Listening Skills & Understanding
Active Listening Skills
One of the biggest complaints between people is not being listened to, not heard and being interrupted
How can you demonstrate you are listening, and understanding?
- Be quiet.
- Ask one question (not multiple) and then maintain eye contact and do not talk
- Take notes (ask permission - is it OK if I take notes please?)
- Mirror their style and posture
- Think about your body language (never fold your arms)
- Nod in agreement
- Touching / supporting your chin with the fingers of one hand demonstrates thinking about a big point
- Make affirmative noises
- Concentrate on the person and ignore potential distractions
- Ask a probing question about the last answer
- Be empathetic, be patient, show compassion, repeat what you heard in paraphrase, summarise and recap
See handout 2 for tips on do's and don'ts
Complete and Continue