The importance of maintaining active listening and how to do it

All of us, at times, need to be ears. That they understand and contain us, it has no comparison. That is why in this article we will talk about a fundamental communicative skill: Active listening. We will tell you what it is, and best of all: how to practice it to improve your interpersonal relationships.

There is nothing like the containment offered by a good listener. We will teach you how to become great receptors, to benefit from it.

Keep reading if you want to find out how to do it!

Content

• What is called active listening?
  • What is it for
• Why can it be difficult to maintain active listening?
• Tips for maintaining active listening
  • 1. Avoid judging
  • 2. Take time to issue an answer
  • 3. Be empathic
  • 4. Do not advise giving their opinion, help the other to reflect
  • Bibliographic resources

What is called active listening?

When we refer to "active listening" we are talking about a communicative ability. In any communication process, as they should know, there are two parts: issuer and receiver. They share a message, which the issuer sends the receiver and the interpretation of the message is the crucial aspect of the process, on him and his correct interpretation depends on the communicative reciprocity.

Now, what happens if communication is not effectively achieved? In those cases, the message never reaches its understanding, and there is no transmitter transmitter to receiver. It is our interest to raise what happens when a message is issued, but who receives it fails to capture it for distraction or not being lending all of your attention. That process is precisely the opposite of maintaining active listening.

To maintain healthy relationships with others, based on empathy and respect, knowing how to maintain active listening is essential, something very difficult in our times. We could define then, to active listening, as a communicative ability fundamental if what we are looking for is to establish healthy and respectful relationships with others.

What is it for

Active listening, as we have already said, is a crucial communicative ability. Consists in Pay attention during conversations that we have with other people. Get more information, ask questions about it, in short: strive to capture the entire message they wish to convey. It provides confidence and closeness, we all want to be heard and reconforts to the people with whom we relate to knowing that we are paying attention to them.

The importance of active listening is that it allows us to establish relationships with other people based on respect and empathy.

As we said, active listening generates confidence and credibility, which makes it a useful strategy in sales and businesses. Many sellers use it to inspire confidence, beyond its social importance.

Active listening is a fundamental ability that we should all keep in mind and develop. That is why we will continue to deepen the term.

Why can it be difficult to maintain active listening?

While knowing how to maintain active listening is a more than beneficial process, there are not many people who know how to do it and this is because it is not easy to do. We will mention now why it can be difficult to maintain active listening:

• By keeping conversations, instead of striving to understand, Many times we assume what the other thinks or feels. This effort makes us take attention to the talk to focus on our imagination.
• Not interest. If we select only part of the information we receive, or we are not interested and ignore the message, our ideas will wander and we will not be attentive.
• Everything we experience and hear goes through our judgment, we cannot avoid it. We might stop maintaining attentive listening as a result of a prejudice, We judge what the other person tells us and we can discredit it.
• We are only interested in please. When we have a conversation, if our attention instead of being put in the talk is to please the other, then we will not keep an active listening. We will not be capturing the speech.

These are just some of the reasons that could move away from maintaining active listening. This ability is focused on attention and respect. Its benefits are many, but it is not easy to achieve. That is why we will help them do it.

Tips for maintaining active listening

So, having clarified the importance of maintaining active listening and why you should train to do it, they will want to know where to start. We will talk about that now. We will tell you what they can do to train in the strategy of maintaining active listening, to benefit in their links with it.

1. Avoid judging

In the event that, when listening to a person, we focus on prosecuting what they are telling us, we will be depositing our attention in issuing the trial. Therefore, we will not be attentive to what they tell us, which in active listening is crucial.

Listen, try to maintain their judgments the most out of the margin, as far as possible. It's a good first step.

2. Take time to issue an answer

It is normal to respond quickly to something they tell us. However, if so, we are probably omitting a large part of the conversation, since we will be processing it quickly and, probably, shutting our emitter ahead of time, without allowing you to round the idea.

3. Be empathic

Try, hearing someone, put in their place. Reflect on what the other could be feeling. This will bring them closer to those who speak them and can maintain a conversation based on understanding, so they will better capture their ideas.

4. Do not advise giving their opinion, help the other to reflect

Do not release what they think, much less try to control the decisions of the one who speaks to them. To maintain active listening, it is important to give space, listen, open the conversation to understand what happens to the other person.

Perform open questions, which request more information and not explanations, will make fluid conversation and will allow relief and reflection, also to containment and trust.

We expect this article to have useful to understand the importance of this fundamental strategy: active listening. Following our last tips they can easily begin to practice it, and it will be very useful when establishing links with others.

What are you waiting for? Improve your social skills by practicing active listening. You will quickly see your results in your interpersonal relationships.

Bibliographic resources

• Calderón, k. TO. H., & Silva, to. K. L. (2018). Active listening as a necessary element for dialogue. Conviction magazine, 5(9), 83-87.
• Campos, m. V. G., & Moreno, M. M. M. (2016). Active listening. In multilingual and literary learning: new didactic approaches (pp. 467-477). Publications service.
• Galera Campos, M. V., & Molina Moreno, M. M. (2016). Active listening.
• Naranjo, m. G. M. (2018). Active and empathic listening. EDITORIAL ELARNING, SL.