Whether you’re a newcomer to the customer service field or a seasoned veteran, everyone can benefit from improving their listening skills. Cultivating your listening skills will ramp up your productivity, not to mention your ability to influence, persuade and negotiate with others; you’ll avoid misunderstandings and have fewer run-ins with people too. All these skills are necessary for you to make it in today’s competitive job market. The benefits of being a good listener transfers over to your personal life too.
The fact is most of us are not as good at listening as we think we are, research indicates that we remember only about 25-50% of what we hear. That’s terrible! It makes you wonder how much of the really important stuff we’re missing!
* We listen to gather information
* We listen to understand
* We listen to learn
* We listen for fun –c’mon…you know you do it!
With all the listening we do you think we’d be better at it. Developing good communication skills takes a lot of self-awareness and the way to become a better listener is by practicing Active Listening. This means not only listening with your ears but paying attention to body language, and understanding the whole message being expressed.
In order to do this you have to pay attention to the other person very carefully! You should be sure to respond in a way that lets someone know you are listening by nodding or mm-hmm-ing to show your interest and to encourage them to go on.
These tips will help you make sure you are hearing what someone is saying to you and they know you’re focused on them!
First, a couple of don’ts – Don’t interrupt, let the person finish speaking before asking questions. Don’t butt-in with counter-arguments or opinions.
Pay Attention – Give the person talking your full attention, look at them not what else is going on in the room out of the corner of your eye. Does their body language match their words or will you need to dig deeper? Stop thinking about what you are going to say next and just listen.
Provide Feedback – Both non-verbal and verbal – Nod your head, use facial expressions, keep your posture open and inviting, paraphrase what the speaker said by saying things like ‘What you’re saying is…’ Ask appropriate questions to find out more information and intermittently summarize what has been said.
Respond Appropriately – Be candid, honest and kind in your reply, assert your point of view respectfully and always treat the other person the way you think they would like to be treated.