Selective listening exercise
Selective listening occurs when our brain chooses to filter on what to hear when someone is talking. In this selective listening exercise, here I read out a list of households items while repeating others to a friend; the results were that the repeated words were written as the first ones on the list, and some things missed on the list, indicating that the listener did not get them. The listener was always asking me to repeat some words, an indication that they were not concentrating on what I was reading out, and their body language indicated that they were not interested in the conversation; at the end of the exercise, the listen had only written down seven households out of the twenty that I gave them. This was a clear indication that they did not focus or concentrate on the exercise.
The conclusion about listening that I got to draw from this exercise is that having excellent listening skills is essential as they can help one to be able to navigate through difficult conversations and be able to understand what they get to listen to. When one can listen effectively, messages are efficiently delivered, and this helps to avoid any miscommunication. Effective listening is crucial even when it comes to making important decisions, and one needs to be focused when listening as it allows them to be able to capture all the details from a conversation. The exercise indicated that when one is preoccupied with different thoughts, they always have a problem focusing on the message being communicated, and they are likely to interrupt the speaker.
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
Vacation exercise
For a listener to pick up queues from a speaker and understand their intended message they need to concentrate as they pay attention to the information given; observing the speaker's body language is essential as they maintain eye contact. This will help them to be able to pick all the queues and understand the intended message. For the listener to get all the information best ideas on the place to visit for their vacation, they need to be on the same level as the speaker. If they are standing, the listener should also stand or sit when the speaker is sited; this will help them focus all their attention and get all the ques. Asking open-ended questions from the speaker is essential as it will help the listener get the hidden meaning of the message (Spataro and Bloch, 2018). The listener should ensure not to judge what the speaker is saying as this will help them not make an assumption but rather focus on the main message. In this case, the speaker will gather all the information he needs from the speaker on the different places he can visit since he does not have an idea of varying vacation places.
Reporting back on what the speaker said is essential for the listener to understand everything the speaker said. It is necessary to confirm where essential to be sure one gets all the details of the information. Nodding when they speak is an indication that you agree with what they say. For example, when the speaker says s that there are lots of activities to do in a particular place during a vacation, the listener can node in a way to suggest that they are impressed with the place and would like to try it. This is a way of showing the speaker that the listener acknowledges what they are saying. It is always important to practice using active listening as an individual to gather all the information when someone speaks. As a speaker, it is essential to ensure you are not vague in your message, leading to misunderstanding. Vagueness occurs when the speaker leaves out some critical information and the listener fails to ask clarifying questions, which makes the statement not fully delivered.
Poor listening habits
Poor listening habits tend to give a wrong indication to the speaker about the listener as the poor listeners ignore the speaker. They are always avoiding eye contact and constantly interrupting the speaker because they lack listening skills, and this always makes the listener not to be able to get the message intended by the speaker. I have a habit of jumping to a conclusion when someone is speaking. This has affected me in many ways. Most of the time, I am constantly misinterpreting messages and getting the wrong interpretation of the messages that mean different from what I conclude. This has affected my relationships as I always think that I know what others are thinking or feeling, and I do not give them the chance to express themselves to convey the correct message.
I am also guilty of always providing advice even when it is not asked for. This has caused many o conflicts with people around me as they feel I am interfering with their business and getting too much attention. Most of the time, those around me get offended by this behavior, and others complain that I am embarrassing them (Paping et al., 2021). It is annoying when you are speaking to keep on interrupting you before you finish what you are saying. It is an indication that they are not paying attention to what one is saying. As a speaker, what I would do is refuse to pause for the interruption and keep on moving forward with my intended speech. We need be, I would wait to answer only the essential questions aligned with the topic of the discussion.
References
Spataro, S. E., & Bloch, J. (2018). “Can you repeat that?” Teaching active listening in management education. Journal of Management Education , 42 (2), 168-198.
Paping, D. E., Vroegop, J. L., Koenraads, S. P., le Clercq, C. M., Goedegebure, A., de Jong, R. J. B., & van der Schroeff, M. P. (2021). A smartphone application to objectively monitor music listening habits in adolescents. Journal of Otolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery , 50 (1), 1-10.
