Active listening skills
When you listen actively rather than passively, you are making a genuine effort to listen to and engage with what someone is saying to you.
Active listening may be useful for both you and your employees.
As an employer, some situations in which you might want to practice active listening are:
- During a job interview to ensure you listen to your interviewee’s responses
- When an employee has ideas about how to approach a task, achieve an objective, or work on a project differently
- When an employee confides in you about problems or concerns they have in their professional or personal life, so you can better understand their situation and how to support them
- When listening to the perspective of someone you have a disagreement with or of employees who are disagreeing with each other, to help you understand their position and resolve the conflict
Promoting active listening amongst your employees may also help them and you in many situations, including:
- When you give them instructions about a task to be completed, to ensure they understand what is required of them
- To consider others’ ideas fairly
- To be there for colleagues when they have problems or concerns
- To resolve conflict and disagreements they have with others
Here are our top 10 tips to improve your active listening skills:
Tip 1: Show that you’re listening
Active listening is also about the verbal and non-verbal signs you give. If you don’t look like you’re listening, the person speaking might think you’re uninterested and be discouraged from talking to you about things.
Use body language (such as nodding your head) and verbal affirmations (such as “yes”, “I understand”, etc.) to show your interest and make it clear you are listening to what they are saying. Making eye contact with the speaker and facing their direction can also help.
Tip 2: Pay attention
Do your best to fully concentrate on what the speaker is saying. Pay attention to changes in the speaker’s body language, tone of voice, emotions, and the words they use, to help you understand what they’re saying and how they’re feeling.
Tip 3: Avoid distractions
Try not to get distracted or get lost in your thoughts while the speaker is talking. Turn off or silence any devices that might distract you. If you’re doing a phone or video call with the person, make sure your environment is suitable for a discussion where you won’t be interrupted.
Tip 4: Don’t interrupt
While there may be occasions where you may need to interject about what your employee is saying. In situations where they’re sharing an idea or coming to you with a concern or problem, it can be better to not interrupt the speaker while they’re talking. Instead, wait for them to finish before speaking up. This may help your employee to feel heard and like they’ve been given the chance to have their say.
Tip 5: Don’t plan what you’ll say next
Don’t plan out your responses while the person is talking, otherwise you might miss important points or details. Instead, be attentive, genuinely listen to the speaker, and make an effort to understand what they’re saying.
Tip 6: Have an open mind
When practicing active listening, it’s important to remain open to new ideas, new perspectives, and new possibilities. Even if you think you already have an opinion about what the speaker is saying, reserve judgement while they are talking and genuinely consider what they are saying.
Tip 7: Paraphrase
After a person presents their points, summarise your understanding of what they were saying and repeat this back to them. This shows them that you are genuinely trying to understand their point of view, and this also gives them the opportunity to correct you if they realise you have misunderstood what they said.
Tip 8: Ask questions
Asking the speaker questions about what they’ve said may show that you’re paying attention and are interested in what they’re saying. You can ask them open-ended questions to keep the conversation going. Asking specific questions about what they were saying also helps you to clarify things you’re unsure about.
Tip 9: Take a pause if you need to
Once the speaker has finished talking, it’s okay to take a moment before answering. This may show that you’re thinking about what they’ve said and are trying to give a thoughtful answer. It also demonstrates that you weren’t planning your response while they were talking, instead you were concentrating on what they were saying.
Tip 10: Be encouraging and friendly
When you are listening to help resolve conflict or understand someone’s perspective or situation, it’s important to be supportive of the speaker for discussing how they feel. Even if you disagree with the speaker, smiling at them and encouraging them to have their say may make everyone involved in the conversation more open-minded and feel at ease.