How to Engage in Active Listening

Active listening can have a profound effect on your productivity and effectiveness at work, as well as on the quality of your relationships with those around you. If you really think about it, you would be surprised at how often we mentally check out during the day. We might be thinking about homework, a work assignment, whether or not we’ll have time to go to the gym later, but not truly being in the moment.

To be an “active listener” you must truly give your full attention to whoever is speaking, and actually connect with the conversation. Making the effort to connect with your co-workers and actively listen to them can go a long way in strengthening personal and professional relationships. Here are some tips on how to be an effective active listener:

1. Focus on eye contact

Part of active listening is engaging all of your senses. Your eyes are usually the first indicator of when you start to lose focus or start thinking about your other priorities. Try to maintain direct eye contact throughout all of your interactions in order to improve your cognitive focus. Don’t stare someone down, but maintain a thoughtful gaze.

If you’re a law student, try to make eye contact with your professor throughout the majority of your lecture. This will prevent you from getting distracted by your laptop or your phone, and will likely lead to better results during your exams.

2. Keep an open mind

Often when we stop paying attention to what someone is saying, it’s because we don’t agree with them. If you judge someone by what they’re saying to you or you mentally criticize their interactions, you compromise your ability to be an effective listener.

When you start to criticize internally, you might find yourself trying to finish someone’s sentences as if you already know what they’re about to say. However, usually, you end up being pretty off base since you’re mostly enforcing your own thoughts on someone’s situation rather than actively listening. Engage in interactions with an open mind and be willing to hear what someone is telling you, even if you don’t agree.

3. Give non-verbal feedback

Try to focus on how you can give non-verbal feedback using body language. Be mindful of your facial expressions such as rolling your eyes, looking detached from the conversation or fidgeting. If you engage in any of the aforementioned responses, be aware that whoever is speaking to you is likely picking up on your body language.

Positive non-verbal feedback can be a really effective tool in active listening. This can include nodding and sitting up straight to ensure that your speaker knows you’re listening to them intently.

4. Don’t interrupt

This tip might seem self-evident, but you would be surprised by how often people interrupt others without even noticing. It can be really tempting to get side-tracked by someone else’s statement and try to interject into what someone is saying, but it shows that you’re not really listening. Instead, you’re hearing what you want to hear and going off of that. While in a casual conversation this is completely effective, in situations where someone is trying to open up to you or discuss something meaningful, give them time to say what they want to say.