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Hearing and Listening

Hearing

Mechanism of the ear

A sense

Perceiving sound

Passive

Continuous and pervasive

Listening

Ears are only one input

A skill

Making meaning from sound

Active

Conscious and selective

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Listening depends on more than just the hearing sense

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How we listen

• Listening is unique to each person

• Active or Conscious

• Inner

• Outer

• Created

• Focused

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Listening is at the heart of building empathy

Listening is an active practice of empathy

Why is listening a struggle?

Constant noise

Hearing fatigue

Distraction

Internal barriers

Not valued like speaking

Not taught or practiced

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Communication model focuses on sender

Sender Receiver

Feedback

Message Channel

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Communication model focuses on sender

Sender Receiver

Feedback

Message Channel

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Barriers and filters

Values and beliefs

Attitudes

Expectations

Intentions

Culture

Situational barriers

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Bad listening habits

• Forming a response before the speaker finishes

• Reliance on other channels – recordings and writing

• Not recognizing our own preconceptions and biases

• “Translating”

• Impatience

• Distraction

• Disinterest

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Active listening exercises

• Silence

• “The mixer”

• Savoring

• Changing listening positions

• RASA = Receive, Appreciate, Summarize, Ask

• Practice and self-evaluation

• Techniques that improve mindfulness and discipline

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Practice, as with any skill

Evaluate against benchmarks or with a partner

Persist

Creating “a listening”

• Understanding listening positions – awareness, presence, consciousness

• Actively designing “a listening”

• Not setting up the session or writing your script

• Preparing your mind to receive

• Preparing the context mindful of all the potential barriers and remove as many as possible

• Planning to check on your listening

• "Where am I listening from?”

• “Is this working for me?”

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Types of Listening

• Informational Listening (Listening to learn)

• Critical Listening (Listening to evaluate and analyze)

• Therapeutic or Empathetic Listening (Listening to understand feeling and emotion)

• Appreciative Listening (Listening for enjoyment)

• Rapport Listening (Listening to create connection)

• Selective Listening (Listening for specific information)

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Informational and Critical Listening

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Give the gift of enough silence

Know and control your biases and inner voice

Accept their mental model (listen with heart)

Summarize and Ask (RASA)

Therapeutic or Empathetic Listening

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Understanding vs. retention

Humble questioning

Receive and Appreciate (RASA)

Takeaways

• Listening relies on multiple senses

• Listening is a key to empathy

• Listening faces many challenges, but you can manage them

• Listening is a learnable skill

• Listening is a lifetime practice

• We can design our listenings in every facet of our work

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As the Research & Strategy Practice Lead with Perficient, I lead a cross-

discipline team of user researchers, UX strategists, IAs, content strategists,

BAs, and analytics experts. Feel free to connect with me through any channel

you may find me:

karen.bachmann@gmail.com

@karenbachmann

www.linkedin.com/pub/karen-bachmann/4/a/884/

Despite all the dog pics, I live with 6 ferrets

who expect me and the other human

to listen to them, not the other way around.

Got treats?

Resources

• Listening Skills: http://www.skillsyouneed.com/ips/listening-skills.html

• International Listening Association: http://www.listen.org/

• Conscious Listening, Julian Treasure (Udemy)

• People Skills for UX: Listening with Julian Treasure and Steve Portigal

• How to Speak, How to Listen, Mortimer J. Adler

• Can We Just, Like, Get Over the Way Women Talk?, Ann Friedman http://nymag.com/thecut/2015/07/can-we-just-like-get-over-the-way-women-talk.html?mid=twitter-share-thecut

• Are You Leading or Lording? https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/you-leading-lording-bill-j-koza

• 17 Secrets to Native listening Skill in English, Gabby Wallace (Udemy)

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