Hearing vs. Listening*

2. Hearing vs. Listening* • Hearing: physiological, sensory process whereby auditory sensations are received by the ear and transmitted to the brain. • Listening: psychological process of interpreting and understanding the content of the hearing experience. *M. Markel, Technical Communication Situations and Strategies, New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1998.

3. Listening • Communication percentages: • Talking = 55% • Listening = 45%

4. Listening Retention • Following a 10-minute presentation, the average listener’s memory: • Immediately: 50% • After 48 hours: 25%

5. Group Listening Skills • Reduce distractions • Face the speaker • Maintain eye contact • Reduce movements • Discard preconceptions • Focus on ideas, not words • Listen productively

6. Individual Listening Skills • Do not interrupt • Paraphrase what the speaker said • Ask open questions

7. Collaboration • Collaborate = working jointly or closely with others • Collaboration = popular trend in industry and in the classroom

8. Patterns of Collaboration • Expert areas • Engineer • Technical communicator • Graphic artist • Stages of writing process • Pre-writing • Drafting • Document sections

9. Advantages of Collaboration • Knowledge base • Skills base • Audience reaction • Shared responsibility • Improved communication among group

10. Disadvantages of Collaboration • Greater time requirement • Unexpressed concerns/questions • Non-unified document • Unequal work assignments • Decreased sense of ownership • Peer conflicts

11. Successful Collaboration • Define task • Choose leader • Assign individual tasks • Establish procedures • Set schedule • Set evaluation guidelines • Consult with group members/others

12. Conflict Control • Be punctual • Meetings • Deadlines • Listen • Ask questions • Be polite/supportive • Avoid emotions • Share information