POOR LISTENERS

Another phrase that I’m sure we’ve all heard before is, “You’re not a very good listener”. Don’t feel too disappointed! If it helps, you can take comfort in the fact that research suggests that most of us are poor listeners. Experts even claim that we only listen at 25% efficiency! So, what does this really mean? Well, look at it this way, it means that we forget, ignore, distort or misunderstand 75% of everything we hear.

Why is this so you may ask? The following is a list of factors that contribute to poor listening habits which make us inefficient listeners.

1. We lack training.
 In school, we are all taught courses in order to develop our reading, speaking and writing skills. However, few schools put much effort in developing listening skills in comparison to the aforementioned.

2. Competing sounds.
It’s a bustling world out there. There are so many different sounds and stimuli that hinder our ability to concentrate.

3. Speed of speech.
As mentioned in my earlier entries, we are able to process speech much faster that others can speak. Therefore during the lag time, we are usually prone to daydreaming or “zoning out” which reduces listening efficiency.

4. Bias or Prejudice.
Sometimes, we just don’t want to listen. We’ve all heard the saying “Mind over matter”. Well, that’s just it, if you don’t try to concentrate when someone is listening, then for sure you’re really not listening.

5. Language differences or accents. (Will be addressed in a future post)

6. Lack of attention span.

These are just a couple of factors that lead to less than perfect listening skills. Until next time, listen with intent- it’s one of your keys to success!

Nonnative Speakers- IN THE WORKPLACE

Hello my fellow bloggers! To those that may not know, I am from Canada (GTA to be more precise); and in Canada, our communities are extremely diverse. It doesn’t just stop there, our workplace are just as colorful. Therefore, it’s really no surprise to be working with people with different backgrounds, who aren’t necessarily native English speakers. The world is becoming more and more like this every day. This results in issues surrounding language barriers which may result in poor listening habits (as mentioned in the previous post). Although many have studied English and can understand, many have difficulty speaking. Why is this so? Well, speaking English can be difficult for many reasons. For example, it may conflict with the speaker’s native tongue resulting in an accent, or they can be translating sentences word for word from their language to English etc. Obviously, this makes understanding a little more difficult, thus resulting in miscommunication and poor listening. During these times, let’s all keep in mind that many nonnative speakers become worried that they may be judged, and perhaps even embarrassed if they may a mistake. Remember, our world is filled with many different languages, and although English is considered a universal language, there are so many accents out there that make English more colorful. So, regardless of whom you’re listening to, always try to listen with intent- it’s one of your keys to success!

TIPS: Listening to Nonnative Speakers

In my earlier post, I discussed nonnative speakers. It’s a topic that I feel is important to be addressed because I myself do not have English as my first language. I had difficulty speaking English before, and I am sure that people had difficulty understanding what I was saying. I was born in the Philippines, and came here when I was 6 years old. Although I attended a private school back home where they taught in English the majority of the time, when I arrived here in Canada and started going to school, I had a heavy accent and terrible grammar. I noticed it too, and often times, made many mistakes and had moments where I was discouraged to even speak. Now that I have been in Canada for almost 14 years, my English has vastly improved and I’ve lost my native accent. However, I’ll always remember my younger self- new to the country, speaking broken English, with poor confidence. With this in mind, I offer the following tips to help native speakers become better listeners when nonnatives speak. After all, it’s really not easy for nonnatives/ those who are new to the language, so the least we can do is try our best to be better listeners!

1. Try not to negatively judge those who have accented speech.
Just because they have an accent doesn’t mean they are not smart!

2. Patience is a virtue.
Be patient. Try not to hurry a conversation along- give them time to say what they want to say.

3. Don’t finish sentences.
Allow them to complete their sentences. Often times, you’ll find that what they have to say is totally different from what you had in mind.

4. Don’t correct grammar and pronunciation.
Sure you’re just trying to “help”- and that’s nice of you. However, try to forget their grammar and instead try to focus more on understanding what they are trying to tell you.

