SuccesQuotient@Work for Listening Techniques

A Turkish proverb states that, "If speaking is silver, then listening is gold." Indeed, many of us forget that hearing is not the same as listening. To clarify, hearing is the process by which vibrations in surrounding medium is detected by the ears. Hearing is a passive process, something which many of us do with little consciousness. In contrast, listening is an active process which takes practice and requires attention. In other words, for effective listening to occur, individuals must actively evaluate and process the meaning of the message fully before responding to the speaker. A good listener is also someone who attends to non-verbal signals, such as the speaker's tone of voice, gestures, facial expressions and general body languages. To be a good listener, you must actively and fully participate in the communication process. There are different types of listening. These categories are not discrete. Rather they are continuous in that listeners may listen for multiple purposes while receiving, attending, perceiving, interpreting, and responding to messages. In the next section, we draw upon the work of Andrew Wolvin and Carolyn Coakley for an explanation of the five types of listening.