Category Archives for "Active Listening"

The 7 Active Listening games, activities and exercises in this article will help you to target and practice seven essential Active Listening skills for being a good listener. They’re not simply warm-up activities! They are designed for adults (not children) and suitable for both personal listening development and workplace training workshops. Step-by-step instructions are provided.

Are you longing for more meaningful and satisfying conversations? Trying to truly connect with your clients and their needs? Desiring to foster greater rapport and trust with others? Wanting to avoid another costly misunderstanding? If any of these interpersonal challenges resonate with you then make it your ongoing objective to listen with empathy. In this article I describe the vital role of empathy in connecting with people in our personal and business lives. Then I offer ways to develop it.

We need to listen with both our ears and our eyes. Over 65% of the information in our discussions is conveyed using non-verbal cues. [1] But what are these cues and how trustworthy are they?  In this article we explore how to utilise these non-verbal cues to uncover the total meaning of a speaker’s message and to avoid misunderstandings. This is Step 2 of the Active Listening Process.

Imagine that you’re a healthcare worker in a patient handover meeting. The handover is going smoothly with the other worker sharing the important information you need. But in passing they make a comment that catches your attention. Do you let it go? Or do you probe further? Opportunities to glean more information occur all the time. In this article we look at Step 3 of the Active Listening Process - using targeted follow-up questions to draw out more information.

Work and social discussions needn't be frustrating time wasters. Active Listening is the number one skill for transforming them into productive dialogues. In this 'Active Listening How To' article I strip the process right back to its fundamentals in five easy, immediately usable steps with examples - what it is and how we can use it in all our conversations to listen better.