Techniques to improve listening
There are many techniques to improve listening. Although not a complete list, we will go over quite a few different techniques to improve a person’s listening skills. Everyone learns differently, so not all the techniques will work for everyone. According to Listening skills (n.d.) there are 10 principles of listening: “stop talking, prepare yourself to listen, put the speaker at ease, remove distractions, empathise, be patient, avoid personal prejudice, listen to the tone, listen for ideas-not just words, and wait and watch for non-verbal communication”.
Stop talking
We need to stop talking and just listen. In a quote by Mark Twain, “if we were supposed to talk more than we listen, we would have two tongues …show more content…
“The human mind is easily distracted by other thoughts – what’s for lunch, what time do I need to leave to catch my train, is it going to rain – try to put other thoughts out of mind and concentrate on the messages that are being communicated” (Listening skills, n.d.). This can easily be practiced by turning to any television station that is talk or news based (example CNN). Set a stopwatch and try to listen without thinking of other things for ten minutes. When you can go the whole time without having a distracting thought, you are better aware of the speaker and message they are trying to convey to …show more content…
We accomplish this task every day of our lives. We understand when someone is excited, disappointed, sad, or even discouraged just by the tones we hear in their voices. We hear this in others and have learned this from the beginning of our lives.
Listen for ideas – not just words
Listen for the bigger picture and not just the tiny fact you feel you are looking for. Even though the small thing may be important, the bigger picture would hold all the information that is needed. Listening to children tell stories can help in training us to look at the big picture. When they really get into what they are trying to tell you, they get animated and the story can lead anywhere. You have to listen for the bigger picture in order to really understand what they are speaking about.
Wait and watch for non-verbal
There are many techniques to improve listening. Although not a complete list, we will go over quite a few different techniques to improve a person’s listening skills. Everyone learns differently, so not all the techniques will work for everyone. According to Listening skills (n.d.) there are 10 principles of listening: “stop talking, prepare yourself to listen, put the speaker at ease, remove distractions, empathise, be patient, avoid personal prejudice, listen to the tone, listen for ideas-not just words, and wait and watch for non-verbal communication”.
Stop talking
We need to stop talking and just listen. In a quote by Mark Twain, “if we were supposed to talk more than we listen, we would have two tongues …show more content…
“The human mind is easily distracted by other thoughts – what’s for lunch, what time do I need to leave to catch my train, is it going to rain – try to put other thoughts out of mind and concentrate on the messages that are being communicated” (Listening skills, n.d.). This can easily be practiced by turning to any television station that is talk or news based (example CNN). Set a stopwatch and try to listen without thinking of other things for ten minutes. When you can go the whole time without having a distracting thought, you are better aware of the speaker and message they are trying to convey to …show more content…
We accomplish this task every day of our lives. We understand when someone is excited, disappointed, sad, or even discouraged just by the tones we hear in their voices. We hear this in others and have learned this from the beginning of our lives.
Listen for ideas – not just words
Listen for the bigger picture and not just the tiny fact you feel you are looking for. Even though the small thing may be important, the bigger picture would hold all the information that is needed. Listening to children tell stories can help in training us to look at the big picture. When they really get into what they are trying to tell you, they get animated and the story can lead anywhere. You have to listen for the bigger picture in order to really understand what they are speaking about.
Wait and watch for non-verbal