Do you hear what others say or do you listen to what they say? To communicate effectively requires in part that you are an active listener. Active listening means you are able to hear what another person says and at the same time hold judgment so that you can derive meaning from the other person’s point of view.
To listen actively means you must get off your communication channel and focus on the person or persons with whom you are communicating. Once you have sent a message, it’s important that you focus on the receiver. You want the receiver’s understanding of your intent and message to match yours.
How can you be sure that you are listening actively to ensure that you and the receiver have a mutual understanding of the message? Here are 4 tips.
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Let the receiver share his/her thoughts without interruption. If you interrupt the receiver before he/or she can let you know what they are thinking, your signals may cross. Crossed signals may result in the receiver shutting down and feeling you are not interested in his/her thoughts. The receiver may also dig in to his or her opinion, perception, ideas resulting in conflict.
Let the receiver share his/her thoughts without interruption. If you interrupt the receiver before he/or she can let you know what they are thinking, your signals may cross. Crossed signals may result in the receiver shutting down and feeling you are not interested in his/her thoughts. The receiver may also dig in to his or her opinion, perception, ideas resulting in conflict.
· Avoid multi-tasking when the receiver of your message is responding. It is easy to misunderstand a message when you are not 100% focused. In fact, you might miss something that results in you thinking the receiver and you are on the same page when you are not and vice versa.
· Don’t plan your response while the receiver is speaking. When you begin anticipating what the receiver is going to say and start planning how you are going to respond to it at the same time the receiver is speaking you are not focused on understanding the receiver. Your actions indicate that you are more focused on making sure that the receiver focuses on you and your message.
· Stay focused on the meaning and not the words. Words have different meaning depending upon our culture, preferences, and experience. Be careful not to let your meaning of a word influence your interpretation of the message.
Listening requires a genuine interest in another’s point of view. If it’s all about you, then you are not listening!
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