Listen Twice As Much As You Speak

Today we’re continuing our conversation about communication with this key piece of advice, “Listen twice as much as you speak.” Doing this will allow you to learn as much as possible from those around you, keeping yourself open to every opportunity while also creating a mutual sense of respect amongst your fellow employees. And the best kind of listening is active listening: a skill that involves completely focusing on a speaker, fully processing what it is they have to say, understanding it, then responding helpfully. We’ve collected tips from the pros to ensure you’re able to do just that.

For our first trick, we’re turning CEO Elle Kaplan. While her thoughts on the power of active listening in workplace settings may be directed at business leaders, there’s plenty you can learn from her, too. After all, you should be thinking and acting like a leader in your professional environment! Kaplan provides this important tip to active listening: “Resist the urge to think about what to say next. You’ll draw better conclusions after the other person has finished speaking. It takes time to truly understand someone’s meaning — what’s behind the words. Those who you work with will take notice, and you’ll soon have their sincere and valuable trust.” Building up that real trust is an invaluable component of forging a genuine workplace community, one that allows everyone to feel and do their best. Take initiative in creating that community by actively listening to both your bosses and colleagues.

The experts at Indeed offer up both a tip and an example of that advice in action: “Ask open-ended questions. Ask questions that show you’ve gathered the essence of what they’ve shared, and guides them into sharing additional information. Make sure these questions cannot be answered with a simple ‘yes’ or ‘no.’ Example: ‘You’re right—the onboarding procedure could use some updating. What changes would you want to make to the process over the next six months?’” Asking questions also shows that you care and are committed to producing stellar work that more than meets your organization’s needs, in addition to allowing you to be aware of how your efforts fit into the big picture at your company. 

Don’t just passively “hear” those around you–actively listen! Make yourself indispensable to any professional environment by displaying genuine care and attention through your active listening skills. Communication is key. And listening is a key component of communicating! We’ll be back tomorrow with our Wednesday Wellness: Communication edition to help guide you become an even better workplace communicator.

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