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Communicating for Results: A Guide for Business and the Professions (Cheryl Hamilton)
List at least two practical tips for improving your listening skills with each of the
following groups: customers, employees, supervisors, and coworkers
Describe the signs of poor listening
Apply the signs of poor listening to examples where a communication breakdown
occurred
Distinguish among the main barriers to good listening and determine which of these
barriers cause you the most problems
Explain guidelines for improving your listening and the payoffs for using them correctly
I.
A. Most people think listening comes naturally.
1. Listening requires just as much skill as reading, writing, and speaking.
2. Listening is primarily mental, so it seems deceptively easy.
B. Listening is important.
1. We do so much listening (at least 50 percent of waking hours per research).
2. The business world has observed its importance firsthand at many levels.
3. Most working professionals recognize listening as a skill that can and should be
1. When information benefits the listener, the importance of listening is clear.
2. Other times, listening might seem like a waste of time, but there is no guarantee that
what is ignored is unimportant.
to customers is a characteristic of the best-run U.S. companies.
1. They learn objective information about their products and services, how they relate
to the competition, and what customers want.
2. Recently, the customer has changed radically, along with technological changes.
a. Millennial customers grew up with handheld digitally bundled communication
and want a seamless and simple user interface.
3. If customers perceive a company (or salesperson) as listening to them, they are
more likely to trust, be satisfied with, and do future business with that company.
C. to employees produces more satisfaction with the manager and the job.
1. Management cannot afford to not listen to employees.
2. Employees will assume neither they nor their ideas are appreciated.
3. Listening is the key to communicating with and understanding employees.
4. Gallup has developed 12 questions (Q12) relating to employee morale and
engagement.
5. The global economy, increasing organizational diversity, and dispersed workforces
challenge companies to listen for meaning and intent (e.g., via surveys, focus
1. Effective listening includes giving indications that listening is occurring (e.g., eye
contact, nonverbal cues, relaxed posture, positive gestures and sounds).
2. Too often, managers cannot tell if employees are processing information, so they
repeat it, ask for feedback, or become frustrated (which all consume time).
3. The capability to listen and respond to managers can be improved.
a. Listen to your managers and their instructions for both content and tone, and ask
open-ended questions to gain understanding.
b. Use that knowledge to guide general interactions with your managers (e.g., how
1. Relationship development depends on carefully listening to coworkers.
2. Effective listening with peers improves with recognition of which listening method
is needed (comprehension, therapeutic, or critical).
3. In global companies with cross-functional and virtual teams, communication can be
4. Global organizations have useful listening tips.
a. Use humor as a morale booster, respecting cultural differences.
b. Learn to tolerate ambiguity and listen to differing viewpoints.
1. Monitor your own listening habits.
2. Determine whether poor listening is affecting your performance on the job.
B. Breaking the chain of command (employees going around the manager to talk to others)
is a sure sign that the manager is a poor listener and the employees have no alternative.
C. Learning about events too late (or finding out from others or via memo) can be a sign
1. Calling the topic boring is used to justify inattention.
2.
3. Orally or mentally interrupting to disagree interferes with hearing the entire idea
before deciding whether to agree or disagree.
4. Listening only for facts is best when they are related to a theme, feelings, and
relative principles.
5. Taking overly detailed note (outlines vs. key words) while listening is a distraction.
Communicating for Results: A Guide for Business and the Professions (Cheryl Hamilton)
6. Pretending to listen to the speaker is a trick of poor listeners.
IV. Barriers to Good
A. Physical barriers are external barriers that are not directly under your control (e.g.,
hearing loss, loud conversation, visual distraction) but must be ignored as possible.
B. barriers are internal barriers (e.g., physical well-being, psychological
distractions, attitudinal biases) but are not necessarily easier to control.
C. Gender refer to traditional masculine and feminine characteristics and
behaviors, which are influenced by culture and society.
1. The number of female managers continues to increase, but the number of women
CEOs has remained constant.
2. Women decode nonverbal cues better; view communication as a cooperative tool;
6. Future business communicators might be more androgynous.
7. More research is needed on the cause of gender difference (biological traits vs.
social role expectations).
D. Age and generational barriers obstruct effective listening.
1.
third each Millennials and Generation X, slightly less than a third Baby Boomers,
and the assassination of President John F. Kennedy; affected by technologies (e.g.,
TVs and computers); and committed to taking charge and working hard to succeed.
