The Listening Process. Question 3

Out of the concepts for this week I found the ‘listening process’ to be most interesting to me. It reminded me that listening is like a step-wise process you cannot do out of order. The listening process consists of: being mindful, physically receiving messages, selecting and organizing information, interpreting communication, responding, and most importantly remembering. To be mindful is the first step in the process, being fully aware and in the moment. This involves not doing certain things while in conversation; being attentive and respectful to the speaker. To physically receive messages is the process of the sound waves hitting our eardrum so we are conscious of the noise itself; people who are deaf and cannot utilize this, therefore they do so via lip reading and sign language. Selecting and organizing information is when we take bits and pieces of what’s being said and rank them based on their importance and relevance to us. Interpreting communication is the fourth step, and the most important when it comes to successful communication; this is because we need to make an effort to fully comprehend what they are trying to get across. Responding involves making gestures that imply you are paying attention and showing you’re following along. Lastly is remembering, which is the process of retention; good listeners retain the important chunks in comparison to the little details.