4 Ready-to-Go Checklists You Need to Practice Active Listening
In this noisy world, we are told to be loud, brash, and confident to be successful in the business. But is it really what it takes?
According to the International Listening Association, 85 percent of our learning is derived from listening, meanwhile most people spend only 45 percent of their waking time listening. It is such an irony, when there have been at least 35 business studies indicating listening as a top skill needed for success.
Well, listening can be a real hard work and obviously some people have more challenge to listen than others. Most of us take listening for granted, because our brains tend to love multitasking, while in fact they weren’t built to multitask. We thought we can do all things together at the same time, but then the real problem arises, we are not practicing the active listening well. Instead, we focus on how we are going to deliver our own ideas and this approach is pretty misguided.
This is why. There’s always this ‘unwritten law’: if you want people to listen to what you’re saying, then you have to make sure they feel like you have listened to them. This is because when we feel we are being listened to, there will be a sense of being taken seriously.
While hearing is natural, active listening skills must be acquired and developed. When we talk to people we definitely provide them information, but when we genuinely listen to people we show them respect and create trust. It is never too late to begin working on our active listening skills, because it’s an important tool especially for business practitioners and will give you the advantage, as Robert Baden-Powell, an educational innovator who is best known as the founder pf boy and girl scouts, once said, “if you make listening and observation your occupation, you will gain much more than you can by talk.”
So how to improve our active listening skills?
In his book, Power Listening: Mastering the Most Critical Business Skill of All, Bernard T. Ferrari, the dean of the Carey Business School of the Johns Hopkins University stated that power listening is the art of probing and challenging the information garnered from others to improve its quality and quantity and it’s the key to building a knowledge base that generates fresh insights.
Active listening is making a conscious effort to hear our customer's words as well as to try and understand the total message being sent, both verbally and nonverbally. It requires us to listen not only with our ears, but also with our eyes. That’s why it's very important to put an undivided attention to our customer's gestures, words, body languages, and tone of voice. By doing that, we are not only showing our respect, but also setting a foundation of trust.
Management Guru Stephen Covey has also the simple trick to improve the active listening skill. In his book, The 8th Habit: From Efectiveness to Greatness, he told us the importance of asking other people their opinions. When we take moment to ask our customers’ opinions, we seriously consider them as a big part of our business. Not only we can find out what we don’t know, we can also develop more innovative ideas and make the right decisions for our business.
We know there is the old sayings, “time is money”, but to actively listen is always worth the time. The best business owners have a tendency to listen and observe like a true detective. Never make assumptions, but summarize all the details and seek clarity. An occasional question or comment to recap what has been said will communicate that you understand the message well. Paraphrasing our customers’ key statements to make sure we didn't misunderstand their point of view is also the best way to save the day. Until it’s done correctly, we won’t win our customers’ hearts.
Listening to other people may seem deceptively simple, but doing it well, takes true talent. Then, how do we consider ourselves as good listeners?
There are certain checklists that you might want to use as the guidance:
1. Give 100% Attention
Prove that you care by suspending all other activities. Face your customer and give them your complete attention. Show your attentiveness through your body language by sitting up straight, maintaining good eye contact, uncrossing your legs, unfolding your arms, and leaning forward slightly. Minimize all distractions by turning off your cell phone.
2. Respond Appropriately
You can show that you understand by both verbal and nonverbal, such as simply nodding your head in agreement or expressing interest.
3. Show Understanding
Just saying that you understand is never enough. Thus, people need some sort of evidence or proof of understanding. Prove it by occasionally restating the gist of their idea or by asking a question which proves you know the main idea. You don’t have to repeat what they’ve said to prove you were listening, but to prove that you really understand. The difference in these two intentions will send different messages when you are communicating.
4. Prove Respect
You can prove that you respect others simply by willing to communicate with them at their level of understanding and attitude. You can do this naturally by adjusting your voice tone and choice of words to show that you are really trying to imagine being where they are at the moment. Don't jump to any conclusion or make assumptions. Wait until your customer has finished speaking before deciding that you disagree and never interrupt your customer when they are speaking.
In the end, the active listening is all that matters if we want to communicate well with our customers. Just like the businessman and motivational author Harvey Mackay said, “it’s amazing what you’ll hear if you just listen.”
Image Source: HIGHBROW
*I wrote this article in 2016 for Bornevia, a start-up company running blazingly fast & lightweight cloud helpdesk software for handling customer support request from client, to help company boost the sales. The company closed down their business in 2017.
