Top Tips for Effective Listening

Brought to our attention by Hugh Graham from The Bid Coach, here are some great tips for effective listening and communication taken from this article, to help you make connections and build business relationships as well as become an effective leader. 

10 Tips To Becoming A More Effective Listener

1 Make eye contact.

2 Read the body language of the talker. Are they relaxed, anxious, angry? Extremes are easy to recognise but often the message is much more subtle

3 Mirror the talker’s body language- subtly, a gentle dance rather than a caricature.

4 Show that you are listening, nod, make appropriate responses

5 Ask relevant questions, ask them to clarify if you are not clear about their meaning

6 Summarise: so what you are saying is……….

7 Use open ended questions, the who, what, where, when,

8 Be careful of the tone of your voice when you respond or ask questions. It is all to easy to come across as judgemental or as an interrogator from the Spanish Inquisition

9 Use empathy. Acknowledge difficulties, but be careful not to fall into the trap of going into anecdotes from your experience. “ I sense that you are finding this rather difficult” rather than “Oh I know, it happened to me but mine was bigger, more difficult etc”

10 Take a real interest, if you are simply going through the motions the lack of sincerity will be obvious to others. Leave your ego behind, concentrate on the other person.