Listening is the key to all communication both with your clients and with your colleagues and classmates. Active listening is different than passive listening because it is a choice and it takes work! If you have listened actively, you will know it because it is tiring! This is you primary skill as an SSW, so you will hear about it in the context of helping (Social Work Practice) and in the context of interpersonal communication (Communicating in Small groups) The skills are the same. They are just applied in two different contexts.

Most of us are not that great at active listening. As such, it is a skill that has to be learned and practiced. Watch the video below for a summary of what active listening looks and feels like. As you watch the video, think about your strengths and weaknesses as it relates to listening.

Listening is key to building relationships at work. It involves non verbal and verbal cues. It involves paraphrasing, reflecting content and feelings, asking questions, summarizing what the speaker has said.

Watch the video below to see what paraphrasing looks like in an interpersonal context.

Barriers to Effective Listening 

As already listed, listening is the process of selecting, attending, understanding and remembering.  To fully attend to, understand, and remember what another person is saying at any level requires that you overcome many common obstacles to listening such as outside distractions, uncomfortable chair, a headache—but the focus here will be on two prevalent and serious barriers:  prejudging and rehearsing

Barrier #1″: Prejudging the communicator or the communication:

Sometimes you simply don’t like some people, or always disagree with them.  You anticipate that what these people will say will be offensive, and you begin to tune them out.  An example of this is many people’s tendency not to listen carefully to people who hold beliefs different from their own.  In a group you must overcome the temptation to ignore those you think are boring, dull, or offensive.  Good ideas can come from anyone, even from people you don’t like.  Likewise, you should not prejudge certain topics as being too complex, boring, or controversial.  This can be difficult, especially when a cherished belief is criticized or when others say things about you that you might not want to hear.  These are precisely the times when communication needs to be clear, open, honest, and confirming.  To communicate that way you need to listen

You also need to be mindful of implicit bias as this can impact your ability to listen as well. Watch the video below to learn about implicit bias. As you watch the video, think about what implicit bias you might have (we all have them!)

Barrier #2: Rehearsing a response:

This barrier is perhaps the most difficult to overcome.  It is the tendency people have to rehearse in their minds what they will say when the other person is finished.  One of the reasons for this barrier is the difference between speech rate and thought rate.  Most people speak at a rate of about 100 to 125 words per minute, but they have the capacity to think or listen at a rate of 400 or more words per minute.  This gives them the mental time and space to wander off while keeping one ear on the speaker.  The thought/speech differential is better used, though, to attend fully to what the speaker is saying—and not saying.  When people learn to do this their responses can be more spontaneous, accurate, appropriate, confirming and supportive.

Click here to take a self-assessment on your strengths and weaknesses as a listener

Cross cultural communication and non-verbal communication

Watch VIDEO#3 here: On Nonverbal Communication to listen to students discuss how people employ different types of non-verbal communication to express themselves and interact with others—and how these types of non-verbal communication may differ from one culture to another.