First, it shows that you’re listening as you’re able to paraphrase someone’s sentiments accurately in your own words. Reflecting and paraphrasing is the practice of repeating back what someone is telling you in your own words. It also means you’re practising empathic listening-showing empathy and acceptance rather than judgement and disagreement in your responses.Īctive listening also involves how you respond when listening. This means avoiding thinking patterns that put your judgement over the perspective of the person you’re listening to. An active listener, however, withholds judgement when listening and keeps an open mind. Sometimes employees have conflicting perspectives, or clients are unreasonable. Pay attention to what’s being said, and you’ll be able to listen actively.Ĭommunication at work isn’t always easy. Don’t look at your social media apps in meetings. That means if you’re in a video meeting, don’t flick between browser tabs when someone’s talking to you. Good listening requires paying attention. Some people naturally have these skills, while others might need to work on them to become better listeners and communicators. There are seven key skills that any active listener needs. What are the 7 key active listening skills? It also makes it easier for you to come up with solutions. In these situations, active listening is just as-if not more-important.Īctive listening allows you to be more empathetic, and it shows the other person that you care about what they’re saying. Sometimes you must listen to an employee dealing with mental health problems, or you must talk with a dissatisfied customer in your contact centre. Whilst exciting collaborations and persuasive conversations at work are great, not every discussion is positive. Active listening not only shows every member of a collaboration that their voice is valued, but it also helps everyone listen to each other with more care. If you and someone else at work are collaborating on a project, both voices need to be heard equally. If you want your team to collaborate more effectively, active listening is essential.
It shows whoever you’re listening to that you value their time and what they have to say, whilst also ensuring that you give your full attention to them.īusiness collaboration is one of the key routes to fostering a culture of communication, innovation, and problem-solving at work. Whether you’re listening to customers, clients, or colleagues, anyone talking to you wants to know that what they’re saying is being listened to, understood, and acknowledged.Īctive listening helps you do this, making it an important part of your communication skills at work.
In a professional environment, effective communication is key to building trust in your relationships.
What are the benefits of active listening?
And it also involves conveying this to the person you are listening to and ensuring you remain engaged with what they are saying. Whilst an element of active listening is simply listening closely. What is active listening?Īctive listening is the practice of showing someone you’re listening through verbal and non-verbal cues.
This guide will tell you everything you need to know about active listening, why it’s important, and how to improve your active listening skills. Some people are natural listeners, but in professional environments, active listening isn’t always simple, especially when we must listen to people over the phone or on a video call.
In professional environments, showing our customers, clients, or colleagues that we’re actively listening to them is a vital part of our interpersonal skills. Whether in our personal or professional lives, we all want to know we’re being listened to.