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1. Listening and responding to
others
Communication and Meaning

2. Listening vs talking
• 45 to 53% of our day we listen to others
• Listening = Number one quality of effective
managers for Human Resources Professionals
• Skill in listening resolves workplace conflicts
• Ineffective listening in the classroom
diminishes learning and performance on tests
• Personal relationships: Poor listening hinders
understanding of others and make us less
sensitive

3. The listening process
• Being mindful
• Physically receiving communication
• Selecting and organizing communication
• Interpreting communication
• Responding
• Remembering

4. Being mindful
• Mindfulness is focusing on
what is happening in the
moment
• Mindful listeners focus on the
people with whom they are
interacting.
• We demonstrate with verbal
and non-verbal signals that we
are paying attention and
interested in what others say
• Equally important in your
personal and professional lives
• It increases our understanding
of the other’s thoughts and
feelings

6. Physically receiving communication
• Do not take this for granted
• Avoid noisy environments and distractors, like
TV, Radio, competing visual cues
• Avoid being tired or stressed
• When communicating with people with any
communication disorder, make sure you use
all adequate means to interact with them, like
facing the person and verifying that you are
coming across clearly.

7. Selecting and organizing
communication
• We selectively attend to some aspects of
communication and disregard others
– Physiological influences
– Expectations
– Cognitive structures
– Social roles
– Membership in cultures and social communities
• Control thoughts and concerns that can
interfere with your listening

8. Interpreting communication
• Depends on your ability to understand others
on their terms
• Recognize others’ viewpoints
• To respect another person’s perspective is a
special gift

9. Responding
• Express interest
• ask questions
• voice your own ideas
• communicate attentiveness
• Give signs that you are interested and
engaged through non-verbal and verbal cues

10. Remembering
• We forget a lot of what we hear
• We remember about 35% of our
interpretations of a message
• Make sure you hang on to the most important
third
• Focus your attention in what is more relevant
to you

11. Obstacles
• SITUATIONAL
– Message overload (sheer amount of comm)
– Message complexity (too detailed, intricate reasoning, complicated)
– Environmental distractions (
• INTERNAL
– Preoccupation (lack of focus)
– Prejudgment (to judge before listening)
– Lack of effort (in listening mindfully)
– Not recognizing diverse listening styles
– Pseudolistening (pretending to listen)
– Monopolizing (focusing comm on ourselves: conversational rerouting and
interrupting)
– Selective listening (in parts that we dislike or find boring)
– Defensive listening (perceiving criticism or hostility when not intended)
– Ambushing (gathering ammunition to use in attack)
– Literal listening (ignoring the relationship level of meaning)