Did you know that often 70 to 90% of a message is either lost or changed by the receiver? This causes conflict and mistakes.
Good listeners work to fully understand what is being said. There are different types of listening behaviors and we have a tool that helps you determine what type of listener you are. Do you do…?
Empathic listening – This type of listening focuses on feelings and emotions, as much as the words being said. Empathic listening is helpful when somebody needs to talk through a concern or a problem or is stressed. Often, people give suggestions without fully understanding the situation. Empathic listening increases needed understanding.
Appreciative listening – This type of listening focuses on listening for enjoyment and feeling a part of the experience. It is listening for sensory stimulation or pleasure. Some of the ways you can be an appreciative listener are being open-minded, optimistic, tuning into expressions and asking positive questions.
Discerning listening – This type of listening is one where you want to get all the details and don’t want to miss a single thing. This listener usually wants to remove interruptions and distractions and will take lots of notes.
Comprehensive listening – This type of listening seeks understanding and taking random thoughts or ideas and mentally putting them into an order, a theme or logical format. People who use comprehensive listening are typically very logical and orderly and wish others were as well.
Evaluative listening – This type of listening assesses and evaluates the merits of a message. An evaluative listener tends to be skeptical, will challenge ideas and opinions, and compares new ideas to what they already know before accepting the information.
What type of listening do you do most often? If you want to find out more, call us about the Listening Profile. It is an amazing tool!!!