The Power of Effective Listening
Communication works best when everyone involved shares the same understanding. This shared understanding happens when everyone interprets the information similarly. But, unfortunately, many conversations end up like the quote mentioned above.
Miscommunication often occurs because either the speaker isn’t clear enough or the listener doesn’t put in enough effort to understand correctly.
A lot of people see listening as a passive activity. They just sit back and listen, letting the speaker do all the work. While it’s true that people decide where to focus their attention based on what interests them, listening isn’t just about hearing words. It’s an active choice that requires effort. However, sometimes, this effort is misdirected. For example, have you ever found yourself nodding along to someone’s long, boring story at a family dinner, all the while thinking about something else entirely? Sure, you might have thought you were being polite, but your lack of engagement communicated something different.
Having good listening skills gives us power in conversations. But often, people think of this power as an all-or-nothing thing. Either we stay quiet and let others talk, or we interrupt and dominate the conversation. But effective listening skills give us the power to avoid these extremes. They allow us to steer conversations away from heated arguments, keep them on track, and ensure everyone’s opinions are heard.
The first step to becoming a powerful listener is recognising and overcoming bad listening habits. Here are some common examples:
- Assuming we know what someone will say before they say
- Immediately planning our response when someone suggests
- Debating when we disagree instead of
- Impatience with long-winded
- Deciding whether a conversation is relevant within seconds.
- Focusing on examples rather than the main
- Feeling the need to comment on everything others
- Difficulty listening to people less knowledgeable than
- Tuning out people we don’t
- Being preoccupied with how others perceive us.
Each of these habits represents a problem in listening. The key is to recognise when we’re not focused on listening. Since most of our listening behaviours are habits we’re not even aware of, this can be challenging.
Lack of focus while listening often leads to interrupting others. As we listen, we’re also talking to ourselves about what we’re hearing. And sometimes, our internal dialogue is so loud that we miss what the other person is saying, especially if we’re feeling defensive. But there’s a method to listening effectively:
- Understand the speaker’s message
- Evaluate the message
Understanding the speaker’s message doesn’t mean agreeing with everything they say. It means being able to summarise their main point in your own words, a skill known as reflective listening.
Reflective listening is powerful because it helps redirect conversations and resolve conflicts more productively.
Learning to paraphrase what we hear, instead of immediately defending ourselves, is challenging. But with practice, it can enhance our personal power and influence in conversations. Some guidelines for effective paraphrasing include:
- Capturing the essence of the main point, not just repeating
- Acknowledging emotions without making it about
- Keeping the paraphrase neutral and calm.
- Delaying responses until we truly
- Matching our paraphrasing style to the speaker’s.
With practice, we can slow down conversations and truly understand each other’s perspectives. Good listening skills don’t just make us better conversationalists; they give us power in every interaction.
