#LISTEN AND MOVE HOW TO#
#LISTEN AND MOVE PROFESSIONAL#

Pay attention to your body language as well as your frame of mind when engaging in active listening. Don’t cut coachees off, finish their sentences, or start formulating your answer before they’ve finished.

One goal of active listening and being an effective listener is to set a comfortable tone that gives your coachee an opportunity to think and speak. When you’re putting active listening skills to practice, you should be using these 6 techniques:

The Active Listening Skillset 6 Steps for More Effective Active ListeningĮnhancing your active listening skillset involves more than just hearing someone speak.

#LISTEN AND MOVE PROFESSIONAL#

Once you begin to put the active listening skillset into practice, you’ll notice the positive impact it has in a number of areas, including in personal and professional relationships, at work, and in various social situations. Your co-workers and direct reports will respect you more, and you’ll likely see improvements in your relationships with them as a result. Being a thoughtful listener, asking questions, seeking clarification, and encouraging others to share their perspective and will reinforce your role as a spouse, friend, colleague, coach, and mentor.īeing a strong, attentive listener who can provide effective feedback will also enable you to coach your people more effectively.

#LISTEN AND MOVE HOW TO#

The Purpose & Benefits of Active Listeningīefore we dive into specific active listening techniques and how to improve your active listening skills, it’s important to take a step back and understand why they matter.įirst, when a leader engages in active listening, it helps establish trust between both parties, shows empathy for others, and fosters psychological safety. At the organizational level, this is how to build a workplace culture of truth and courage. Unlike critical listening, an active listener is not trying to evaluate the message and offer their own opinion, but rather, to simply make the speaker feel heard and validated.Īt CCL, we help leaders go beyond basic active listening skills so that they’re better equipped to truly listen to understand others - including the facts, feelings, and values that may be hidden behind the words actually being shared. The trick is to be an attentive listener and have your toolkit of active listening techniques at the ready for whenever such moments occur. Yet while time for formal coaching sessions may be limited, you can fit in coaching moments and coaching conversations. Daily pressures and demands often overtake our work, leaving limited time and energy to focus on slowing down to really listen to, and coach, direct reports. While important, active listening and reflecting, responding, and giving feedback aren’t always easy. If you want to try growing your active listening skillset and you’re ready to take the active listening challenge, read on! Using Active Listening to Coach Others Takes Intentional Effort The listener may use active listening techniques like paying close attention to the speaker’s behavior and body language in order to gain a better understanding of their message - and may signal that they’re following along with visual cues such as nodding, eye contact, or avoiding potential interruptions, like fidgeting and pacing. This keeps both listener and speaker actively engaged in the conversation.

What Is Active Listening? How Can I Do It Better? What Is Active Listening?Īctive listening requires you to listen attentively to a speaker, understand what they’re saying, respond and reflect on what’s being said, and retain the information for later.

Listen and move