The importance of listening can not be over-emphasized as listening is an important part of communication. However, we often take listening for granted and this may affect or cause barriers in our communication.
It is common for people to hear what is said rather than listen. Listening requires a lot of calculated effort to pay attention without any form of distraction as well as putting in a lot of effort to understand what is being said.Â
In addition, our ability to listen carefully or actively depends on our engagement, thought, or conscious effort of being attentive. Most people may be distracted for so many reasons which may include: engaging in a distracting activity, having a personal opinion on what the speaker is saying, putting in emotions, and being selective of what you want to hear. Â
Table of Contents
What is Listening?
Listening is the deliberate act of paying attention to either spoken or written messages and being able to decipher and comprehend what is communicated.
And so, listening is a very important skill that everyone is expected to possess. A good listener can understand what is being said and can also resolve conflicts, solve various issues, build strong relationships with others, and understand tasks.
There are various types of listening. They will be discussed in the next sub-heading.
Types of Listening
Below is the list of the various types of listening:
- Informational Listening
- Biased Listening
- Empathic Listening
- Sympathetic Listening
- Critical Listening.
1. Informational Listening
This is a type of listening usually exhibited by students as well as people who want to learn and improve themselves.
In this listening, you are expected to attentively listen to all information being passed across to you by the speaker or lecturer. You can as well build yourself through information, research, and the newsfeed you have gathered as an informational listener.Â
2. Biased Listening
This is sometimes referred to as selective listening. In this type of listening, subconscious acts are being perceived, such as developing a biased opinion toward what is being said to you and being selective of the information you want to hear rather than being attentive.
Biased listening is common as a result of the relationship that has been created between the listener and the speaker.
3. Empathic Listening
This is a type of listening that helps you understand other people’s points of view as they speak.
In this type of listening, you do not just focus on listening to the message but also understand the speaker’s experiences as if they were your own.
4. Sympathetic Listening
This type of listening has to do with your emotions. It can be referred to as emotional listening. In this listening, you are expected to focus on understanding the feelings and emotions of the speaker.
In most cases, sympathetic listeners provide support to the speaker’s needs.
5. Critical Listening
This type of listening is used in solving critical problems. In this case, you are expected to pay apt attention to the message and by doing so, you evaluate a solution to what is being said.
List of the Importance of Listening
Why is listening important? Let’s dive in!
Below are the reasons why listening is important:
- Listening develops good team leadership skills
- It helps you carry out your task or project accordingly
- Listening helps broaden your productivity and creativity
- Strengthens business relationships
- It builds confidence
- Listening reduces misunderstanding and argument
- It enhances writing abilities
- It helps you get the correct information
- Listening is the first step to empathy
- Learning can be improved through listening
- Listening creates a strong sympathy
- It promotes value
- Listening limits judgment
- It helps in providing feedback
- Listening creates better chances of understanding
- It makes you a better student
- Listening makes you intelligent
- It helps in public speaking
- Listening helps communications to be fluent
- It makes it easy to interact with people.
20 Importance of Listening
1) Listening develops good team leadership skills
Every great leader started as a listener. There is no leadership without listening. For you to build a good team as a leader, it is expected that you listen to your team’s ideas, hear their different perspectives, and prevent misunderstanding.
2) It helps you carry out your task or project accordingly
Most cases where people don’t do their task correctly can be a result of not consciously putting in the effort to listen to the procedures of the task you are given.
It is also expected that you apply active listening or informational listening to help you carry out your task correctly.
3) Listening helps broaden your productivity and creativity
It is important for you to listen in order to broaden your creativity and productivity as a student or a worker.
Having good listening skills helps you to keep the information, understand tasks, and ask the right questions before acting.
4) Strengthens business relationships
People will like to do business with you if you are a good listener, just as communication is important to build strong relationships between workers, clients, and employers.
Listening is also important to strengthen relationships and avoid conflict or misunderstanding that may spoil a company’s reputation.
5) It builds confidence
People are able to confide in you when you show interest in listening to them. This makes them more comfortable and open in sharing their thoughts with you.
In addition, listening also builds individual confidence. You have the confidence to speak about what you truly understand.
Speaking about what you understand means you are a good listener, who listens to understand before speaking.
