Self-Discovery thru the Art of Listening: An Annotated Bibliography
Diane Jones
Saint Petersburg College

INTRODUCTION The resources listed in this annotated bibliography are intended to bring to light the importance of listening, in our professional lives as well as in our personal lives. The focus is learning to listen and the importance of being a good listener. Whether in a business relationship or a personal relationship, communication is the key --- forty-five percent of which is listening. Having good listening skills can lead to career advancement. For instance, a manager needs to have the ability to listen nonjudgmentally for valid information and to understand others point of view in order to make managerial decisions. Active listening can help you better understand thoughts and feelings of others and provide positive communication in your relationships. A portion of this research involves self-knowledge and how to get to know yourself better. We are always talking to ourselves, silently, in our heads, thinking… without really paying attention or analyzing our thoughts. Are we really even listening to ourselves? Perhaps we could discover a part of our unknown selves… I am now wondering what all I have missed out on in my lifetime from hearing rather than listening. There is an art to listening and it must be learned and developed through practice. Learning to listen effectively is a complex, challenging, and lifelong undertaking. These resources offer explanations and ideas on how we can improve areas in our lives through the art of listening.

ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY
Beard, D. (2009). A Broader Understanding of the Ethics of Listening: Philosophy, Cultural Studies, Media Studies and the Ethical Listening Subject. International Journal of Listening, 23(1), 7-20. Retrieved from EBSCOhost. This article discusses listening as among the most powerful contemporary “technologies of the self,” and building guidelines for ethical choices we all make in listening. Beard describes listening as “a moment of silence that makes possible the constitution of the self.” Listening is a dynamic part of the communication process which involves much more than just receiving a message. He states that listening practices begin with silence, without interruption, objecting, or giving opinion. It is a time to absorb what we are hearing and then pausing to reflect on the knowledge we have just received. Since 45% of our time communicating is spent listening, Beard describes five choices we can make to be better engaged in the listening practice to become more ethical beings.
Brunner, B.R. (2008). Listening, Communication & Trust: Practitioners’ Perspectives of Business/Organizational Relationships. International Journal of Listening, 22(1), 73-82. Retrieved from EBSCOhost. This article discusses how communication and listening have a role in building and maintaining relationships, more specifically, a business/organizational relationship. The researcher gathered information by asking public relations and communication employees and managers questions concerning what makes for successful business relationships. He found that respondents were not always comfortable defining the term relationship but rather summed up their thoughts with statements such as “it’s everything you do in business.” However, the majority listed elements they felt were necessary for a relationship; such as, “shared decision making,” “managing expectations,” “understanding,” “communicating,” “trust,” and “listening.” The importance of communication and listening is such that a relationship would be impossible without it. You must have interaction to have a relationship with communication and listening being the core elements. We all want there to be trust in our relationships, whether personal relationships or business relations; and this article helped me realize this can only be accomplished through communication and good listening skills.
Flynn, J., Valikoski, T., & Grau, J. (2008). Listening in the Business Context: Reviewing the State of Research. International Journal of Listening, 22(2), 141-151. Retrieved from EBSCOhost. This article is an overview of academic research on listening in the business environment. While effective listening is a desirable skill in the workplace, it does not receive much attention in the business classroom or in organizations. Through active listening, a person can better understand the thoughts and feelings of others. Managers need to have the ability to listen nonjudgmentally for valid information and to understand the other’s point of view while making managerial decisions. Listening is a desirable work skill and can lead to career advancement.
Thompson, K., Leintz, P., Nevers, B., & Witkowski, S. (2004). THE INTEGRATIVE LISTENING MODEL: AN APPROACH TO TEACHING AND LEARNING LISTENING. JGE: The Journal of General Education, 53(3/4), 225-246. Retrieved from EBSCOhost. This is a report on formal listening instruction at Alverno College where they look at listening as a separate and distinct communication ability. Using the Integrative Listening Model (ILM), they develop listening competence using a systematic, developmental approach; opportunities for listening practice in a variety of contexts; opportunities for self-assessment and feedback; and goal-setting. The ILM includes four stages: preparing for listening, applying the listening process model, assessing listening effectiveness, and establishing goals for future listening. Learning to listen effectively is a complex, challenging, and lifelong undertaking and the ILM provides a practical framework to address the process.
Wilson, T. D. (2009). Know thyself. Perspectives on Psychological Science (Wiley-Blackwell), 4(4). 384-389. Doi:10.1111/j.17456924.2009.01143.x This is a short article that goes in depth to the subject of ‘know thyself.’ Wilson discusses theoretical developments in the field of self-knowledge. He includes the costs of poor self-knowledge, how to get to know you better, and obstacles in the study of self-knowledge. With so much of our mental lives unavailable to introspection, the task of discovering our true self can be difficult. Wilson offers a number of ways we can know ourselves better.