Listening Is an Art a Skill and a Discipline
In this historic period of the Internet, smart phones and social media, information technology seems similar people are talking at each other more than than listening to each other. Break for a moment to consider how many emails, text messages, vocalization mails and other interruptive, one-way communications you receive every mean solar day. Clearly, there's a lot more talking than agile listening going on.
And yet, few skills are more critical for effective communication and strong leadership than the ability to listen. Active listening enables employees, customers and other stakeholders to feel that their perspectives are heard, accepted and understood.
The claiming of active listening
Active listening is an fine art, a skill and a field of study that takes a loftier degree of self-control. To become a better listener, you demand to understand what is involved in effective communication and develop the techniques to sit quietly and listen. This involves ignoring your own needs and focusing on the person speaking — a chore made more difficult by the way the homo brain works.
When someone talks to you lot, your brain immediately begins processing the words, body language, tone, inflection and perceived meanings coming from the other person. Instead of hearing one noise, y'all hear ii: the noise the other person is making and the noise in your own head. Unless y'all train yourself to remain vigilant, the brain commonly ends up paying attention to the noise in your own head.
That's where subject area comes into play. Hearing becomes listening merely when you pay attention to what the person is saying and follow information technology very closely. To practise that, you need to stay aware of which of the ii noises you're listening to and consciously redirect your attending back to the speaker when yous become off rails.
How to engage in active listening
Active listening is the process of listening to someone in a way that focuses your attention on what they are maxim so they experience heard and understood. The skills involved in this process aren't difficult to larn, simply they practise take exercise to master.
- Focus on the person and the message. Focus your unabridged attention on the speaker, listening without judgement or formulating a response before they're halfway through speaking. Pay attention to the speaker's body language as well equally their words. This tin can be the toughest footstep to chief, because most people are used to listening to the racket in their heads.
- Communicate your attending. People can tell when you're not paying attention, so use your body language and gestures to let them know you are locked into what they're saying. Face up the speaker direct and make eye contact. Sit or stand up in an open up position. Smile and nod occasionally.
- Acknowledge what the person is saying. From time to time, interject with something like "Uh huh" or "I see" to bespeak you are following what the person is saying. This acknowledgement doesn't mean you agree with the person; it simply indicates that you are actively listening. Information technology'due south as well a expert technique for keeping your attention focused on the speaker and the bulletin rather than the noise in your ain head.
- Don't interrupt. This tin be another hard footstep because the brain wants to jump in and solve the problem before the speaker has communicated the entire message. Interrupting shows impatience and disrespect, particularly if yous interrupt with an argument rather than a question. Worse, it frustrates the speaker and limits your understanding of the bulletin. It'south important to be patient and allow the speaker to stop each point before asking questions.
- Build rapport. Afterwards listening a while, engage with the speaker past request questions or reflecting dorsum what you have heard. For instance, say, "What I'k hearing you say is…" or "I'grand non certain I empathise…" This demonstrates that you lot are paying attending and will allow you to gain more information.
- Be authentic in your response. Your job equally the listener is to proceeds data, perspective and understanding. Be candid, open up and honest when responding to the speaker, only practise so in a respectful mode. If there is conflict or disagreement, focus your response on the issue rather than the person.
Afterward, a quick mental run-through of the following checklist tin can assistance assess the quality of your listening:
- Did I yet the chatter in my caput?
- Did I permit the other person speak without pause?
- Did I try to encounter things from the other person'south indicate of view?
- Did I convey interest in what the person was saying?
- Did I "listen between the lines" to find connotations and implicit meanings?
- Did I resist the temptation to jump in with evaluative or disparaging comments?
- Did I rephrase what the other person said and so as to better understand information technology?
- When I responded, did I speak conspicuously?
- Was I honest? Did I evidence empathy?
- Did I care for the other person with respect?
The value of agile listening
Agile and attentive listening has several immediate and of import benefits for your organization, including:
- Promotes better business communication
- Helps teams develop effective communication skills
- Improves employee morale
- Reduces employee turnover
- Helps resolve interpersonal conflict
- Encourages employees to limited their opinions and perspectives
- Opens the door to new ideas and possibilities
Perchance most of import, active listening increases employee appointment at all levels of the organization. When people feel understood, heard and respected, they become more aligned with your vision of winning for the business concern. It also increases the level of trust within the arrangement, which is a disquisitional ingredient for making course corrections in today's rapidly irresolute markets.
When trust levels are low, employees tend to nod their heads and pretend to concord with what gets said in meetings. As a effect, important issues often don't get brought out into the open where they tin can be fully addressed in the light of day. Conversely, when people trust each other ¬— and specially trust their managers and supervisors — they experience safe to share ideas and perspectives that may not concur with the current condition quo.
Equally leaders, we need equally much data and equally many different perspectives as possible in lodge to make the best decisions for our organizations. Active listening encourages people to be forthcoming with that data considering they know they will be heard and respected.
Download this cess to realign your agile listening skills and develop your listening discipline.
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Source: https://www.vistage.com/research-center/business-leadership/20180912-active-listening-leadership-skill/
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