Active Listening

As I mentioned in my previous blog, active listening is a very important skill pertaining to communication. When a person is active listening they are not just taking the information for face value, the person should be able to show the speaker that they fully understand what is being said. This is an imperative skill to have when you want to communicate your ideas.

To some people this not an easy task. Just like developing any other skill, this skill can be improved with practice. In the book Organizational Communication written by Dr. Philip Lewis, he highlights some tips we can use when listening. “Listen to a speaker on the radio or television, sort out the main theme, and evaluate his arguments; distinguish any digressions, irrelevancies, supporting detail, etc. and notice particular words or statements which cause antagonism or sympathy.” (Lewis, 1975). This advice is paramount to any good active listener. Being able to evaluate the speakers message and their true meaning behind the speech gives you a foundation to base your conversation on. By pulling out these details, such as their tone, can shape how their message will ultimately be interpreted and it will also shape the response you will give back. Since there is a mutual understanding on the message being present the conversation will carry more meaning to the speakers and even the audience. Whether you are having a debate in front of millions of people or maybe you are just listening to a public speaker at your college knowing the message and effectively responding to it can be a positive by product of active listening.

I practice effective listening everywhere I go. For example in my geography course the professor covers three chapters in a single class. So its my job to filter out all unnecessary information and focus on key topic points. I also accomplish this by taking notes. The goal is not to write every single word the professors says, only the ideas carry weight. What I mean by this is to write down only important information.

Citation

Lewis, P. V. (1975). Organizational Communication. Columbus, OH: Grid.