What Is Your Listening Style?

Successful organizations know that effective communication bolsters employee morale, boosts performance, and increases the bottom line. They also know that the strongest influence on the quality and outcome of all communications is the ability to listen well. Only by listening effectively can people respond appropriately.

The Personal Listening Profile^® helps individuals identify which of the five listening approaches they use to process, organize, store, and retrieve information:

• Appreciative: Listens in a relaxed manner, seeks enjoyment, entertainment, or inspiration.

• Empathic: Listens without judging, is supportive of the speaker, and learns from the experiences of others.

• Comprehensive: Listens to organize and make sense of information by understanding relationships among ideas.

• Discerning: Listens to get complete information, understand the main message, and determine important details.

• Evaluative: Listens in order to make a decision based on information provided and may accept or reject messages based on personal beliefs.

The Personal Listening Profile^® also helps people understand when their most natural listening approach may not be appropriate, and how to adopt another approach for more successful communication. Organizations use it in a variety of applications, including customer service, leadership development, conflict resolution, and team building.

You can learn more about the Personal Listening Profile^® in our on-line store, where for $25 you may purchase a link to take this self-assessment that will help you understand more about your listening style. Click here to go to the store.