5. Be honest.
It’s alright to admit that you have no clue or are having a hard time understanding him/her. In other words, don’t pretend like you understand them when you don’t.

Keep these tips in mind—and always remember, listen with intent, it’s one of your keys to success!

TIPS: Improving your listening skills

By now, I’m sure we all understand the significance of improving our listening skills. The following is a couple of tips and tricks to develop this highly important skill!

1. Stop talking!
Stop talking and listen. Pay attention to the speaker, not to what your next response will be.

2. Concentrate.
Block out competing thoughts and sounds. Concentrate to the listener and try your best to avoid tuning out and daydreaming.

3. Maintain an open mind.
Listen solely to what the speaker is saying and forget other factors (i.e. how they look, how they sound etc.)

4. Take notes.
If you’re listening to instructions or important information, its best to take notes and verify that what you heard is correct.

5. Don’t interrupt.

6. Maintain eye contact.
Maintaining eye contact with the speaker. It will help you from drifting off.

Keep these tips in mind—and always remember, listen with intent, it’s one of your keys to success!

THE STATISTICS

Did you know?

So, what do you really know about listening? Read the following, and see how much you know!

- 75% of the time that we should be listening, we are often distracted, preoccupied or forgetful.

- Immediately after having listened to someone, we can recall approximately only 50% of what has been said.

- In the long run, we only remember 20% of what we hear.

- We talk at a rate of 125-175 words per minute, listen at a rate of 125-250 words per minute, but think at a rate of 1000-3000 words per minute.  This processing gap creates room for distraction and failure to listen attentively.

- 85% of what we know we have learned through listening.

- In a typical business day, we spend 45% of our time listening, 30% of our time talking, 16% reading and 9% writing.

- Humans generally listen at a 25% comprehension rate.

- Less than 2% of all professionals have had formal education or learning to understand and improve listening skills and techniques.

So how much did you know? Comment below and share what you thought about these statistics! And remember, listen with intent- it's one of your keys to success!

LISTENING TO YOUR CUSTOMERS

As a barista at Starbucks, one of the most important aspects of my job is to listen to customers— for the obvious reason of getting their order right, but most importantly, to make a connection. By this, make the customer feel valued— to make them feel special. Listening to what they have to say makes them feel that they are worth something. By worth, I mean they are worth listening to.

The following highlights a couple of key aspects of what to do and what not to do when listening to customers.

Avoid the following:

- Tuning out the customer (because you already know what they are going to say). - Focus on superficial aspects of the customer (i.e. how they look, dress, sound etc).
- Divide your attention amongst multiple tasks.
- Interrupt the customer.
- Giving few or even no genuine verbal responses

Do the following:
- Listen in order to gauge the feelings of your customer.
- Listen completely- trying to fully comprehend where your customer is coming from.
- Listen to the main idea, and keep from replying to every little thing.
- Do one thing at a time- after all, listening is a full time job!
- Be silent for a couple of seconds to ensure that the customer is completely finished with what they have to say.
- Give positive verbal responses and statements that let the customer know that they have your full and undivided attention.

Keep these tips in mind. Remember, listen with intent- it is one of the keys to success!

Listening in the Workplace- DIFFERENT TYPES

From reading the title, I bet I have a few people scratching their heads thinking somewhere along the lines of, “There are different types of listening in the workplace? *insert perplexed expression”. Well of course there are! Let’s look at this from a new perspective, in the work place there are numerous positions and titles. Whatever your position may be, there will be superiors, subordinates, and colleagues to listen to. Never mind that in the end of the day, the entire organization must listen to their customers in order to be competitive in today’s growing service- oriented market.

As an employee (barista) of Starbucks, I have my managers (aka my superiors) to listen to. During these times, my main goal is to listen and comprehend what they are telling me— whether it be instructions or tasks I have to complete, or explanations of procedures that I have to execute.

Secondly, I have the other baristas (my coworkers) to listen to.  Listening to them is a bit different to listening to my managers. During these times, I have to:

1. Use Critical Listening

Critical Listening allows me to evaluate and judge what I am listening to. When my coworker tells me something, I have to decide the nature of their message; whether it is a fact, opinion or fiction.

