Pay attention to the speaker’s body language as well as their words. Focus your entire attention on the speaker, listening without judgement or formulating a response before they’re halfway through speaking. The skills involved in this process aren’t difficult to learn, but they do take practice to master. How to engage in active listeningĪctive listening is the process of listening to someone in a way that focuses your attention on what they are saying so they feel heard and understood. To do that, you need to stay aware of which of the two noises you’re listening to and consciously redirect your attention back to the speaker when you get off track. Hearing becomes listening only when you pay attention to what the person is saying and follow it very closely. That’s where active listening techniques come into play. Unless you train yourself to remain vigilant, the brain usually ends up paying attention to the noise in your own head. Instead of hearing one noise, you hear two: the noise the other person is making and the noise in your own head. When someone talks to you, your brain immediately begins processing the words, body language, tone, inflection and perceived meanings coming from the other person. This involves ignoring your own needs and focusing on the person speaking - a task made more difficult by the way the human brain works. To develop good listening skills, you need to understand what is involved in effective communication and develop the techniques to sit quietly and listen. Download the listening assessment The challenge of active listeningĪctive listening is an art, a skill and a discipline that takes a high degree of self-control. Active listening enable employees, customers and other stakeholders to feel that their perspectives are heard, accepted and understood. Clearly, there’s a lot more talking than active listening going on.Īnd yet, few skills are more critical for effective communication and strong leadership than the ability to listen. Pause for a moment to consider how many emails, text messages, voice mails and other interruptive, one-way communications you receive every day. doi:10.1371/ this age of the Internet, smart phones and social media, it seems like people are talking at each other more than listening to each other. fMRI study of social anxiety during social ostracism with and without emotional support. Nishiyama Y, Okamoto Y, Kunisato Y, et al. The impact of mindfulness on empathy, active listening, and perceived provisions of emotional support. Active listening: The key of successful communication in hospital managers. Jahromi VK, Tabatabaee SS, Abdar ZE, Rajabi M. A 3-stage model of patient-centered communication for addressing cancer patients' emotional distress. Michigan State University, MSU Extension.ĭean M, Street Jr RL. Balancing openness and interpretation in active listening. This can help keep you from feeling annoyed and unheard. If you're talking with another person and they are clearly uninterested in the conversation, it may be best to end that conversation respectfully. Understand when exiting the conversation is best.By seeing you demonstrate active listening, they might become a better listener too. Continuing to practice these skills may just inspire the person you're conversing with to do the same. Be patient with yourself as you go through the learning process. Like with any skill, being good at active listening takes some practice.
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