What type of listener you are?
7 types of listening that can change your life. There are several types of listening you can develop both at home and at work.
Let’s explore seven of these types of listening, why they matter, and what they can look like:
1. Informational listening
When you want to learn something, you’ll use informational listening to understand and retain information.
It usually takes a high level of concentration to perform this type of listening. That’s because you need to be highly engaged to understand a new concept.
also need to apply critical thinking to what you are learning. This is so you can understand what you’re learning within the context of relevant information.
Some examples of informational listening include:
Work training
Self-paced learning at home or at work
Listening to an educational eBook
Coaching
When you know how to use informational listening, you empower yourself to become a better learner. By actively learning and improving yourself, you can become a more valuable asset in your place of work.
You can also feel more fulfilled when you pursue your passions and learn something new at home.
2. Discriminative listening
Discriminative listening is the first listening type that you’re born with.
Everyone innately has discriminative listening skills.
You use this type of listening before you even know how to understand words. Instead of relying on words, discriminative listening uses tone of voice, verbal cues, and other changes in sound.
Discriminative listening is how babies understand the intention of a phrase before they can understand words. If someone speaks to them in a happy and amused tone of voice, they’ll smile and laugh back.
They can also tell who is talking because they recognize different voices.
But discriminative listening isn’t just for babies.
If you’re listening to a conversation happening in a foreign language, you’ll likely automatically use your discriminative listening skills.
These will allow you to analyze tone and inflection to get an idea of what is going on.
You can also use nonverbal cues to listen and analyze. For instance, someone’s facial expressions, body language, and other mannerisms can tell you a lot about the meaning of someone’s message.
You shouldn't discount discriminative listening, even if you understand someone’s language.
This listening style is key to understanding the subtle cues in a conversation. Using this listening skill can help you read between the lines and hear what remains unspoken.
Here’s an example:
Let’s say you ask one of your colleagues if they agree with a course of action.
They say yes, but you can tell from their body language, such as shifting uncomfortably, that something is wrong.
Using your discriminative listening skills, you can pick up on this and ask them if they’re certain. You can also ask if something is going on that they’d like to discuss.
sitting-woman-listening-to-another-woman-types-of-listening
3. Biased listening
Biased listening is also known as selective listening.
Someone who uses biased listening will only listen for information that they specifically want to hear.
This listening process can lead to a distortion of facts. That’s because the person listening isn’t fully in tune with what the speaker wishes to communicate.
Here’s an example:
Let’s say your superior is briefing you on a new project. You’re waiting to hear about the details of this assignment because you’ve been excited for a long time about it.
Because you’re so focused on the details of the assignment, you don’t fully hear everything your superior says. As a result, you hear your superior explain how you’ll be judged on this project, but you don’t fully process it.
Because you don’t have this information, you may not perform as well as you could if you had understood all the details.
4. Sympathetic listening
Sympathetic listening is driven by emotion.
Instead of focusing on the message spoken through words, the listener focuses on the feelings and emotions of the speaker.
This is done to process these feelings and emotions.
By using sympathetic listening, you can provide the support the speaker needs. You can understand how they’re really feeling, not what they say they are feeling.
The speaker will feel heard and validated when you take the time to pay attention in this way.
Sympathetic listening is crucial if you want to build a deeper relationship with someone in your life.
For example, let’s say you run into a work colleague at the grocery store. They seem upset, so you decide to listen to what they have to say.
You also use sympathetic listening to feel how they are feeling. In doing this, you notice how frustrated they are about the lack of recognition they are getting at work.
As a result, you can offer your support and sympathize with their situation.
two-women-listening-to-one-woman-types-of-listening
5. Comprehensive listening
Unlike discriminative listening, comprehensive listening requires language skills.
This type of listening is usually developed in early childhood.
People use comprehensive listening to understand what someone is saying using words.
Several other types of listening build on comprehensive listening. For example, you need to use comprehensive listening to use informational listening and learn something new.
At work and in your life, you’ll likely use a combination of comprehensive and discriminative listening to understand the messages people are giving you.
For example, let’s say your colleague briefs you on a project. You’ll need to use comprehensive listening to analyze the words and understand the message.
You’ll also use comprehensive listening when you receive feedback.
6. Empathetic or therapeutic listening
Empathetic listening is useful to help you see from other people’s perspectives.
Using this type of listening, you can try to understand someone else’s point of view as they’re speaking. You can also try to imagine yourself in the other person’s shoes.
Instead of just focusing on their message, you can use empathetic listening to relate to someone else’s experiences as if they were your own.
This is different from sympathetic listening.
With sympathetic listening, you try to understand someone’s feelings to provide support. But you don’t necessarily try to imagine what it’d feel like to be in their position.
Here’s an example:
Let’s say your superior just announced that this week’s company outing is canceled due to budget cuts.
By using empathetic listening, you can tell how much pressure your superior is feeling. You can imagine yourself having to break the bad news.
You know there’s pressure from higher-ups to respect the budget. You also know that there’s pressure from employees.
Instead of getting upset, you understand why your superior made this decision. That’s because you can imagine what it’s like to be in their shoes at this moment.
7. Critical listening
If you need to analyze complex information, you’ll need to use critical listening.
Using critical thinking while listening goes deeper than comprehensive listening. Instead of taking the information at face value, you can use critical listening to evaluate what’s being said.
Critical listening is crucial when problem-solving at work.
For example, you’d use this type of listening when trying to choose how to handle an unusual and complex client request.
You need to use this skill to analyze solutions offered by other people and decide if you agree or not.
To do this, you don’t just need to hear their words. You also need to look at the bigger picture and compare everything you know and work.
"Of all the skills of leadership, listening is the most valuable — and one of the least understood. Most captains of industry listen only sometimes, and they remain ordinary leaders. But a few, the great ones, never stop listening. That's how they get word before anyone else of unseen problems and opportunities."
— Peter Nulty, Fortune Magazine