Customer Service Notes on Listening
Slide 1
Welcome to your second customer service lecture. This week we’ll discuss listening, an often simplified concept. Many people think listening is easy—as long as you hear something you’re listening to it, but in truth, listening effectively is a demanding task. To listen effectively, you must apply skill and determination. Luckily, as with any skill, effective listening can be learned. We’ll begin this lecture by going over the difference between hearing and truly listening.
Slide 2
Hearing is a relatively simple physiological process. It involves the production of sound, which travels into the ear canal. That sound is then transmitted to the brain to be interpreted. However, because other psychological processes and outside distractions occur simultaneously, if an individual doesn’t focus his or her attention on the message, it becomes lost or distorted.
Slide 3
The first step of actually listening to a message is hearing it, but the steps that follow are more complex. In active listening, three steps occur after hearing.
The second step, or first step that comes after hearing, is called attending. This is the process of determining what sensory input is important and needs attention. This means tuning out the dog barking outside, the conversation occurring next to you, and any other sounds that do not constitute the message being conveyed by the speaker. This step also involves putting aside internal distractions such as worrying about what you’ll have for dinner tonight or planning what to say next. Certainly you’ve been subjected to some of these distractions? You’ve heard my voice just now, but where you listening or were you distracted? Practice listening.
The next step involves comprehending and assigning meaning to the words you hear. This involves memory and recognition. This step is the reason why, no matter how carefully you listen, you will not understand something said in a language you do not know. You
Welcome to your second customer service lecture. This week we’ll discuss listening, an often simplified concept. Many people think listening is easy—as long as you hear something you’re listening to it, but in truth, listening effectively is a demanding task. To listen effectively, you must apply skill and determination. Luckily, as with any skill, effective listening can be learned. We’ll begin this lecture by going over the difference between hearing and truly listening.
Slide 2
Hearing is a relatively simple physiological process. It involves the production of sound, which travels into the ear canal. That sound is then transmitted to the brain to be interpreted. However, because other psychological processes and outside distractions occur simultaneously, if an individual doesn’t focus his or her attention on the message, it becomes lost or distorted.
Slide 3
The first step of actually listening to a message is hearing it, but the steps that follow are more complex. In active listening, three steps occur after hearing.
The second step, or first step that comes after hearing, is called attending. This is the process of determining what sensory input is important and needs attention. This means tuning out the dog barking outside, the conversation occurring next to you, and any other sounds that do not constitute the message being conveyed by the speaker. This step also involves putting aside internal distractions such as worrying about what you’ll have for dinner tonight or planning what to say next. Certainly you’ve been subjected to some of these distractions? You’ve heard my voice just now, but where you listening or were you distracted? Practice listening.
The next step involves comprehending and assigning meaning to the words you hear. This involves memory and recognition. This step is the reason why, no matter how carefully you listen, you will not understand something said in a language you do not know. You