Five Tips for Better Listening

Although listening is the most frequently used and the most critical among your communication skills, it’s often ignored. Schools do little to develop listening skills in students and adults do little to improve them later on.

Yet, listening remains crucial to business success. Think of how often communication breakdowns in your office resulted from poor listening. Think of how much time might have been saved if someone had listened better. And imagine how much information you could extract from your negotiating counterparts if you would talk less and listen more. The benefits to intelligent listening on your business effectiveness are endless.


How can you improve listening effectiveness on your job? Let me offer you five tips:

One: Make Eye Contact. Your eyes tell the speaker where you are focused. Your eyes tell the speaker that what is being said is important to you. Your eyes, in other words, support and strengthen the speaker.

In addition, your eyes are your camera. As you listen to what the speaker says, you watch what the speaker does. Gestures, posture and facial expressions that you observe can be combined with what you hear to provide you with a deeper understanding of what the speaker means.

Two: Send feedback. As you listen, send quiet verbal signals. Small sounds, such as ‘hmm’, ‘yes’, and ‘right’ indicate that you are tuned in. Repeat back what the speaker has said to ensure comprehension. Ask questions to invite your speaker to go on. The quality of your feedback indicates your level of listening.

Three: Avoid interruptions. Allowing the speaker to complete spoken thoughts is not only polite, but also beneficial to you. You can only form an appropriate response when you thoroughly understand what’s been said, and you can only understand if you’ve listened right up to the full stop. If you must interrupt to clarify or add something, wait until the speaker pauses and then request permission.

Four: Remember Your Role. A good listener requires different skills than a good speaker does. Shift smoothly from one role to the next and be conscious of the skills you use to be more effective in either role.

Five: Talk Less. My Aunt Jessie always told me, “God gave you two ears and one mouth so that you could listen twice as much as you talk.” Good advice. We value good listeners. Think about this. Do you feel more special if someone tells you that you are a good speaker, or that you are a good listener?

Intelligent listening is a critical business communication skill you can develop through conscious effort and practice. Put these five tips to work right now, and enhance your business effectiveness.