The Hindu Business Line : Be a better listener

EFFICIENT listeners will always take notes whenever they can without distracting the speaker. Memory is notoriously unreliable if untrained. Recording contents in the form of notes would be invaluable for later reference.

The notes should be as concise as possible and focus only on the main points. The necessary details should be included within this framework. Aim to produce a short, coherent summary of what someone has said. The act of preparing these notes will help improve the quality of listening itself:

Headings

Headings that relate to the context of the information: What is my informant's purpose in telling me this? For example, might it be to persuade me about something? To inform me? To impress me?

For whom was this information originally gathered? What vested interests might be at work here?

How is the information organised? How logical is the argument?

Headings that relate to the content of the information:

What is my informants main theme or argument? What is this person really trying to tell me?

What are the key points that support my informants' arguments?

What evidence is provided for in the statements made by my informant? Is the evidence fact or opinion? How credible is it?

What assumptions are my informant making? Are they open to question?

Is there any irrelevant information? For example, is my informant trying to distract me with emotional but irrelevant appeals to my feelings?

If you learn to evaluate what you hear, you will become much more critical as a listener and, therefore, a more effective negotiator. Note-taking is a very useful for this, provided you use the notes sparingly and methodically.

During negotiation

Note-taking during negotiation is basically to:

have a record of main ideas/arguments/discussion;

record examples, precedents, statistics;

record definitions or special terms;

provide ammunition for later questions and discussion about the content and context of the information provided by the other party; and

use in preparing a report of the negotiation.

Defining the purpose

As in any other activity, this is an important aspect in listening too. To help define purpose one should decide:

The nature of the material listened to — form and content, length, relevance, and so on;

The reasons for listening to it — why you selected the particular material, how much information you require from it, how will you use information, and so on; and

Expectations in listening — what you expect to hear and how this satisfies the reasons for listening, how useful the information will be, how easy/difficult is it to understand, how interesting/dull or entertaining/serious it is, and so on.

After listening, you should review the material and make some assessment of how far your purpose has been satisfied and expectations met. You should also consider how far defining purposes and expectations beforehand improves the quality and efficiency of your listening.

Active involvement

This is essential because listening, like reading, is a receptive activity. It is easy to allow it to become passive. This leads to a loss of listening ability, with consequent effects on the ability to base effective decisions on what you have listened to. Active involvement is essential for effective listening and most of the methods for improving listening skills depend on this. Instead of simply sitting back and letting the information hit your ear drums, you should actively listen for information which will satisfy your purposes and expectations as well as for information that you do not expect but which is relevant.

Attentiveness

This is the basis of active involvement and an effective counter to passivity. As far as possible, you should give your whole attention to whatever you listen to. Only this way can you assimilate and understand the information presented. You should avoid distractions; and, for this, taking notes will help.

Sensitivity

As a perceptive listener, you must be sensitive to many aspects of the material you listen to. It is not enough to be aware of the content, how it is organised and the purposes of the speaker as well as yourself. You must be sensitive to:

Tone of the voice — this can totally alter the significance of a statement.

Choice of words — many words have similar meanings, but identifying the subtle differences is critical.

Timing — when something is said it is also important to know when it is said.

The speaker — there are many ways in which a speaker's personality can affect what is said. One person may say some thing, which, regardless of the tone, choice of words or anything else, is taken as a joke; while the same said by another person could seem offensive.

The method of sound transmission — in the case of broadcasts or recordings, the output would be different when heard over a public-address system vis-à-vis on a good quality sound system in the lounge.

Your own role in encouraging easy, fluent interaction — a listener can help a speaker immensely by showing an active interest in what is being said, by smiling, nodding and agreeing at the appropriate time.

(Edited extracts from Management Information Systems and Corporate Communication — Intermediate Course Study Material, Paper 4. Courtesy: The Institute of Company Secretaries of India. www.icsiindia.org)

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