Listening
7 Pages Posted: 21 Oct 2008
There are 2 versions of this paper
Abstract
This note describes the range of skills that can be used to listen skillfully. The skill set is conceptualized as a continuum to help students learn when and where to utilize the different skills. The note is designed for use in an interpersonal-behavior elective session on listening or in any course in which a primer on listening would be useful.
Excerpt
UVA-OB-0736
LISTENING
One of the most important skills for attaining interpersonal competence is listening. Most people think of effective listening as “active listening” in which the listener uses a series of proactive behavioral techniques to encourage another to speak. While active listening is an important technique, it is but a portion of the full listening skill set. Drawing on the work of Carl Rogers, I propose a more comprehensive model of listening that, if mastered and incorporated into one's interpersonal toolkit, leads to greater interpersonal competence and more rewarding relationships, both professional and personal.
Goals of Effective Listening
The specific goals of listening are best broken into short-term and long-term goals. The short-term goal, listening to understand, conveys a focus on the interpersonal episode in which the listening actually occurs. In this context the goal of listening is make sense of what the other person is trying to communicate. A secondary objective is to elicit the maximum amount of relevant information during that episode. In contrast, listening to build relationship focuses on longer-term objectives of a given interaction. Here, the goals are to encourage the exchange of information in the future, to motivate people to work effectively with us, and to lay a foundation for trust and respect in future engagements. Typically, people think of listening primarily in terms of its short-term goals. However, the greatest benefits of effective listening accrue over time.
The Listening Continuum
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Keywords: interpersonal behavior, interpersonal relations, leadership, management skills, organizational behavior
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