KINDS OF LISTENERS: WHICH ONE ARE YOU?

Are the qualities and attitudes of these listeners desirable or not? Which kind are you?

(1)Mind reader : You try to identify the speaker’s motives. You pay attention to what the speaker thinks and feels. You second-guess or pre-empt the speaker’s words and messages.

(2)Rehearser : You try to fill the speaker’s shoes, attempting to say things your way. You say to yourself, if I were speaking, this is what I’ll say,” or “I won’t say that.”

(3)Filterer : Some call this selective listening, hearing only what you want to hear. You block out undesirable Words and sounds, and hear only what you like, or that which appeals to you.

(4)Dreamer : You tend to drift off when someone is speaking to you. Your mind wanders because you are Distracted or interested in something else. This may lead to embarrassing comments like,“I beg your pardon?’, or “What’s that again?”

(5)Identifier : You refer everything you hear to a previous experience. You react to sounds and spoken information depending on what you can identify with. Anything that is not within your scope of experience is difficult to comprehend.

(6)Placater : You agree with everything you hear just to be nice or to avoid conflict.

(7)Derailer : You change the subject too quickly, proving that you are interested not in what the speaker is saying, but on what you really want to say.

(8)Sparrer : You are always on the verbal warpath. You belittle or disagree with what’s said without giving the speaker time to explain further. You insist on what you know and feel instead of listening objectively to what is being said.