Are you a Good Listener?

What are your listening skills like?

We are not taught how to be good listeners but if you want to be successful these are skills we all need to learn!

1. Listen like you would like others to listen to you. Give your full concentration to the other person, look at them, use your body language.   Show you have made sense of what is being said by acknowledging.

2. Concentrate on what is being said, don’t spend your time preparing what you will say! That is what you will be concentrating on. Repeat back some of what is said to show you have been listening. ‘So do I understand that…..’ or ‘I hear that …….’

3. If you find that your mind wanders, acknowledge that to yourself and move your concentration back to the other person. Being mindful will help with this. People trust people that care about them. Ask questions when there is a pause in the conversation.

4. Take some mental time out, take a break from your electronic devices, spend some time meditating and/or being mindful before you are at an event where you need to concentrate on the conversation of others.
5. Get rid of distractions, clear your desk, turn the sound off on your phone, be prepared to spend the quiet time needed to recharge so you can get more out of your conversations.

Becoming a better listener takes effort and, most importantly, patience. Be warned, however, for once you start truly listening you may find the process habit-forming. When people know they are being heard they tend to share amazing things we certainly would have missed otherwise.