Active listening is a valuable soft skill that can significantly advance your career. Once you master this skill, it can positively impact not only your professional life but your personal life as well. First, we need to discuss what active listening is and how it differs from passive listening. Then we will discuss how to show others you are actively listening. Once we have established how to do it, then we can get into how it can advance your career. So let’s dive in folks!
Active vs Passive Listening
Passive Listening
Passive listening refers to the act of hearing without actively engaging or responding to the speaker. Furthermore, when you’re passively listening, you might be physically present and hearing the words, but your attention and focus are elsewhere. This has happened to all of us at one point, where we can tell the other person is not listening to us or we are so not focused on what the other person said. Your mind may wander, and you may not fully comprehend or retain the information being conveyed. Passive listening can be unintentional or a result of a lack of interest or mental effort.
Active Listening
On the other hand, active listening involves being fully present, engaged, and attentive to the speaker. It requires focused effort to understand and interpret the message being communicated. The practice of preparing to listen, observing what verbal and non-verbal messages are being sent, then providing appropriate feedback to show you were paying attention. The best way to describe active listening is understanding that the conversation is not about you. So don’t start to share stories or tell them you know what they are feeling. This is not about you it’s about them! Just listen.
How to Show You are Actively Listening
Additionally, to demonstrate active listening, you can employ various techniques and behaviors that show your engagement and understanding. Here are some ways to show that you are actively listening:
Physical
- Maintain eye contact: Keep your focus on the speaker and maintain eye contact. This shows that you are attentive and interested in what they are saying.
- Use non-verbal cues: Nodding your head, smiling, and using appropriate facial expressions can indicate that you are actively listening and understanding the speaker’s message. These non-verbal cues encourage the speaker to continue sharing.
- Minimize distractions: Put away or silence any distractions, such as phones or other devices, that may divert your attention from the speaker. Creating a quiet and focused environment helps you actively listen without interruptions.
- Avoid interrupting: Allow the speaker to finish their thoughts before interjecting or responding. This may be physically challenging for some to not share ‘that story’ that you feel is relevant. But interrupting can disrupt the flow of conversation and indicate a lack of active listening.
Verbal
- Provide verbal feedback: Offer verbal cues to show that you are actively listening. You can do this by interjecting with brief statements like “I see,” “Hmm,” “Yes,” or “Go on.” These responses demonstrate your engagement and encourage the speaker to continue.
- Paraphrase and summarize: Repeat or rephrase the speaker’s main points in your own words. This technique demonstrates that you are actively processing and comprehending the information. It also allows for clarification if you have misunderstood any part of the message.
- Ask relevant questions: Pose thoughtful and relevant questions to seek clarification or further information. This demonstrates your engagement, critical thinking, and a desire to gain a deeper understanding of the topic.
- Show empathy and understanding: Acknowledge the speaker’s emotions and experiences by expressing empathy and understanding. This can be done through statements like, “That must have been challenging,” or “I can understand why you feel that way.” Demonstrating empathy fosters a supportive and open environment for communication.
Remember, active listening is a skill that requires practice and conscious effort. By employing these techniques, you can show others that you value their communication and are actively engaged in the conversation. Now, lets get into the 7 ways active listening can advance your career!
1. Building Strong Relationships
First, it demonstrates your genuine interest in others and their perspectives when you show you are actively listening. It helps build trust, rapport, and stronger relationships with colleagues, clients, and stakeholders. Building strong relationships enhances collaboration, teamwork, and professional support, which can open doors to new opportunities and career growth. Remember the saying’ its not what you know its who you know’? Well that part of ‘who you know’ is relationship building and the first pillar is active listening.
2. Improving Problem Solving and Decision Making
Next, active listening will allow you to gather all relevant information, understand different viewpoints, and consider diverse ideas and perspectives. This holistic understanding enhances your problem-solving and decision-making abilities. You can make more informed decisions, identify creative solutions, and address challenges more effectively, which can contribute to your professional success. Remember when we were discussing in another article How to Cope With a Bad Boss, we talked about how to improve your situation. Well this active listening tactic will be key to surviving their poor management. Oh the information you can learn! Boy do I have some stories! I’ll save that for another day. 🙂
3. Enhancing Communication Skills
Active listening is a fundamental component of effective communication. By listening attentively, you improve your understanding of others’ needs, expectations, and concerns. This enables you to respond more appropriately, communicate more clearly, and avoid misunderstandings or conflicts. Strong communication skills contribute to smoother collaborations, improved teamwork, and better outcomes. This can help you as you deal with a challenging boss as well to help improve that work relationship. This is a skill that should be demonstrated in the interview process as well. If you are unable to communicate and actively engage that will impact your career opportunities. Long short of it, more people will want to work and collaborate with you if you are an active listener.
4. Demonstrating Empathy & Emotional Intelligence
Furthermore, active listening involves not just hearing the words but also understanding the emotions and underlying messages being conveyed. By empathizing with others, you build stronger connections and demonstrates your level of emotional intelligence. This ability to understand and connect with others’ emotions can foster a positive work environment, improve team dynamics, and enhance your leadership skills. To dive deeper into your emotional intelligence I recommend reading Emotional Intelligence 2.0.
5. Increasing Learning & Knowledge Acquisition
Active listening enables you to absorb information and learn from others’ experiences and expertise. By actively engaging in conversations, asking thoughtful questions, and seeking clarification, you can expand your knowledge base and acquire new insights. Continuous learning and knowledge acquisition contribute to professional growth, increased competence, and better career prospects. An individual always trying to improve themselves wins!
6. Identifying Opportunities & Understand Stakeholder Needs
Active listening helps you identify emerging opportunities, market trends, and potential challenges. By actively listening to clients feedback, customers, and stakeholders, you gain valuable insights into their needs, preferences, and pain points. This understanding enables you to tailor your products, services, or solutions more effectively, positioning yourself as a trusted advisor and increasing your value in the workplace. If your stakeholders feel they are heard they will immediately respect and trust you and that is half the battle.
7. Demonstrating Leadership & Influence
Active listening is a key attribute of effective leadership. By actively listening to your team members’ ideas, concerns, and feedback, you demonstrate your respect for their contributions and foster an inclusive work culture. This promotes employee engagement, collaboration, and innovation. Additionally, it enhances your ability to influence others by understanding their motivations, building consensus, and effectively conveying your ideas and proposals. Half of leadership is showing up and listening. This soft skill is key to advancing your career and position within the company.
Final Thoughts
Remember, listening actively requires focus, patience, and genuine interest. This skill can be used in the workplace and at home. Practice active listening in your daily interactions, seek opportunities to engage in active dialogue, and continuously work on improving this essential skill. By actively listening, you can enhance your professional relationships, communication abilities, overall career advancement and personal relationships.
