My Skills as a Listener
A Short Quiz
Listed below are fifteen statements that relate to one's ability to listen to others. Rate each item by placing a dot in the appropriate box. Try to be as candid as you can in making your rating.
When you have rated all the items, take a straight edge and draw lines to connect the dots. This will give you a profile of your capabilities as a listener. Obviously, the more your profile leans toward the right, the more capable a listener you are.
Never / Seldom / Occasionally /
Frequently / Always
Frequently / Always
Element
- Do I listen for feelings, attitudes, perceptions, and values as well as for facts?
- Do I try to listen for what is not said?
- Do I avoid interrupting the person who is speaking to me?
- Do I actually pay attention to who is speaking as opposed to "taking attention"?
- Do I refrain from "turning people out" because I don?t like them, disagree with them, find them dull, etc.?
- Do I work hard to avoid being distracted from what is said by the speaker?s style, mannerisms, clothing, voice quality, voice pace, etc.?
- Do I make certain that a person?s status has no bearing on how well I listen to him/her?
- Do I avoid letting my expectations hearing what I want to hear determine or influence my listening behavior?
- Do I try to read the "non-verbals" the speaker presents-inflections, gestures, mood, posture, eye contact, facial expression, etc.?
- Do I work hard at overcoming distractions (sounds, noises, movement, outside scenes, etc.) that may interfere with good listening?
- Do I tend to "stay with" speakers who may be hard to follow-those who are slow in their speech or whose ideas are poorly organized or who tend to repeat themselves, etc.?
- As I listener, do I use nonverbal communication (eye contact, smiles, occasional head nods, etc.) to indicate that I wish to hear more?
- Do I tend to restate or rephrase the other person?s statements when necessary so that he/she will know what I understood?
- If I have not understood, do I candidly admit to this and ask for a restatement?
- Do I avoid framing my response to what is being said while the other person is still speaking?