Avoid interruptions. Offer your undivided attention. That means no phone calls or other distractions. Passive listening skills Body language has a big impact in face-to-face communications. Body language that shows the listener is interested includes: Good eye contact. Maintain eye contact as much as possible. Don't convey negative reactions by gazing off or day dreaming. Body positioning. A relaxed posture slightly leaning toward the other person is usually most effective.
Don't fold your arms across the chest, as this is often perceived as a defensive or "closed" posture. Nodding and facial expressions. These have great impact on the person speaking. Encouraging words. These may include openers "Can you tell me about it? These are to let the person know you are listening without breaking the flow of conversation.
Silence can be a powerful way of encouraging someone to talk. Avoid the temptation to fill moments of silence with your own voice. Active listening skills Active listening is the process of reflecting back what the other person said to check out your understanding. After the conversation, we asked the speakers to indicate separately the extent to which they thought they were suitable for becoming managers.
Based on these answers, we calculated their attitude complexity whether they saw both strengths and weaknesses that would affect their ability to be a manager and extremity whether they saw only one side. We found that speakers who talked to a good listener saw both strengths and weaknesses more than those in the other conditions. Speakers who talked to a distracted listener mostly described their strengths and barely acknowledged their weaknesses.
Interestingly, the speakers in the poor listening condition were those that, on average, reported feeling the most suitable for becoming a manager. We tested the relevance of these lab findings in three field studies conducted among city-hall employees, high-tech workers, and teachers workers, in total. In these studies, we asked employees to talk about their colleagues, their supervisor, or about a meaningful experience at work, before and after participating in a listening intervention known as a listening circle.
In the listening circle, employees are invited to talk openly and honestly about an issue, like a meaningful experience they had at work. We replicated all of our lab findings. Namely, employees who participated in the listening circles reported lower social anxiety, higher attitude complexity, and lower attitude extremity regarding various work-related topics e.
In concert, our findings suggest that listening seems to make an employee more relaxed, more self-aware of his or her strengths and weaknesses, and more willing to reflect in a non-defensive manner. Going back to giving feedback, of course we do not claim that listening must replace feedback.
Rather, it seems that listening to employees talk about their own experiences first can make giving feedback more productive by helping them feel psychologically safe and less defensive. Yet, if listening is so beneficial for employees and for organizations, why is it not more prevalent in the workplace?
Why are most employees not listened to in the way they want? Research shows that a few barriers often stand in the way:. Listening resembles a muscle. It requires training, persistence, effort, and most importantly, the intention to become a good listener.
Here are some best practices:. Put aside your smartphone, iPad, or laptop, and look at the speaker, even if they do not look back at you. Constant eye contact lets the speaker feel that you are listening.
Do not interrupt. Resist the urge to interrupt before the speaker indicates that they are done for the moment. The managers are often amazed at their discoveries. Do not judge or evaluate. Listen without jumping to conclusions and interpreting what you hear. You may notice your judgmental thoughts but push them aside. It can also be a means of establishing one's identity. Feedback helps another person to consider changing behavior or altering a message.
It is communication with a person group that gives that person information about how he or she affects others. Feedback helps an individual stay "on target" and thus better achieve a goal or purpose. An active listener must be solicited for a response by the sender and must refrain from imposing uninvited responses. Feedback is most useful when the sender asks for response by formulating a question that a listener can answer.
Here are some "tips" that will help you respond appropriately during active listening. In general, you should use language that:. Other ways of responding appropriately relate to the verbs you choose in your response. For example:. Date last modified: August 8, Online learning tutorials for essential college skills.
0コメント