A listening problem, or a measurement problem?
A senior IVD professional had just completed a listening exercise. I asked him to rate his understanding on a scale from one to ten.
His answer came without hesitation: “About 30%.”
At first glance, that sounds like a listening problem. But I wasn’t interested in the percentage itself. I was interested in what the percentage represented.
So I asked him a different question:
“Thirty percent of what?”
The question caught him by surprise.
Like many professionals, he had instinctively measured his listening by the number of words and expressions he felt he had recognised. It is a very natural way to judge ourselves.
But it is not necessarily how professional listening should be measured.
Understanding enough to make sense of the situation
Imagine a project update.
A colleague explains that the project timeline has changed, several departments will be affected, documentation needs updating, and marketing will need to adjust its plans.
Perhaps you did not catch every conversational expression. Perhaps some words passed by too quickly. Perhaps the speaker used fillers, changed direction mid-sentence, or hesitated while thinking.
Now ask a different question.
Did you understand what happened? Did you understand why it mattered? Did you understand who would be affected? Did you understand what was likely to happen next?
If the answer is yes, then your comprehension is probably much higher than you think.
Precision is valuable, but listening works differently
This is something I observe regularly with professionals from technical backgrounds.
Engineering, manufacturing, quality, and regulated sectors train people to value precision. Missing information feels uncomfortable. Uncertainty feels incomplete. Conclusions should be based on sufficient evidence.
These are excellent professional habits. Listening, however, operates differently.
The brain does not wait until every word has been consciously identified before constructing meaning. Instead, it continuously combines what it hears with context, background knowledge, professional experience, and expectation.
Meaning often emerges before every linguistic detail has been consciously processed.
The measurement had changed, not the percentage
When we revisited the listening passage together, something interesting happened.
The manager realised he had correctly understood the central issue. He knew the discussion concerned timeline adjustments. He understood that several departments would be affected. He recognised the purpose of the conversation. He could explain the overall message accurately.
His original estimate of “30%” suddenly no longer seemed to describe what had actually happened.
Listening is not about catching everything
Professional meetings are rarely tests of vocabulary. They are moments in which people exchange information in order to make decisions, coordinate actions, solve problems, and reduce uncertainty.
The objective is not to recognise every word. The objective is to understand enough to respond appropriately. Those are two very different measures of success.
One counts language. The other measures understanding.
Sometimes the breakthrough is recognising what is already there
One of the most rewarding moments in listening training is not when someone suddenly hears more English. It is when they realise they have been understanding more than they believed.
Sometimes the better question is not:
“How many words did I understand?”
Instead, it may be:
“Did I understand what I needed in order to do my job?”
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