Communication can be defined as the exchange of information and understanding from one person to another. Everyone will agree that listening skills are crucial for effective communication as the lack of listening skills can result in miscommunication. This will adversely affect the productivity of the individual. As a result, it widens the gap between the communicator and the other person. Without effective listening, there is always the possibility of misunderstandings and a breakdown in exchange of information. There are many factors act as barriers to our listening. These barriers include giving attention to more than one communication, you are confused or not interested, focus on communicator’s features instead focus on communication, noise and other environmental factors and so on. Being aware of these barriers to effective listening help you to develop the required listening skills. Follow these six effective techniques to get an idea about “how to improve listening skills”.
Stay Focused
Staying focused is one of the effective listening exercises. Stay focused can help you listen to people better and achieve almost anything without wasting much time and energy. So you can use that time and energy in other productive areas. When we do many things at a time, we don’t get the expected result. But when we do one task at a time, we will get a good result. So we should focus on the single task at a time instead of multitasking.
Remove Distractions From Mind
With many distractions around you, it becomes very difficult for you to focus your attention on any subject. You must aware about the fact that you are distracted by the factors around you because your mind is allowing your attention to those factors. The vital solution to avoid distractions is to control your mind. Hence you can improve your listening skills.
Keep Eye Contact
It is very difficult for many people to maintain eye contact while they are speaking to someone. Shyness and lack of confidence stand as a barrier to keep eye contact. The other person considers it as boredom or not interested. If you focus completely on the conversation, so you are completely listening to the other person. Then, you will just naturally maintain eye contact with the person.
Let The Speaker Complete
Interrupting in a conversation is one of the main indications that you are not listening. To others, it indicates disrespect. You should have to wait patiently for a turn to speak and let the other person complete.
Show That You’re Listening By Your Body Language
When you listen to the speaker, he feels accepted, important and understood. Show that you are listening by bending forward toward the person speaking, maintain eye contact, and shake your head to agree his point.
Respond At Right Time
Listen to the other person that what he is speaking instead of how to respond. This enables you to process his idea and make a good replay from his idea. Respond at the right time shows your intelligence and knowledge to communicate with people.
Listening is a skill which can be achieved through the continuous practice of listening exercises. Better listening skills help you to achieve good personality which in turn helps you to attain success in your life. Effective listening enables you to give respect to the speaker as well as receive their respect. Being a good listener, you can organize your thoughts perfectly. The problems in your communication can be solved to a great extent through better listening. In this way, you can maintain a better relationship with others.
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