My Listening Skills By Comparing My Ratings My Boyfriend Aaron Gave Me

Effective communication is not just about speaking and listening. It is also about watching and feeling. Our body language and tone of voice actually communicate more strongly than the words we use. So, listening effectively involves tuning in closely to the other person’s body language and tone of voice as well as their words.

Listening is a very complicated skill that many people do not posses. It requires individuals to reflect and to admit to their flaws. In order to communicate effectively it is important to know when to talk and listen. Peterson’s book is an excellent tool to enhance all types of relationships.

I know how to speak, and I can hear when people talk to me, but why is it that we still consume ineffective listening skills between one another? When we think of effective listening at work or on the job, most of us think of what we actually say or what is said to us. What I am going to cover is the factors and barriers of effective communication, strategies for active, critical and empathic listening and understanding the impact of gender and culture on interpersonal communication.

As Sole describes in her book, Making Connections: Understanding Interpersonal Communication, ” Listening involves hearing, but it is much more than just the physiological act of your ears perceiving a sound and transmitting the auditory sensation to your brain. Listening is a complex psychological process that can be defined as the process of physically hearing, interpreting that sound, and understanding the significance of it. (Sole,K. 2011)

I have always been told that am not very good at listening, therefore, I choose the skill of listening as a means of evaluating myself and observing how this skill is used by me and towards others whom I have contact with. During this process I decided to take the Self-Assessment 8.3: Active Listening Skills Inventory offered on the website http://highered.mheducation.com.

When communicating, speaking is only half of the job, you must also be an amazing listener. There are 10 key listening skills that will always help you become the best listener you can.

I am glad that this class had taken part in the listening journal assignment as I was not sure what to expect. I was uncertain of my listening capabilities and have wondered what areas could use improvement. I do consider my interactions with people in hindsight, and I always hope that I did my best to listen and communicate with respect. I am fortunate to find out through the logs that I am above average while listening to others, in respect to the log analysis. I am further aware that this is because of a significant change in my life that took me from being self-focused to other-orientated. If this class had been over thirteen years before, my details on those logs would have been vastly altered.

A vital aspect of interpersonal communication is the style in which one listens. While every individual possesses their own preferred method of listening in communication, it can be enlightening to analyze our own strengths and weaknesses so as to maximize effectual communication. Within the confines of four main listening style categories, I have chosen those which best describe my own personal listening style.

How do people communicate? How do they listen? These are some of the questions that I will answer. I will also provide examples of verbal and nonverbal communication as well as explain how knowledge of nonverbal communication can help when communicating with others. I will also analyze my personal results for the Student Listening Inventory and explain what I do well and where I can improve.

A good method on how to be a decent listener is learning to have an open and approachable understanding. As you look for openings to widen the awareness when listening, and to obtain fresh thoughts or perceptions, instead of supporting the current ideas or interpretation. The need to listen to others as well as to be heard. It occurred to me that the need to be heard is probably one of the most fundamental needs a individual can have. We need acknowledgement. We need someone to look at us. We need to know that others know we exist. We need to know that not only do others know we exist but that our existence means something. In my overview I gave a short analysis on the significance of listening. I discover that effective listening is vital and essential to communicating in cooperation to desires and demands inside an interactive

Listening styles. Not something most people think about on a daily basis; well at least I never had. Undoubtedly, listening is one of the most important links in communication, but who knew there were different types of listening styles? I did not; at least not until completing this assignment. This was the main reason I was enthused about completing the listening style assessment. The listening assessment showed me that I have two listener preferences: people oriented and action oriented. I scored a four in both of these categories. I was initially surprised by my low score in the time oriented listening category, but upon further investigation I realized why I scored so low. I do not allocate time for listening and I do not feel comfortable cutting people off mid-conversation; even if I am feeling pressed for time. These traits are not consistent with time oriented listeners. Completing a listener profile allows one to purposefully use their strengths and weaknesses to work towards becoming a more efficient and effective listener.

A broader awareness of the importance of effective listening is another weapon in your arsenal as a public speaker. At the same time, building up your own effective listening skills can enhance your academic, professional, and personal success. Being heard is one thing, but speakers need listeners to complete the communication loop. Reap the rewards: Instead of saying “I hear you,” try out “I’m listening.”

Listening is more complex, and it encourages one to analyze and think about an idea, rather than to simply accept it (or “hear” it). Hearing is a skill that is beneficial for every aspect of life. As long as we have our ability to hear, we will always perceive different sounds, music, and voices. Listening, however, is beneficial to us in specific instances. It is important for us to attain good listening skills in education, the work force, and in our relationships with others in order to succeed. Good listening in education will bring about confident participation in class discussions; good listening in the workplace will lead to cooperation and good teamwork among colleagues; good listening in relationships is healthy and positive, for it is important to hear what an individual has to say in order to know how they feel.

Listening is more than just hearing. The process of listening involves receiving and constructing meaning, and responding to verbal and/or nonverbal messages. In other words, listening is not always easy and being a good listener is all about developing listening skills. To receive messages appropriately we have to listen actively. Active listening can be broken down into three important skills; first of all you have to reflect the feelings that the person is communicating, secondly reflect the content that they are communicating and finally ask good, meaningful questions.

The purpose of this memo is to evaluate my listening skills, assess my strengths and weaknesses, and describe how I can improve my skills. My listening self-assessment score of 36 indicates that, although my skill level is decent, I have room to improve significantly. I regularly attend professional meetings where either informational listening or critical listening is required. Despite this, I consider my listening skills subpar and am aware of my need for improvement. In understanding how I can improve, I must first assess my strengths and weaknesses.