In my last article I shared with you my views on, listening and hearing, the process of listening i.e. active listening.

A study revealed that we remember only 25-50% of what we hear, as such, when you talk to your boss, colleagues, customers or spouse for 10 minutes, they only really hear 2½-5 minutes of the conversation. Thus listening is a skill that we really need to keep improving on.

Good listening skills require a high level of self-awareness. By understanding your personal style of communicating and listening, you will go a long way towards creating good and lasting impressions with others.

A good listener will be able to

• Obtain correct information
• Able to understand  and interpret correctly
• Learn and enjoy the conversation.
• You are respecting and appreciating other person thoughts and making him/her feel good.
• Improve your productivity, as well as your ability to influence, persuade negotiate.
• You’ll avoid conflict and misunderstandings.

Tips for Active listening

• Maintain a correct posture while listening to the speaker. Your posture need to pen and inviting.
• Avoid all external distractions when someone is talking to you. For example- Do not scribble on paper or play with pencil, when teacher is teaching something to you.
• Make an eye contact, look at the person who is speaking to you. Looking in another direction or distracting glances appear as though you are not listening
• Avoid internal distractions, i.e. do not day dream or think about something else when someone is talking to you. Pay attention to the current conversation.
• Respond the speaker and let him know that you are listening to him by frequently nodding or by smiling or by using words like” huh”,” yes”,”really”,”interesting” etc.
• Allow the speaker to finish, do not interrupt with counter arguments. Let him finish and then you can put forward your point of view.
• Be candid, open and honest with your responses and also put forward your opinions respectfully.
• Be patient when you don't understand; getting upset or frustrated won’t solve the problem.Ask right questions, to understand better.

I hope this will help you in improving your listening skills. Hope you have good and meaningful conversations henceforth!!!