78 5.3 Listening to speeches
discover them on your own. In that event, mentally summarize the ideas that
are most useful to you. As we suggested earlier, be a selfish listener. Treat a dis-
organized speech as a river with gold in its sands. Take your mental mining pan,
and search for the nuggets of meaning.PRACTICE LISTENING Because you spend at least 55 percent of your com-
munication time listening, you might wonder why we suggest that you practice
listening. The reason is that listening skills do not develop automatically. You
learn to swim by getting proper instruction; you’re unlikely to develop good
aquatic skills by just jumping in the water and flailing around. Similarly, you
will learn to listen by practicing the methods we recommend.
Researchers believe that poor listeners avoid challenge. For example, they
listen to and watch TV situation comedies rather than documentaries or other
informative programs. Skill develops as you practice listening to speeches,
music, and programs with demanding content.UNDERSTAND YOUR LISTENING STYLE New research suggests that not
everyone listens to information in the same way. There are at least four different
listening styles—preferred ways of making sense out of spoken messages. Lis-
tening researchers have discovered that many listeners have one of the following
listening styles: relational, analytical, critical, or task-oriented.^15 Understanding
your listening style can help you to become a better and more flexible listener.^16
About 40 percent of listeners have one primary listening style; another 40
percent use more than one style; and about 20 percent don’t have a listening
style preference.^17 The best listeners are flexible listeners who can adapt their
listening style to fit the occasion and the person speaking.^18RELATIONAL-ORIENTED LISTENERS You’re a relational-oriented listener if
you are comfortable listening to people express feelings and emotions. It’s likely
that you are highly empathic and that you seek common ground with the per-
son you are listening to. You enjoy hearing stories about people and personal
relationships and are easily moved by poignant illustrations and anecdotes.
Relational-oriented listeners are generally less apprehensive than other types of
listeners when speaking with others in interpersonal and group situations.^19TASK-ORIENTED LISTENERS Task-oriented listeners want to know what to
do with the information that they hear. They listen for the verbs—the action
words that indicate what task should be completed or action should be taken
after listening to the information. The task-oriented listener wants people
to get to the point; a long story or a lengthy personal example without some
direction is less satisfying to a task-oriented listener than is a call for action.
Task-oriented listeners also seem to be more skeptical than people with other
listening styles. They prefer to be given evidence to support recommendations
for action.M05_BEEB3981_05_SE_C05_065-094.indd 78 07/11/14 11:45 AM