Psychiatrists break listening into two parts: manifest and latent. Manifest is what the person is saying and latent is that which is behind what he is saying.
Sometimes we refer to this ability to do latent listening as a "sixth sense." Like playing piano by ear, some people are born with it, and yet most pianists have to learn to play note by note. Through proper understanding and development of this ability an executive is able to become much more effective in evaluating and leading people.
Listening comes in four levels:
1) The meaning of words … even the meaning breaks down into three distinct categories (dictionary, colloquial, and personal). The dictionary is relatively easy. Colloquial expressions generally mean about the same to everyone, while personal meanings of words must be carefully judged. For example, the president of a company the other day said, "We have lax communication in our organization." I know the organization and what he really means is, "informal communications." He often interchanges the two words. Knowing this makes a big difference in getting his meaning.
2. Choice of words…while the meaning of words is largely manifest, the choice of words starts to become latent. In the choice, it is possible to get a rather reliable evaluation of a person's depth of intelligence, scope of interest, ability to think in principles or techniques, as well as his moral levels. The choice of words starts to show the emotion of the person. It is not very difficult to listen to a group of people discuss a matter and tell by their choice of words what their personal emotional involvement is in the subject. Our feelings show in our descriptions. A newspaper columnist spoke of a public figure as "the talkative Mr._____" It's not hard to know what he thought, is it?
3. Sound of words — here we must develop an ability to cut out the meaning and choice of words, listening only to the sound. For example, the rhythm many times gives us a cue to the person's emotional nature, as well as his familiarity with the subject. A person who speaks in a monotonous rhythm is not generally a person of great emotional depth. The other night (1960) our little daughter and I were coming out of church when I asked her what she thought about the sermon. She replied, "Dad, I couldn't get the words to go in my ears." I'm sure you've had the same experience and it generally comes at a time when a speaker has a poor rhythm. On the other hand, charismatic speakers can persuade an audience through the skillful use of a powerful rhythm and sound.
Part of the sound of words is the pitch and speed. As a person get more excited his pitch becomes more intense and his speed picks up.
Tone is another part of the sound. For example, a person speaking with a nasal tone usually has a negative feeling about the subject. Think of children who whine!
Change of pace is an interesting study in the sound. This can come about when a person suddenly decides to control his voice. Many people, when speaking on a very important matter, will slow down and lower their tone and change the pace. We can listen for this technique to develop our latent listening.
Pauses and mistakes in speech are also part of the sound of words. Usually a person breaks their speech when they're thinking about two things at the same time. Naturally, if we are listening for evaluation then we are interested in what could have been the thought other than the one that was expressed.
4) Sight of words — actually we cannot see the words, but we see many things when a person is using the words. For example, gestures. Are they friendly or hostile? Open or closed? What is the facial expression, particularly the movement of the mouth? Are there any facial ticks or body movements which are significant? Clothes and office surroundings are part of the sight of words.
Developing the latent listening skills should be used for evaluation, not for manipulation. It is a method of diagnosis, much like a doctor's. He evaluates in order to treat. Good listeners hear the words spoken and unspoken. We listen in order to better lead.
