Name Qaisar Hussian

Roll No: 5033

Assignment Topic: Strategies for successful listening

Why is listening important?

Listening is the most fundamental component of communication skills. Listening is not

Active listening is also about patience, listeners should not interrupt with questions or comments.
Active listening involves giving the other person time to explore their thoughts and feelings, they
should be given adequate time for that.

These six strategies to improve your listening skills

1- Be Attentive:

Successful listeners hear it the first time. They are focused on the speaker and in the
moment. Have you ever had someone tell you something and then ask you a question
afterwards and not have any idea what to answer? You probably thought you were
listening, but it is very easy for our minds to stray. Practice mindfulness by consciously
eliminating distractions from your mind and body. Shut off your smartphone, close your
.door, and move away from the computer screen

2- Ask Questions:

One of the ways you can stay in the moment is to ask clarifying questions.
Repeat what you think the speaker was saying to gain clarity and understanding: “What I
think you’re saying is…” Often people’s comments are open to interpretation, so show
your desire to understand while reinforcing you are listening.

3- Don’t Interrupt Unnecessarily.

Use the acronym WAIT, Why Am I Talking? to keep your comments relative to
the speaker’s thoughts. Often I observe people ask questions just to transition the
conversation in another direction. Interject your questions, or thoughts, at appropriate
intervals so not to throw the speaker off track.

4- Use Body Language:

Face-to-face you can convey you are listening by nodding, smiling, and
maintaining eye contact. Public speakers are taught to actively engage an audience by
making eye contact with one person, at a time. You can pick up subtle non-verbal cues
 from watching the speaker’s body language. Are they leaning away from you, or leaning
in? Do they have their arms crossed? Sounds basic, but 55% of communication is
conveyed without even saying a word.

Non-verbal signs of active listening skills

 Smile - small smiles can be used to show that the listener is paying attention to what is
being said or as a way of agreeing or being happy about the messages being received.
Combined with nods of the head, smiles can be powerful in affirming that messages are
being listened to and understood.
 Eye Contact - it is normal and usually encouraging for the listener to look at the speaker.
Eye contact can however be intimidating, especially for more shy speakers – gauge how
much eye contact is appropriate for any given situation. Combine eye contact with smiles
and other non-verbal messages to encourage the speaker.
 Posture - can tell a lot about the sender and receiver in interpersonal interactions. The
attentive listener tends to lean slightly forward or sideways whilst sitting. Other signs of
active listening may include a slight slant of the head or resting the head on one hand.
 Distraction - the active listener will not be distracted and therefore will refrain from
fidgeting, looking at a clock or watch, doodling, playing with their hair or picking their
fingernails.

Verbal Signs of active listening

 Positive Reinforcement - this can be a strong signal of attentiveness, however too much use can
be annoying for the speaker. Occasional words and phrases, such as: ‘very good’, ‘yes’ or
‘indeed’ will indicate that you are paying attention.
 Remembering - try to remembering a few key points, such as the name of the speaker. It can
help to reinforce that what is being said has been understood. Remembering details, ideas and
concepts from previous conversations proves that attention was kept and is likely to encourage
the speaker to continue.
 Clarification - this involves asking questions of the speaker to ensure that the correct message
has been received. Clarification usually involves the use of open questions which enables the
speaker to expand on certain points as necessary.

5- Empathize:

Steven Covey coined the phrase “Seek first to understand, then be understood”
which is my goal when listening. In order to effectively hear what the speaker is saying,
try to look at it from their perspective. It is easy to jump to conclusions and judge when
we don’t put ourselves in the other person’s shoes—and it is difficult to withhold
judgment. Good listeners do this. Set aside filters and just listen.

6- Take notes:
 Muscle memory works. Note taking can be done in person or on the phone. Not
only will note taking reinforce what’s being said, but also it provides you with a
permanent record to refer back to.

Benefits of active listening:

There are many important benefits of active listening, these include:

 Builds deep trust –

As you cultivate the habit of listening sincerely, you invite people to open up. They can
sense that you will not be jumping to conclusions based on superficial details. They also realise
that you care enough about them to listen attentively. While building trust takes time, it leads to
great benefits such as lifelong friendships and a promise of help in difficult times.

 Broadens your perspective –

Your own perspective in life is not the complete truth or how everyone else sees it. The
way you understand life from your beliefs and thinking is only one way to look at it – listening to
other people’s perspectives allows you to look at life from different perspectives, some of which
you may not have thought of before.

 Strengthens your patience –

The ability to be a good listener takes time and you need to develop it with regular efforts over time.
But as you gradually get better and better at listening, an automatic benefit is that you develop patience.
Patience to let the other person express his or her feelings and thoughts honestly while you don’t judge.

 Makes you approachable

As you present yourself as a patient listener, people feel more naturally inclined to
communicate with you. By being there for them, you give them the freedom to express their
feelings.

 Increases competence and knowledge

Great listening skills make an employee more competent and capable, regardless of their
position. The more an individual can get information out of the meetings, the instructions, and
reports provided to him, the more efficient and successful they will be at completing the task.
Listening also builds knowledge and helps fulfil work requirements through progressive learning.

 Saves time and money

Effective listening not only reduces risks of misunderstanding and mistakes that could be
very damaging to the business, it saves time and money by avoiding starting a task or a project
over again, just because the directives given were misunderstood. Employees do not waste
precious time and a specific budget allocated to a project.

 Helps detect and solve problems