, R. [2001]
Interplay: the process of interpersonal communicating [8th edn], Fort Worth, TX: Harcourt.
The Purpose of Listening
There is no doubt that effective listening is an extremely important life skill. Why is listening so important?
Listening serves a number of possible purposes, and the purpose of listening will depend on the situation and the nature of the communication.
To specifically focus on the messages being communicated, avoiding distractions and preconceptions.
To gain a full and accurate understanding into the speakers point of view and ideas.
To critically assess what is being said. [See our page on Critical Thinking for more].
To observe the non-verbal signals accompanying what is being said to enhance understanding.
To show interest, concern and concentration.
To encourage the speaker to communicate fully, openly and honestly.
To develop an selflessness approach, putting the speaker first.
To arrive at a shared and agreed understanding and acceptance of both sides views.
Often our main concern while listening is to formulate ways to respond. This is not a function of listening. We should try to focus fully on what is being said and how it's being said in order to more fully understand the speaker.
Effective listening requires concentration and the use of your other senses - not just hearing the words spoken.
Listening is not the same as hearing and in order to listen effectively you need to use more than just your ears.
See our page: The Ten Principles of Listening.
Further Reading from Skills You Need
Our Communication Skills eBooks
Learn more about the key communication skills you need to be a more effective communicator.
Our eBooks are ideal for anyone who wants to learn about or develop their interpersonal skills and are full of easy-to-follow, practical information.
Barriers to Effective Listening
To improve the process of effective listening, it can be helpful to turn the problem on its head and look at barriers to effective listening, or ineffective listening.
For example, one common problem is that instead of listening closely to what someone is saying, we often get distracted after a sentence or two and instead start to think about what we are going to say in reply or think about unrelated things. This means that we do not fully listen to the rest of the speaker’s message.
This problem is attributed, in part, to the difference between average speech rate and average processing rate. Average speech rates are between 125 and 175 words a minute whereas we can process on average between 400 and 800 words a minute. It is a common habit for the listener to use the spare time while listening to daydream or think about other things, rather than focusing on what the speaker is saying.
Of course the clarity of what the speaker is saying can also affect how well we listen. Generally we find it easier to focus if the speaker is fluent in their speech, has a familiar accent, and speaks at an appropriate loudness for the situation. It is more difficult, for example, to focus on somebody who is speaking very fast and very quietly, especially if they are conveying complex information.
We may also get distracted by the speaker’s personal appearance or by what someone else is saying, which sounds more interesting.
These issues not only affect you, but you are likely to show your lack of attention in your body language.
Generally, we find it much harder to control our body language, and you are likely to show your distraction and/or lack of interest by lack of eye contact, or posture. The speaker will detect the problem, and probably stop talking at best. At worse, they may be very offended or upset.
Our page on Barriers to Effective Listening explains more about common listening problems, and our page Listening Misconceptions details some of the common myths and misconceptions about listening.
Finally, it is important not to jump to conclusions about what you see and hear. You should always seek clarification to ensure that your understanding is correct.
See our pages: Clarification and Reflection for more information.