2. Use Discriminative Listening

This type of listening allows me to understand logical arguments, and recognize purposes of what my coworkers are telling me.

Lastly, I have my customers to listen to. This is extremely important in organizations since the level of how an employee listens to customers has a direct link to company success. Think about it this way, we’ve all been a customer in our life; whether it is at a clothing store or ordering a cheeseburger at our local burger joint. Now, imagine if the worker serving you was not listening to what you’re saying, or it’s obvious that they aren’t really focusing on you. I bet you’re pretty annoyed and upset, thinking that you’re better off taking your business elsewhere. Why is this so? Simply because it’s part of the human nature to be want to be cared about- to understand and to be understood. When we listen to our customers, our organization is fulfilling this powerful human need. Listening improves customer relations, allowing for better customer retention, and higher customer referral.

"The most basic of all human needs is the need to understand and to be understood. The best way to understand people is to listen to them."

- Ralph Nichols

Listening- IN THE WORKPLACE

Imagine you are a business owner hiring some new employees. What types of skills would you be looking for? I bet 10 times out of ten that one of those skills would be listening. The Conference Board of Canada concurs that listening is a critical employee and management skill. And why shouldn’t it be? After all, communication is no longer what it used to be. Workers are in constant communication— thanks to the Internet, team environments, global competition, and prominence of customer service. Thus, it really is no surprise that high quality communication is a vital component in every successful workplace. Toss in the fact that three quarters of high quality communication comprises of listening— you bet having good listening skills is definitely an asset we (i.e. people in the work force) should strive to enhance!

If you want career success, or organization effectiveness, or worker satisfaction, or perhaps you want all three— then you better improve those listening skills! Studies and experts report that good listeners make for better managers, and advance at a faster pace in their organizations. Why is it so important? Let’s look at it this way, workers spend 30 to 45% of their communication time listening, and executives spend 60 to 70%!

So, why do workers spend less time listening than executives? Find out soon when I discuss types of workplace listening. Until then, listen with intent-- its one of your keys to success!

IMPORTANCE OF GOOD LISTENING

Before we dive into the reasoning, what does it really mean to be a good listener? Being a good listener starts off with being able to define the difference between hearing and listening (See Post: Hearing vs. Listening). It’s simple really, good listening means to hear the words then come to a conclusion of its meanings and the message it is conveying. Sounds simple enough eh? Sadly, listening is one of those things that’s “Easier said, than done”. It is, after all, called an art for a reason.

So, why is good listening so important? We’ve heard it all before; “You’re not listening!”… And before we can make logical sense of what’s going on, we’re in the middle of some argument.

Reason #1: Good listening keeps one out of arguments.

Reason #2: It keeps you from looking unwise.

We’ve all been there, we’re conversing with someone and you give your two cents in… All of a sudden, the person you’re speaking with becomes confused, maybe even amused, or perhaps annoyed. Yes, you have just given a reply that is completely irrelevant to the conversation. Good listening does not permit for moments like this to occur.  Remember, to be able to appropriately respond, comprehension (attained through good listening) is indeed required.

Other reasons include:

Reason #3: Find underlying meanings in what others say.

Reason #4: Show support

Reason#5: Able to work better in a team- based environment

Remember, listen with intent- it is one of the keys to success!

HEARING vs. LISTENING

"Oh I heard you. I just wasn't listening."

 It's a phrase that we've all heard before.  However, I bet only a handful of people can really explain the real difference between the two. So, what is the difference? Well, hearing can be defined as perceiving sound by ear, while on the other hand, listening is just that BUT more. Listening is a conscious decision. It requires concentration since listening entails you to focus in order to comprehend and gain knowledge from the speaker. After which, use this towards formulating an appropriate response.

Simply, hearing allows words to pass from one ear and out the other. Meanwhile, listening allows for the words to be used as input to be processed into output (aka a fitting reply).