The art of active listening

In this episode I examine the art of active listening. It is a slightly different episode and one of a number to come where I give a series of lectures. In this episode I wanted to do two things:

1. Build awareness of the factors that affect our listening ability.

2. Build and create the conditions that can produce good listening habits.

One of the main problems is caused by the fact that we think much faster than we talk. The average rate of speech for most of us is around 125 words per minute. In contrast we process and think at about 800 words a minute. This is a fundamental mis-match which can cause a deficit in receiving information. The human brain is made up of more than 13 billion cells and operates in such a complicated but efficient manner that it makes any comparison to computers seem insignificant. It might seem logical to slow down our thinking when we listen so as to coincide with the 125-word-per-minute speech rate, but slowing down thought processes seems to be a very difficult thing to do. When we listen, therefore, we continue thinking at high speed while the spoken words arrive at low speed. In the act of listening, the differential between thinking and speaking rates means that our brain works with hundreds of words in addition to those that we hear, assembling thoughts other than those spoken to us. The latency of this mis-match is often taken up by internal dialogue rather than integration of the spoken, but more importantly inferred meaning behind words. In this episode I examine: 

• The definition of active listening. 
• The 'classic' example - one which we all fall prey to. 
• The anatomy of the received message.
• The why and what of ‘Active Listening’.
• Triple A listening (what triple A listening actually is). 
• Kinesthetics of listening – what it feels like to be heard amongst other aspects. 
• Models of active listening: Four ears of communication, the communication triangle. 
• The power of silence
• The quality of listening - The hierarchy of active listening 
• Chunking information as an adjunct to active listening 
• Closed loop communication 
• The power of agreement

Please let me know what you think of the content at eoinwalker@hotmail.com and also feel free to recommend future topics. Please also feel free to rate and review the podcast and I always welcome feedback.