While we all know that listening skills are critical to helping you be a good leader, managers and leaders often misunderstand the phrase active listening. To help you out, we’ll discover what active listening is and why listening is so critical for business leaders today. No matter what type of business you work in, you’ll find you can apply these tips daily when working alongside your employees and colleagues.
What is Active Listening?
Regarding the difference between various listening skills, active listening takes patience and time to develop. This type of listening focuses on what the speaker is saying instead of just hearing the message. An excellent active listener will listen with all five of their senses. They’ll show that they are fully engaged with the speaker so that they continue to share their thoughts and feelings. Both verbal and non-verbal communication can be used to showcase active listening. You could nod your head in agreement, make eye contact, and verbally agree as they speak. This feedback makes the speaker feel more confident and secure about sharing their feelings with you.
Why Does Active Listening Matter?
Compared to other types of listening skills, you might wonder why it’s essential to cultivate active listening. Active listening is beneficial for both the speaker and the listener. The speaker, they’ll feel far more confident speaking to you and feel like they can trust that you are listening to every word they are saying. Active listening is critical for leaders to use when an employee is confiding their trust in you as a leader. You’ll make them feel confident to share their concerns or fears so that you can work together to find solutions to overcome issues.
For the listener, active listening helps you to engage more with the subject matter. You’ll improve your memory and listening skills, as you’ll be far more likely to remember what was said even days after the conversation. Our minds are terrible at remembering the details of the discussion. Still, you’ll find that active listening can be used alongside note-taking to ensure you remember what you’ve been speaking about. An excellent way to showcase active listening is to ask questions to show you’ve been paying attention. You’ll also find you can get more details from your employees in this way, making your relationships stronger over time.
Why is Active Listening Important in Business Today?
One of the biggest concerns we hear from employees in all types of organizations is that their voice isn’t heard. For employees, this can feel soul-destroying and make them want to move on from your business to somewhere they are valued. Active listening helps leaders to show compassion for their team and encourages a better chain of communication throughout the organization. When you improve your listening skills, you’ll find that your team members are far more likely to trust you enough to turn to you in a crisis. Nothing is worse than confiding your feelings in someone, only for them to pay attention barely. That’s why we encourage you to work on active listening and keep trying out the techniques we’ve shared above.
Active listening encourages the listener to fully understand every word that is shared with them. You’ll be far more engaged with the subject by reflecting on what’s being said and asking questions to clarify anything you are unsure about. Even if you disagree with what’s being said, active listening is a great way to understand someone else’s point of view. While we sometimes have to agree to disagree, you’ll find that your employees will have far more respect for you when you take the time to hear what they have to say genuinely.
There are many benefits of active listening for leaders and their employees. You should continue to work on your listening skills at any stage in your career. Active listening needs to be practiced regularly to help you engage more with your employees. The more you use active listening in your workplace, the more trust you’ll gain from everyone you interact with. It’s a good form of listening to use in any type of conversation and will help to strengthen your understanding of conversations about any topic. We encourage you to start asking more questions and showing interest in conversations. In no time, you’ll see that active listening transforms your relationships in your personal and professional life.
