Are you a good listener?

It’s not difficult to be one. In my opinion, the ability to listen well is one of the most basic skills that a person should have. Unless you are able to listen well and understand what people are talking to you, it is hard – maybe, almost impossible – to produce the right results.

Yet, listening must be one of the most under-rated business skills. Listening is not only about paying attention to the speaker. It’s more than that. Listening is also about hearing properly, not making assumptions, digesting the speaker’s tone of voice and understanding his body language.

How can you become a good listener? Here are a few tips:

  1. Focus your mind on what is being said.
  2. Catch the main ideas. Usually, you’ll hear them at the start of the conversation and repeated several times in the conversation.
  3. Don’t interrupt the speaker or you may break his train of thought. Besides, the speaker will appreciate you for it.
  4. Pay full visual attention to the person who is speaking. Don’t be distracted by what’s going on around you.
  5. Let yourself finish listening to the speaker before you respond. If you can’t digest what has been said, how can you continue the conversation intelligently?
  6. Ask questions to clarify points. Don’t assume that what you heard is what the speaker meant.
  7. Watch your own body language. It may reveal a lot about you to the speaker.

So relax yourself. Respond with nods, smiles, frowns, laughter, silence … whatever it takes to convey that you are listening and responding well.

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