By S.Keerthana | 26 October 2022 | 2 min read
How often have you had a conversation with someone, and thought you were paying attention to them, only to realize shortly afterwards that you can't remember what they said? Or perhaps you got distracted while they were speaking and missed the message that he was trying to deliver. So, how can we listen more effectively?
Listening is one of the most important skills you can have. How well you listen has a major impact on your job effectiveness and on the quality of your relationships with others.
Listening means to receive, understand, remember, evaluate, and respond.
LET’S TALK ABOUT ACTIVE LISTENING.
Make conscious effort to hear not only the words that another person is saying but, more importantly, understand the complete message being communicated In order to do this, you must pay attention to the other person very carefully.
1. Pay Attention
2. Show That You're Listening
3. Provide Feedback
4. Defer Judgment
5. Respond Appropriately
Are you still listening / Reading?
Good. Now let’s understand the difference between Listening & hearing.
Listening is active, focused, concentrated attention for the purpose of understanding the meanings expressed by a speaker.
Hearing is simply a subconscious activity of perceiving sound by the ear. For example, if you’re watching TV, you can still hear the sound of traffic or sirens outside, your Neighbour’s dog barking, and people laughing in the hallway.
Tips to Become a Better Listener
Set an intention to improve: Setting a clear goal to work on your listening skills can help you think more concretely about how, when, and who you can practice with.
Practice mindfulness: Mindfulness helps you be more present. If your attention is on something else, you can gently redirect your focus back to the speaker.
Be curious: Adopting a curious mind-set allows you to truly listen and understand. In doing so, you might notice that you automatically become even more curious and interested in what the person is saying.
Let go of judgments and assumptions: When you judge and assume things, you essentially close the door to new information which means you are less likely to pay attention and listen. Letting go of judgments and assumptions will also help you become more curious.
Summarize what you are hearing: Repeating in your own words what you heard the other person say can communicate that you’re engaged and gives the other person an opportunity to clarify any misunderstandings.
Ask questions: Asking relevant, open-ended questions shows that you are listening and responding in a thoughtful way. If you’re not sure what to ask, you can try to think of who, what, when, where, or how questions.
Use nonverbal gestures: Using nonverbal cues, such as making eye contact and occasionally nodding your head, can communicate that you are listening and paying attention.
So guys, hope this blog gave you a good understanding of how to be an active listener. Let ‘s be Mindful instead of being “MINDFUL”. Keep your mind clear when you are listening to someone. Share your thoughts on this. Have a good day
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