![]() When we feel listened to and respected, we become more receptive to suggestions than when those suggestions come from someone who has been combative or argumentative. In fact, one of the hallmarks of effective listening is providing suggestions to the speaker. The fact that effective listening is cooperative and not combative doesn’t mean that we can’t provide feedback. We’re not trying to win an argument, but to cooperate in building a consensus of mutual understanding, even when there is disagreement between ourselves and the speaker. While it’s important to not listen in silence, it is equally crucial to pose questions in a way that is not combative or interrogative. The aim of effective listening is not to challenge the speaker or their ideas, but to understand their perspective through the creation of a safe environment. ![]() In effective listening, we should be supportive and convey confidence in the speaker, even when we don’t necessarily agree with what is being said. When a person feels listened to in a positive way, their self-esteem rises. ![]() Effective listening makes the speaker feel positive.But if we engage and asks for clarification or for more information, that demonstrates to the speaker that their message is clearly understood. If we sit in silence, it is hard for the speaker to know if they are being heard. Asking questions establishes a two-way dialogue with the speaker. Effective listening requires active engagement, not just silence.What exactly is effective listening, and how is it different from regular listening? A study in the Harvard Business Review analyzed the behavior of nearly 3,500 participants and found common patterns of behavior among the most effective listeners: It allows us to hone in on the subtle cues that help us assess a person’s strengths and weaknesses, thereby allowing us to formulate positive responses that will be most effective in encouraging and motivating them. Managers should strive to understand the employee perspective as well as the information being shared, even if the method used to convey this information is somewhat less than crystal clear.Įffective listening not only helps to diffuse conflicts and deal with problems, it also helps foster a greater understanding between managers and employees. This gap between how we perceive our listening skills to be and how our listening skills actually are can cause serious issues in the workplace and elsewhere. Overall, this ubiquitous overestimation suggests that while we all agree that listening is important, we also don’t generally feel a need to improve our own listening skills. Another issue is the lack of clear objective criteria for assessing whether communication has been successful. We tend to overestimate our listening skills in part because communication takes place between at least two people, making it difficult to gauge whether we are communicating effectively without input from the other party. There’s obviously a big gap between us judging ourselves to be excellent listeners and the reality that we hear less than half of what is said to us. Other studies since then have found that we only take in about 25 – 50% of what we hear. Of course, this is not how averages work! In reality, a study by Husman and colleagues from the 1980s found that most people listen at just 25% efficiency. The results showed that virtually every person thought that they communicated as well as or better than almost everyone else in their organization. A study by William Haney from the 1970s asked over 13,000 people from various organizations to compare their listening skills with others who they worked with. Most people think that they are a good listener. We’ll also share some practical tips to improve active listening skills. Today we’re going to discuss an approach called effective listening, also known as active listening. Whether we’re speaking with our employees, our clients, or with the upper management team, we must strive to hone our communication skills in terms of both conveying information and taking information in. In business, learning to listen to others is a crucial skill, especially when working in management.
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