BUSINESS COMMUNICATION:

LISTENING
INTRODUCTION: Listening is a complex process that involves more than over ears. To listen well we rely on our ears minds and heart. Although we often use the word listening and hearing as they were synonyms. Actually they are different.

DEFINITION:
One of the best ways to persuade others are with yours ears-by listening to them. Dean Rusk. We can define listening as an active complex process that consist of being mindful physically receiving message selecting and organizing message interpreting message responding and remembering.

PRINCIPLES OF LISTENING:
Stop talking Prepare yourself to listening

BUSINESS COMMUNICATION: Put the speaker at ease Remove distraction Empathies Be patient Avoid personal prejudice Listen to the tone Listen to the ideas Wait and watch for non verbal communication

KEYS TO EFFECTIVE LISTENING:

Limit Your Own Talking: You cant talk and listen at the same time. Think Like the Speaker: His/her problems and needs are important . . . and youll understand and retain them better if you keep his/her point of view in mind.

Ask Questions: If you dont understand something or feel you may have missed a point clear it up now before it may embarrass you later.

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Dont Interrupt: A pause even a long pause doesnt always mean s/he finished saying everything s/he wanted to.

Concentrate: Focus your mind on what s/he is saying. Practice shutting out distractions. Take Notes: This will help you remember important points. And be selective. Trying to jot down everything s/he says can result in being left far behind or in retaining irrelevant details.

Listen For Ideas Not Just Words: You want to get the whole picture not just isolated bits and pieces. Interjections: An occasional Yes I see, etc. shows the speaker youre still with him/her and dont overdo or use as a meaningless comment.

Turn Off Your Own Words: This isnt always easy your personal fears, worries, problems not connected with this conversation, form a kind of static that can block out the speakers message.

Prepare in Advance: Remarks and questions prepared in advance when possible free your mind for listening.

React to Ideas Not the Person: Dont allow irritation at things s/he may say or his/her manner to distract you.

Dont Jump to Conclusions: Avoid making unwarranted assumptions about what the speaker is going to say or mentally trying to complete his/her sentences for him/her.

Listen For the Overtones: You can learn a great deal from the speaker from the way s/he says things.

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Practice Listening:
Make your conversations with your team members a learning tool for improving your listening skill for sharpening your inner ear. There are five types of listening that are: 1. Discriminative Listening 2. Comprehensive Listening 3. Therapeutic Listening 4. Critical Listening and 5. Appreciative Listening Discriminative listening: Is where the objective is to distinguish sound and visual stimuli. This objective doesn't take into account the meaning; instead the focus is largely on sounds. In a basic level class this can be as simple as distinguishing the gender of the speaker or the number of the speakers etc. The focus is not on comprehending but on accustoming the ears to the sounds. At beginning the child responds to sound stimulus and soon can recognize its parents' voices amidst all other voices. Depending on the level of listener, the listening can be discriminating sounds to identifying individual words.

Comprehensive listening: Then there is Comprehensive listening where the focus is on 'understanding the message'. The writers consider this as the basis for the next three types of listening. However, the problem can come in the form of 'understanding'. Depending on many factors (both individual and social) we can end up understanding the same message in different, different ways. Lot of work in teaching listening in the classroom has to happen here in facilitating listener to develop their comprehension skills.

BUSINESS COMMUNICATION: Therapeutic listening: The third one - Therapeutic listening - is one kind of listening where the listener's role is to be a sympathetic listener without much verbal response. In this kind of listening the listener allows somebody to talk through a problem. This kind of listening is very important in building good interpersonal relations. Critical listening: Critical listening is the fourth kind of listening where listeners have to evaluate the message. Listeners have to critically respond to the message and give their opinion.

Appreciative listening: The final one is Appreciative listening where the focus is on enjoying what one listens. Here we raised the point that when they listen to English music, even if they don't understand, they still enjoy thereby challenging the notion of comprehensive listening as the basis for other three types of listening. Then we reflected on the practice of listening to songs in the language lab. Generally we listen to the songs once and try to make out the lyrics before listening a second time with the lyrics. Then they recalled that they appreciated the song better during the second time and were able to see the relation between how one would enjoy something that s/he is able to make sense of.

Appreciative listening is a type of listening behavior where the listener seeks certain information which will appreciate, for example that which helps meet his/her needs and goals. One uses appreciative listening when listening to good music, poetry or maybe even the stirring words of a great leader. It involves listening to music that one enjoys, people the listener likes to listen to because of their style and the choices the listener make in the films and television he/she watches, radio programmers and plays and musicals in the theatre. Unlike informative listening or relationship

BUSINESS COMMUNICATION: listening, appreciative listening does not rely on the message from the speaker it is how one responds as a listener. Our appreciation of what we hear will vary depending on our individual tastes, but will also be affected by three different factors. Appreciative listening deals with light listening when enjoyment and pleasure is paramount. A wide variety of recorded and live appreciative listening experiences is possible.

Appreciative listening does not rely on the message from the speaker it is how one responds as a listener. Our appreciation of what we hear will vary depending on our individual tastes, but will also be affected by three different factors:

Presentation: There are many different factors that encompass presentation including the medium, the setting and the style and personality of a presenter. Of course this works both ways and equally you will have been entranced by others because of the force of their personality and their delivery style. The environment can also impact your appreciation of the presentation. Seating, temperature, clarity and volume of sound will all impact on whether its a good or poor experience. Perception: Perception is an important factor in appreciative listening. As one is exposed to different experiences his/her perceptions can change. For example: individual's taste in music. We need to listen to various types of music to have a preference over other types and appreciate them. An individual's expectations also affect our perception. An individual's perception and expectations are driven by his/her attitudes which determine how he/she reacts to and interact to the world in which he/she lives. Previous experience: Some of our perceptions are clearly influenced by our previous experience and impact on whether or not we enjoy listening to something, or whether we are even willing to listen. Our memories evoke pleasant or unpleasant reminders. It will affect our appreciation. However, its important to remain open to new experiences. We can develop our appreciative listening skills.

BUSINESS COMMUNICATION: ACTIVITIES LISTENING MUSIC WATCHING TV SHOW WATCHING MOVIE LISTENING POETRY

REFERENCES:
Kline, John A. (April 1996). Types of Listening. Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama: Air University Press. Retrieved 18 September 2011. Derrington, Chris; Groom, Barry (2004). A Team Approach to Behaviour Management. Paul Chapman Publishing. p. 43. Listening Activities fog.ccsf.cc.ca appreciative listening - Google Search Early Childhood Experiences in Language Arts: Early Literacy - Jeanne M. Machado, C. Ed. Machado - Google Books