Mastering the Art of Active Listening

Do you listen attentively?

If your answer is YES that is a good habit, but if it is NO! Is there a way to develop your listening skills?

The fact is that good listeners can stay in the moment and be involved in the conversation. This skill is known as the active listening skill.

Let’s explore the qualities needed to improve this skill of active listening:

Most often as we listen we tend to think of our own experiences as the person speaks and sometimes even cut off their speech mid-way bombarding them with our ideas.

With listening actively, we must not only listen to what is being spoken but also be able to observe their non-verbal cues and body language which expresses emotions. For that to take place, the speaker must be involved empathetically, showing respect to the speaker. This is considered a much-needed soft skill to hone since there are many speakers out there but truly few listeners who are actively involved in the conversations.

Once this skill is developed, the change in communication is visible and it reflects positively not only in our workplace but also in our personal life as communication is the base of any relationship formed and it matters the most.

Active Listening at Workplace

If you are looking for a new job or have joined an organization and striving for a promotion, these skills will help you add more value as an employee working for an organization.

Responding effectively to body cues and being empathetic are the two primary skills of active listening that also validate the other person. They specifically use more open phrases like uh__hmm, a non-verbal language while listening, and they paraphrase and respond with follow-up questions to showcase that they’ve been heard. All these combined make a conversation more engaging as it has a wider reach and involves every single person in the conversation.