Communicating for Results: A Guide for Business and the Professions (Cheryl Hamilton)
Now place an X in the blank by each number that you have double-checked.
2__________ 12_________ 1__________ 11__________
4__________ 14_________ 3__________ 13__________
6__________ 16_________ 5__________ 15__________
8__________ 18_________ 7__________ 17__________
10_________ 20_________ 9__________ 19__________
Now you have an inventory of your effective listening habits (all those odd-numbered
4.2 For an introduction to a discussion of Chapter 4, instruct students to take out some
paper and recall the last 3 business conversations they have had at work. They
will need to write down: (1) whom it was with; (2) what the topic of the
4.3 Use as both out-of-class and in-class assignment.
Try to let the teams decide which chapter they would like to cover for this assignment.
Once they have selected give them the following team assignment:
Pick a concept/section in your chapter you find interesting. The goal of your presentation
is to develop a class activity which illustrates the concepts you have selected from the
MindTap support materials for Chapter 4 include the following:
Warm-up question activity that introduces chapter topics and concepts
Notetaking capability that enables students to read the chapter, highlight text, and take
notes online
Chapter 4 text, including the Awareness Check Questionnaire
Quiz questions that reinforce student learning and understanding
Case study 2 of a real-life situation and associated questions for Chapter 4 (captured in
General MindTap resources cited at the beginning of Part III.
A number of useful webpages can be employed in conjunction with Chapter 4. Send students to
custom training programs. Clips cover: speaking clearly, active listening, nonverbal
communication, conflict and difficult conversation, group communication, and
presentation skills. CRM Learning.
Successful Speaking: Developing Listening Skills, 2003, 25 minutes. Dr. Jessica Stowell
outlines the causes of poor listening and the costs of poor listening habits. Through
The International Listening Association promotes the study, development, and teaching
of listening and the practice of effective listening skills and techniques.
http://www.listen.org
Communicating for Results: A Guide for Business and the Professions (Cheryl Hamilton)
1. Isolated facts by themselves are hard to remember.
2. A manager who is always putting out fires might be a poor listener.
3. Studies show that when doctors and nurses listen, it has little to no influence on how
satisfied medical patients feel about their care.
4. It is important that you listen for both content and tone and observe any nonverbal
behaviors when listening and responding to your supervisor.
5. To improve your relationship with your coworkers, you should learn to tolerate ambiguity.
Communicating for Results: A Guide for Business and the Professions (Cheryl Hamilton)
1. Which of the following is not a bad listening habit?
a
.
Criticizing the s delivery
instead of focusing on the message
c. Pretending to listen to the speaker
b. Taking brief notes and writing down
keywords
d. Listening for facts rather than
a theme
or relative principles
2. One day the boss gives you detailed instructions on a new assignment. Later you realize that
you missed part of the information because you had a pounding headache, and now you
cannot decipher your notes. Which of the following barriers to listening was the problem?
a. Personal c. Semantic
b. Psychological d. Physical
3. Considering gender differences in the workplace:
a. Women are not as good at interpreting
nonverbal cues as men.
c. Women see communication as a
competitive tool.
b. Women tend to interrupt less often. d. Women are less likely to ask questions.
4. Which generational group was raised in post-World War II, is competitive, and is
committed to taking charge and working hard to succeed?
a. Traditionalists c. Generation Xers
b. Baby Boomers d. Millennials
5. Which generational group was raised with volunteer work and wants its learning and
training to have a social capability?
a. Traditionalists c. Generation Xers
b. Baby Boomers d. Millennials
6. The listening stage in which listeners give verbal and nonverbal feedback to the speaker is
called the:
a. Sensing stage c. Responding stage
b. Interpreting stage d. Memory stage
7. The listening stage in which listeners assign meaning to the messages is called the:
a. Sensing stage c. Responding stage
b. Interpreting stage d. Memory stage
8. The listening stage is one in which listeners select or ignore one or more multiple stimuli is
called the:
a. Sensing stage c. Responding stage
b. Interpreting stage d. Memory stage
Communicating for Results: A Guide for Business and the Professions (Cheryl Hamilton)
1. How does listening to managers enable employees to improve their relationships with the
managers? What does effective listening between an employee and their manager look
like?
ANS:
Listening helps employees to understand expectations and frames of reference. Effective
2. Describe the millennial customer. How has technology influenced these customers?
ANS:
Recently, the customer has changed radically, along with technological changes. Millennial
customers grew up with handheld digitally bundled communication and want a seamless and
