When looking at people I admire in business across all levels, I’ve found a common quality among them – listening. When you think about it, really listening is perhaps the most underused or underdeveloped skill. As someone whose work centers around enhancing our ability to focus, I have always been interested in what makes people work well, and in turn, how people listen well.
Even when you remove noise disturbances in the office through sound-proof rooms or noise canceling headsets, you still need to build awareness to the factors that affect your capacity to listen. It could be perfectly quiet during a conversation and you could still be completely unengaged with what the other person is saying. Understanding this, I’ve spent time trying to observe and understand what makes one a good workplace listener.
Here are some of the tools I’ve learned to help listen mindfully and maximize communication to build better business relationships.
Interpret the next point
Always listen ahead of the person talking, trying to anticipate their next point and what they are getting at. A lot of people think this means verbally encouraging or cueing someone to go on, in order to let them know that you are listening, but that’s not the case. It’s more about focusing on their train of thought and using your critical thinking skills to engage deeper in the conversation.
Evaluate the discussion
Constantly evaluate the evidence given by someone to support what they are saying. This isn’t about judging someone in order to jump to conclusions. On the contrary, you should avoid doing that or engaging with confirmation bias. I look at this as an exercise in data, correlating granular points to help build the cumulative idea and check it for blind spots before engaging with it. Think of it like a file transfer that is checking for broken links.
Understand what’s being said
Make mental summaries of what’s been covered by whoever is speaking as they are going along. Especially if you feel your brain starting to coast, you should focus on building summaries of what has been said so far. Imagine you had to recap the conversation to another person, what key points would you share with them? This will help stop your mind from going off on a tangent.
And what’s not being said
Similarly, you should listen for what is not being said as much as you put effort into what is being said and why it is being said. Look at the framing involved when someone is speaking and see if you can pick up on what they might be shifting attention to or steering away from. This helps keep your brain active and turns on your reasoning and deduction skills.
All of these tips are to help you conduct active rather than passive listening. It’s the difference between truly hearing what a colleague is saying instead of simply waiting until it’s your turn to speak. Ultimately, improved listening is going to pay off much more than many other productivity tools by allowing your brain to focus efficiently. The result will change the entire way you process information and allow you far more meaning and value in your communications, both at home and in work.
