Since our childhoods, we have been taught to pay attention. Pay attention to your teachers, parents, and at work.
Are you a good listener? Do you ever find yourself mumbling at meetings? Do you ever completely lose your mind when a friend speaks to you?
If you answered yes to these questions, then you should improve your active listening skills.
Effective communication in any environment requires active listening. It is the ability to listen and respond appropriately to what others are saying.
Regular practice is the best way to improve your active listening skills. This can include all kinds of conversations with family, friends, and colleagues.
Managers and employees of any workplace need to have good communication skills. Employers are looking for people who can listen and communicate effectively.
It’s always a good idea to show active listening skills when creating a resume. To list these skills accurately, you can use a Resume Builder.
Communication skills are not only valuable for employees.
Anybody working in management must also be an active listener. This soft skill will help you to solve problems and conflict more effectively.
You are able to remember details and instructions better and can understand your coworkers and employees better.
This translates into greater productivity and a happier workplace. Continue reading to improve your listening skills and get rid of bad habits.
What is Active Listening?
Active listening is characterized by listening attentively and processing what the other person is saying.
You can physically demonstrate that you are following along with actions such as:
- Nod your head
- Asking questions
- Comment
These actions can be used to demonstrate that you are listening and understanding the other person’s words. But make sure that you are authentic and paying attention.
This is an excellent example of active listening , which is the opposite to passive listening . You are retaining the information you receive.
Active listening involves more than just hearing what someone has to say. It also includes understanding what they mean. This requires you to be actively engaged with the person speaking to your. It goes beyond just taking in information.
You must also analyze the situation carefully to fully understand what the other person wants.
Communication is a way to build stronger relationships between coworkers, clients, and employees by using effective communication skills.
You also have the ability to receive feedback from others without being defensive or angry. This can greatly benefit personal and professional relationships.
Active listening is about understanding what another person is saying before you respond.
This communication skill will help you to build better relationships with your coworkers, friends, family members, and colleagues by making it easier for them to get their point across .
Active listening has many benefits. It not only improves interpersonal relationships but it also helps people work together toward their goals.
What does Active Listening do for the Workplace?
You might be wondering if it’s worth it to create your resume to include active listening abilities.
Include many active listening examples whenever you search for a job.
Hiring managers look for active listeners as there are many benefits to having someone who is a good listener.
Active listening builds relationships between coworkers. It makes them feel heard . Trusting one another is key to a successful team.
You can improve your active listening skills by learning two types:
- Verbal
- Non-verbal
You can improve your verbal and non-verbal active listening skills by learning a few things.
Verbal communication
It is vital to communicate verbally in the workplace. It might be difficult to know how to be an active verbal listener. These are some ways you can show that you are an active listener.
- Ask open-ended questions
- Provide short, positive responses
- Talk about similar experiences
- Go over past information
These are examples of verbal active hearing that you can do at home or in the office.
During a job interview, you can also tell a hiring manager how these habits are practiced.
It’s a good idea if you don’t know how to include active listening examples on your resume.
This will allow you to create a document that is clear and concise with examples and skills.
Communication that is not verbal
Listen to your coworkers’ nonverbal and verbal cues.
Active listening, which is non-verbal, is also important when in the workplace , in meetings, one-on-one, or in other situations.
Listening to your coworkers can help you better understand how they feel about a topic or if you need to address a problem.
Non-verbal active listening may help you to follow instructions more easily. This lets you demonstrate that you are following along without having to say it.
Sometimes it is important to remain silent in the workplace. However, you can show that you are listening and retain important information by using non-verbal cues.
Here are some ways to demonstrate that you are listening and not speaking:
- Smile
- Maintaining eye contact
For any manager or employee to achieve success within a team, nonverbal communication is crucial.
When you do this, your coworkers will see that you are capable of doing it.
How to include active listening skills on your resume
It is important to know what you should include in your resume to show that you are a good listener and have demonstrated active listening skills during past educational or work experiences.
This is especially true when you find a job posting that requires active listening.
You can find many resume templates to help you understand how to make your document the best possible.
There are many skill words that can be used to describe active listening. You should include these skills on your resume.
Different active listening skill words
Active listening skills are a great way of showing that you can work well with others.
These words can help you grab attention from job recruiters.
- Interpersonal skills
- Communication skills
- Collaborative Skills
- People Skills
- Empathy
- Sympathy
- Tolerance
- Observation
- Understanding
- Attention to detail
These words show that you are a listener to hiring managers. This shows you are both a good collaborator and empathetic.
These skills should be clearly written in your experience section. This means that you should include all pertinent and useful information and data .
You run the risk that your job application is rejected before you have even interviewed.
Take a look at these two examples:
Wrong
“As a customer service representative, I was able to communicate a lot with customers in order to fulfill their needs.”
This doesn’t provide enough information about your past position or your active listening skills.
Correct
“Communicated with 40 customers or more each day, providing detailed information and being sympathetic to their concerns, and resolving any conflict to ensure customer satisfaction.
This example provides quantifiable data and speaks to your capabilities. These details can make the difference between an interview being granted or not.
Poor listening habits to avoid
You can improve your listening skills by focusing on the habits that you don’t want to do as well as the ones you must practice.
Here are some bad habits that you should avoid while trying to improve.
- Paying attention It is easy to become distracted at work. You won’t be able listen to the message if your mind is elsewhere.
- Interrupting – Or not letting the speaker finish his thought. It is possible to know the exact words they are going to use before they say them. It’s a bad idea! You’ll make them feel as if their ideas aren’t being heard and they won’t be able to learn from you.
- Not paying attention – Try not to let your mind wander when someone else is talking; you must stay focused on what they’re saying instead of thinking about something else entirely (like how hungry/tired/angry/excited etc. You are.
- Don’t ask questions You should always clarify any question or request for clarification. Ask questions if you are unsure of something. Also, ask your audience if they have difficulty understanding what you say (i.e. if there was any confusion about a particular aspect during communication). ).
- Avoid being closed-minded Don’t be so rigid in your beliefs that you don’t listen to others, even if they have different opinions. Every person has different perspectives, experiences and opinions. There is no right or wrong way. This is true even for people with less experience.
- Not summarizing It is important to summarize the information you have heard at each end of every conversation. This will ensure that there are no misunderstandings about details that were lost during communication.
- Paraphrasing is not the same as paraphrasing.Paraphrasing clarifies if there were any misinterpretations or misunderstandings with something someone said earlier in that conversation.
Pro tip: Get more sleep if you struggle to focus and pay attention. Concentrating on your work will be easier if you get 8+ hours sleep each night.
6 ways to improve your active listening
Below are some great tips for if you’ve identified listening problems or want to improve your active listening skills in order to be a better employee.
These actions will help you become an active listener, and show others that you can retain important information in your head.
- Review previously shared information. – Recall key concepts that the speaker has already mentioned to you. This will show that you listen and can retain important information.
- Do not make unnecessary movements. This will help the speaker feel less distracted.
- Summarize the information you have heard – Write a summary of what the speaker said and add your thoughts if necessary (you could even draw a diagram to help you keep on track).
- Related questions – Ask “How do you feel about this?” or “What would be the next step?”, etc. to ensure that both sides are engaged in a two-way conversation about the topic.
- Learn to understand the feelings of another – It is hard to become empathetic. Although not everyone is naturally empathetic, you can ask questions to help you understand others.
- Maintain eye contact with the speaker – This lets them know you are listening and actively participating in the conversation. This can help to build trust.
It is difficult to become a better listener. It will make your resume look better, especially if you use the right resume template.
You can improve your communication skills and be a valuable asset to the company that you work for.
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