Tuesday, October 13, 2015

Tips for Active Listening


Sandra Schiff, PhD, has extensive experience in career, leadership, and life-transition coaching, helping clients to reach their personal and professional goals. Among the skills Dr. Sandra Schiff emphasizes is active listening.

With so many distractions and responsibilities, many people have trouble staying involved and in the present moment. For instance, leaders in business settings might find it difficult to give a co-worker’s viewpoint their full and undivided attention. As a result, misunderstandings can take place and leaders’ effectiveness decreases. However, by implementing several techniques, individuals can improve their active-listening skills.

For instance, when in conversation, the listener should look interested in what the speaker is saying. Some ways to do this include making eye contact and turning one’s body toward the speaker. The listener should set cell phones, reports, and other distractions aside so as to better focus on the speaker’s message.

Another key part of active listening is to focus on the speaker’s ideas without leaping to judgment or allowing one’s biases to get in the way. A person’s feelings toward a topic often act as distractions, to the point where listeners can miss ideas the speaker wants to communicate. Similarly, the listener should avoid interrupting, instead allowing the speaker to continue while saving relevant questions for pauses in the conversation.                            

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