Good communication is one of the most valued skills in the workplace. And effective listening is crucial to communicating productively inside the organization and meeting the competitive challenges outside the organization. The Personal Listening Profile® helps people become active, purposeful listeners in a wide variety of situations for more productive communication. It helps individuals identify their preferred listening style and understand how they can adopt other approaches when appropriate. Ultimately, this profile is designed to help people accept interpersonal differences and adopt behavioral strategies that foster considerate, collaborative, and effective relationships.

Discover the Impact of Five Listening Approaches

It's estimated that people screen out or change the intended purpose of what they hear in over 70% of all communications. The biggest factor contributing to such miscommunications is our listening approach. Behavioral research shows that people listen with a preferred listening approach. The Personal Listening Profile® describes five listening approaches:

Appreciative: Listens in a relaxed manner, seeking 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 message based on personal beliefs

INDIVIDUAL INSIGHTS

Personal Insight into Communication Preferences: Help people understand their preferences, strengths, and growth areas as listeners.

• Gain a deeper understanding of the focus of your listening, the motivations behind your listening, and the overt behaviors you demonstrate while listening.
• Gain a feeling of acceptance with the understanding of the nature and value of your contribution.
• Understand the sources of frustrations at work if you are consistently required to listen in ways that are incompatible with your style.
• Understand the danger of not realizing your limitations as a listener.

Effective Information Processing: Help people more accurately and efficiently gather, understand, and judge the information presented to them.

• Learn how to gather information that is more thorough and complete.
• Learn how to make decisions and draw conclusions that are processed more critically.
• Draw attention to the gaps in your information processing style.
• Learn how to organize information and listen for core meanings of the message.

Understanding of Diversity in Communication Styles: Help people understand how others might have listening styles that are different from their own.

• Understand that others may have different motivations, priorities, and instincts that compete with yours.
• Help co-workers understand that diversity does not equal adversity.
• Understand your expectations of others within the communication process.
• Understand how others might misinterpret your listening behavior.

INTERPERSONAL INSIGHTS

Dialogue About Communication: Help individuals and groups accept, welcome, and encourage the entire spectrum of listening styles.

• Encourage co-workers to understand that there are no right or wrong listening preferences, just differences.
• Create a safe forum to discuss differences.
• Create a culture of acceptance around diverse listening styles.

Relating to Other Communication Styles: Develop communication strategies that help people avoid misunderstandings, frustration, and resentment.

• Understand that even though people need to adjust at times, their preferences are not necessarily wrong.
• Develop a model and language through which groups can more harmoniously, cooperatively, and efficiently work together.
• Allow greater focus on understanding the needs and perspectives of co-workers.
• Develop specific strategies that minimize or avoid miscommunication with co-workers.

Personal Listening Profile Research Report

Online (Electronic) Assessment Price: $31.00
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Associated Products:
Personal Listening Profile® Facilitator's Kit

Personal Listening Profile ® Facilitator Group Report   (sample)