November 26, 2007

Listening Skills

Tim Keogh

Assistant Professor

School of Business Administration

Initial purpose: to determine if listening skills are being taught in business schools

Initial purpose: to determine if listening skills are being taught in business schools

Reason 1:

Business schools are increasingly responding to the needs of employers and students alike who are demanding a greater emphasis on skill acquisition and mastery in addition to theory.

Initial purpose: to determine if listening skills are being taught in business schools

Reason 2:

The “Theory and Practice” section of the Wall Street Journal recently described how MBA Programs are teaching “soft skills” (February 12, 2007) like teamwork, leadership, and communicating.

Initial purpose: to determine if listening skills are being taught in business schools

What about Listening?

Initial purpose: to determine if listening skills are being taught in business schools

What we found:

Of the top fifty business schools listed by US News and World Report, only six mention listening as part of their courses in communication or leadership, and only the University of Notre Dame has a stand alone listening course (MBCM 60460 Listening and Responding).

Why is it hard to teach listening?

RememberingBeing able to

recall the message being sent

InterpretingNot reading anything into

the message thesender is communicating

Effective listening

RespondingReplying to the sender,letting him or her know

you are paying attention

HearingPaying careful

attention to what is being said

UnderstandingComprehending the messages

being sent

Evaluatingnot immediately passing

judgment on the message being sent

Some remaining questions:

Where do you get your best feedback?

Why don’t you listen to it?

Tangible and Intangible Barriers

Speaker Listener

Encode

Message

Decode

BarriersPhysicalPersonal

BarriersPhysicalPersonal

The Fundamental Elements of a Message

Words Used _____%

Tone of Voice _____%

Non-Verbals _____%

The Fundamental Elements of a Message

Words Used __7___%

Tone of Voice __38__%

Non-Verbals __55__%

The Four Basic Style Preferences

Platonic Ideals The Humours Theory Jungian Archetypes Star Trek The Wizard of Oz

How to get the Practical type to listen to you:

– Get to the point

– Have a bottom line

– Emphasize action

– Give concrete examples

How to get the Social type to listen to you:

– Start with social chit chat

– Be personable

– Make eye contact

– Consider others

How to get the Analytical type to listen to you:

– Be organized

– Have a plan

– Be specific

– Provide data

How to get the Conceptual type to listen to you:

–Use patience

–Allow ample time

–Emphasize cooperation

–Be polite

Style Blind Spots

The bigger the blind spot:

• the more one tends to overuse a single style,

• the less one tends to “flex” to the styles of others.