6) Listening reduces misunderstanding and argument
Poor communication skills and not attentively listening to what your friend or colleague is saying can lead to misinformation or misinterpretation of information.
Therefore, one importance of listening is that it reduces misunderstanding and arguments. Always pay attention to communications to avoid misinterpretation.Â
7) Listening enhances writing abilities
It is important for a writer to be good at listening. For you to be able to gather important information that will be put into writing, you have to be able to listen attentively.
Listening helps a writer not to miss out on important details or information.
8) It helps you get the correct information
Listening is an important aspect of life. You get the right information when you listen attentively. To avoid converging incomplete or wrong information, it is important you pay rapt attention when information is being passed across.
9) Listening is the first step to empathy
For you to be able to understand people’s experiences and their points of view, you have to be a good listener. Listening is the first step to being empathic. You cannot understand someone else’s experience or viewpoint if you are not willing to listen.
10) Learning can be improved through listening
Listening is very important to improve learning. We can easily learn, understand, connect, and gather important information when we listen well.
In addition, listening is more than just hearing what is being said. It entails making a conscious effort to actively listen and understand and comprehend what is being stated.
11) Listening creates a strong sympathy
Listening helps you to develop better sympathies with family and friends. Being able to understand people’s feelings and emotions when they speak can be achieved when you listen to them.
12) Listening promotes trust
Listening makes the person communicating to you feel that you value their time. This in return creates a stronger bond between you both.
13) Listening limits judgments
Listening is an open-minded act that limits judgment. A total concentration in conversation helps you understand people’s thoughts, feelings, and emotions, as well as their points of view. As a result, you are able to put aside judgemental thoughts.Â
14) Listening helps in providing feedback
Providing feedback is evidence that you were listening. The main purpose of feedback is to give the speaker the knowledge that you were actively listening to them.
Also, note that feedback can come as a question or comment.
15) Listening creates better chances for understanding
Practicing active listening creates a better chance for you to truly understand what is communicated.
For students, you get a better chance of understanding a course when you put in the effort to listen attentively.
16) Listening makes you a better student
As a student, it is important to pay rapt attention in class. Listening makes you a better student because you will be able to get better and more accurate notes, and you will also be able to get the right information from your lecturer or teachers.Â
17) It makes you intelligent
When you listen attentively when people communicate or speak to you, there is every tendency that you will understand what they are saying. This in turn makes you a more knowledgeable person.Â
18) Listening helps in public speaking
There is no great speaker who is not a good listener. Listening helps in public speaking, as such, you are able to assess and understand what your audience asks, and this can help you modify your speeches as a public speaker.
19) Listening helps communication to be fluent
Listening is an important aspect of communication, for communication to be fluent without any form of barriers one has to listen to what is being said.
By listening, you are able to understand and communicate without misinterpretation or misunderstanding.
20) Listening makes it easy to interact with people
A good listener can interact with people who have different personalities. People have different ideologies and personalities.
For you to be able to interact with people, you must be ready to listen and understand them. listening makes it easy to interact with different personalities.
Frequently Asked Questions on the Importance of Listening
1) How can I improve my listening skills?
You can improve your listening skill by maintaining eye contact with the speaker, intentionally avoiding being interrupted, show engagement, and lastly, practicing the act of listening.
2) What are the processes involved in listening?
Listening takes some process which includes: receiving the message, understanding the message, being able to remember what is said, and being able to give feedback.
3) Is listening different from hearing?
Yes, listening is different from hearing. Listening involves focus, concentration, and effort while hearing refers to the sounds that enter your ears.
We Also Recommend:
- Active Listening: Definition, Skills, and Examples
- 20 Active Listening Exercises That Will Change Your Life
- Listening Communication Skills: A Complete Guide
- Written Communication Skills: A Complete Guide
- Advantages and Disadvantages of Written Communication.
Conclusion
It is important for one to know the importance of listening. Communication cannot bring an effective result if there is no active listening. Good listening skills are extremely important in or out of school, work, and its environs.Â
And so, one most important role required in listening is applying an intentional and conscious effort of paying rapt attention.
Developing this skill is a key attribute for employment. According to the NACE community, over 62.7% of employers accept an applicant with good interpersonal skills (relates well to others) and these can be achieved through listening.