How to Be a Better Communicator: 5 Types of Listening

Communication is a two-way street. When people think of communication, generally they tend to focus on the vocal aspects of things. While it’s true that being a good talker, and being able to verbally express yourself in a concise manner is very important, you should not underestimate the power of being a good listener. 

Listening is every bit as important as speaking when it comes to communication. In fact, some would argue that it’s more important still. Being a good listener not only helps you to process and store info much easier, it also helps to build trust and strengthen relationships. This is true in a personal setting, as well as professional settings too. 

Despite what some may believe, listening isn’t just a case of hearing what somebody is saying to you and not speaking over them. No, it’s so much more. You can listen in a variety of different ways, which is what we’re going to be looking at today. 

Here are 5 different types of listening to help improve your communication skills. 

Why is Listening so Important?

Don’t worry, we’re going to look at how you can become a better listener shortly. Before we do however, we need to understand why listening is so important. 

Listening to what somebody is saying to you isn’t just about not being rude and talking over people, it’s about taking in info, processing it, and using it. When you listen to somebody, you get a clear and concise understanding of what they’re trying to say. This is true not only of the words they’re speaking, but of their pitch and tone as well. 

Somebody could tell you they’re happy and content verbally, yet if they sound subdued and sad, this could show that they’re putting a brave face on. By listening on a deeper level, you’re delving beyond words and are identifying the fact that the person speaking to you is in fact feeling low. 

By listening to people, you can take in what they’re saying and then use this to come up with a response. If somebody has a problem and is asking your advice, listening to what they have to say will help you get a better understanding of what the issue is. From there, you can form your own opinion and hand out your own advice. 

By listening, you also avoid the likelihood of misunderstandings and miscommunication. In the workplace, that is especially important. In fact, in some settings, a hospital for example, it could literally be the difference between life and death. As an example, if a patient were to tell a nurse that they’re allergic to a certain medicine, the nurse can then make a note of that and pass that onto the doctor. If the doctor didn’t listen to the nurse, they may then prescribe the medicine to the patient that they’re allergic to, which could have devastating consequences. 

It’s an extreme example, but it is a very real possibility and sadly, there have been many instances where similar scenarios have played out. The most frustrating part of all is that, with better communication, these scenarios and events could all have been avoided. This is why developing your listening skills is so important. 

5 Different Types of Listening

Now that we understand why listening is so important and beneficial, we now need to work on those all-important listening skills. 

As we mentioned earlier, listening isn’t just about hearing what somebody tells you, or what is going on around you, it’s so much more than that. There are many different types of listening skill to develop, which is what we’re going to be exploring now. 

Here’s a look at how you can develop your listening skills with these different types of listening. 

Comprehensive Listening 

We’ll start things off by looking at one of the most important types of listening – comprehensive listening. 

Comprehensive listening is important because it helps you get a clearer understanding of what somebody is telling you, or what you’re hearing in general. 

When somebody speaks to you, you listen closely and concisely to take in as much info as possible. The goal here is to hear every word, process the info, and decide what to do with what you’ve been told. 

It sounds complex, but in reality, comprehensive listening is probably the most common listening type of all. You yourselves probably use comprehensive listening on a daily basis without even realizing. 

People use comprehensive listening skills both at work, and in their personal lives. If for example, your friend comes to you and asks you for advice on which outfit to wear for a job interview, you can use what they’ve told you about the potential new job to give advice. If for example, they’ve told you that the company is very professional and enforces a strict dress-code, you can talk your friend out of wearing a relaxed and casual outfit. Instead, you could not only advise them to dress professionally, but you can give reasons to back up your advice. 

Empathetic Listening 

Another type of listening that can prove very effective, on a human and even spiritual level, is empathetic listening. 

Empathetic listening is all about listening to build trust, provide emotional support, and come up with solutions to problems. It’s all about putting yourself in the person speaking’s shoes and trying to feel what they’re feeling at that moment in time. 

While empathetic listening can help you to come up with solutions to problems, it is mostly about being there for somebody, providing support and providing encouragement. With empathetic listening, you can learn about a person’s problems and their state of mind. 

Counsellors and life coaches typically possess strong empathetic listening skills as this helps them provide the support their clients need, which also makes them better at their jobs. 

To work on your empathetic listening skills, if somebody comes to you with a problem, listen to every word they say, as well as the tone in which they’re saying it in. Put yourself in their shoes and try to imagine how they’re feeling. 

Selective Listening 

As we’re talking to you today about becoming a better communicator, we weren’t sure whether or not to include selective listening as an example. This is because, in most cases, selective listening can be detrimental. There are however, a few scenarios where it can be beneficial. 

Selective listening, also known as biased listening, means people only listen out for what they want to hear. This means that the truth may be distorted and warped, because the listener has only heard some of what they have been told. 

As an example, your boss may be telling you all about a new project you’re due to start work on. You’ve been eager to learn more about this project for months and can’t wait to get started. Because you’re so eager to get started you’ll only hear what you want to hear about the project, I.E what it involves and when you get started. That’s all well and good, but it could mean that you miss other important details like deadlines and special instructions laid out by the client. 

If you’ve been guilty of selective listening in the past, try to be more aware of this to prevent it from happening in the future. By being aware of how your brain processes info, you can adjust your listening style to allow you to take in and process more information, instead of hearing what you want to hear and blurring out the rest. 

Critical Listening

If you’re looking to work on your listening and communication skills to help you in a professional workplace setting, critical listening is ideal. 

With critical listening, you listen to analyse and critique whatever it is that you’re hearing. You aren’t listening purely for the positives, you’re listening for the negatives, and what could potentially wind up as becoming a negative. 

When a person speaks to you, if you’re a critical listener, you’ll evaluate everything you’re hearing. This goes beyond words as you’ll judge things like voice, tone, and pitch as well. You’ll then process this info and will usually come up with a solution to a problem, or a solution to a potential problem that may never even materialize. 

Critical listening is about listening to the facts and forming your own ideas based upon what it is that you’re hearing. This particular type of listening often works very well in law-and-order settings. Jurors for example, would benefit from critical listening as it can help get a clear understanding of the facts, and form a judgement based upon what you’ve heard. 

Informational Listening 

Finally, we’ll finish with a look at informational listening. 

With informational listening, you’ll combine elements of critical listening and comprehensive listening and use it to take on everything you’re being told. The goal here is to clearly and concisely understand what you’ve been told, and retain the info. 

Informational listening requires a great deal of focus, concentration, and engagement. You need to hear and understand every single word you’ve been told. If you aren’t sure of something, stop, ask the speaker to repeat themselves, and don’t continue until what they’re saying makes complete and total sense to you. 

Conclusion

So, there you have just 5 of the many different types of listening that will make you a better communicator. 

Remember, clear, confident communication is what sets people apart from one another. It’s beneficial in both professional, and personal settings. The better a communicator you are, the easier you’ll find most aspects of life in general. 

If you’d like to test and strengthen your speaking, listening, and communication skills, be sure to head on over to our app and sign up for a free, 7-day trial.