Active Listening

Active listening is an important part of your communication skill set because it encourages openness, honesty, and success. 

When you pay attention to your conversation partner, you show that person they are being heard, thus building trust and making that person feel like their words matter to you.

One of the most critical skills in effective communication is active listening. Developing this soft skill will help you build and maintain relationships, solve problems, improve processes and retain information, such as instructions, procedures and expectations.

What is active listening?

Active listening is a highly valued interpersonal communication skill that allows you to engage and recall specific details without needing information repeated. Unlike passive listening, active listening involves focusing completely on the speaker, understanding their message, and responding thoughtfully.

Verbal and non-verbal techniques are used to show and keep attention on the speaker. By carefully considering the speaker's words and committing the information to memory, active listeners demonstrate their ability to comprehend and respond thoughtfully.

Why is active listening so important in the workplace?

Whether you're looking for a new job role, aiming for a promotion, or simply want to improve in your current position, developing your active listening skills can help you succeed. Active listening is a soft skill that can increase your value as an employee, along with critical thinking and conflict resolution. By honing this skill, you'll be able to better understand your colleagues, customers, and stakeholders, enabling you to build stronger relationships and achieve better results.

Main Components of Active Listening:

There are 3 main components of successful active listening (Rogers & Farson, 1987):

Listen for Meaning

As a communicator, it's important to understand that there are two meanings to gather when someone is conveying a message: the content and the feeling or attitude underlying the message.

That's why it's crucial to be an active listener, not only tuning in to the information conveyed, but also how it is conveyed and any nonverbal cues present. By doing so, we can better understand the speaker's perspective and respond in a way that is both empathetic and effective.

Respond to Feelings

As active listeners, it's important to respond appropriately when necessary. One way to do this is by acknowledging the speaker's feelings. By responding to the emotions conveyed, the speaker feels heard and understood, and empathy is established. This can help to build stronger relationships and foster better communication.

So, the next time you're engaged in a conversation, remember to respond not just to the words, but to the feelings behind them.

Note all Cues

Nonverbal cues are an essential part of communication. They can convey a much deeper meaning than merely the content of what was said. Tone of voice, facial or body expressions, and speed of speech are all nonverbal cues that we use to communicate with each other. Understanding these cues can help us better understand the message being conveyed.

So, the next time you're having a conversation, pay attention not just to what is being said, but how it's being said.

Being an active listener can help you accomplish the following:

Build connections and achieve success in your career by mastering the art of active listening. When you listen sincerely to others, they feel comfortable sharing information with you. This can help you collaborate with them, get work done quickly, or even start new projects. By demonstrating your ability to actively listen, you can build strong connections with others and open up opportunities for success.

Developing trust is key to building long-term working relationships with new customers or business contacts. When people feel comfortable speaking freely without interruptions, judgment, or unwelcome interjections, they're more likely to confide in you. This can lead to a deeper understanding of their needs and goals, and ultimately, a more successful partnership. Remember to listen actively and create a safe space for open communication to develop trust and foster strong connections.

The ability to identify and solve problems is another key sill that actively listening will help you accomplish. Actively listening to others will help you detect challenges and difficulties others are facing, or problems within projects. The more quickly you’re able to spot these issues, the sooner you can find a solution or create a plan to address them.

Great team members are always striving to learn something new and grow their knowledge base. Because active listening helps you retain information, it will also help you better understand new topics and remember what you’ve learned so you can apply it in the future.

Because active listeners are highly engaged with the speaker, they’re able to recall specific details and this prevents them missing critical information. This is especially important when the speaker is proving instructions, training you on a new process or delivering a message you’re responsible for passing along to others.

How do I become a better active listener?

Here are ten tips to help you get the most out of any presentation or conversation.

1. Be fully engaged with the speaker and do not let your mind wander.

2. Don’t worry so much about taking notes, just write down the absolute must-have takeaways.

3. Pay the person who is speaking back with enthusiasm. Your expression, posture, and questions matter.

4. Role-play in your mind what you hear in your own situation. How will you apply this information in your day-to-day?

5. If you disagree, wait a few seconds, and then challenge the idea, not the speaker.

6. Ask the speaker truly difficult questions on the subject that the whole room will benefit from.

7. Everyone in the room has a wealth of experience to share, regardless of how long they’ve been on the job.

8. Honor the speaker by saying something smart and useful in response to their talk.

9. Give honest feedback to help speakers improve.

10. Active listeners get what they deserve – better speakers! By listening actively, we all benefit.