ACTIVE LISTENING

These short articles that I will write here are intended to make you want to get out of your comfort zone and ask questions.

During them, I will ask you questions that I recommend you answer in a notebook. Keep the notebook and when you find yourself in a situation to ask yourself a question, go back to point 0.
The sincerity you show to yourself will also be the sincerity you will show in your relationships.

Communication is the fundamental tool that is the basis of inter-human bonds. Communication is the essence of all relationships, be they personal or professional.

The way we choose to express ourselves and the way we choose to remain silent define us.

There are people who have an innate gift of being charismatic, pleasant and listened to, but there are also other people who polish themselves with the help of books and courses. What I can tell you from my own experience is that in order to work directly with the client, you must know how to listen.

There are many ways to listen.
1. Listening to a teacher because you want to learn.
2. To listen to instructions from a trainer so as not to make mistakes.
3. Listening to a presentation to hear a new perspective.
4. To listen critically to a speaker with whom you share the same profession and/or knowledge.
5. To listen therapeutically to a friend who confesses. It is the most intimate way of listening because it involves emotions.

In which of these scenarios do you find yourself listening most often during the course of a day?
After you have learned to listen, you can pass through the personal filter the situation that a client presents to you.
Active listening is the result of several combined techniques: attentive listening, observation and non-verbal language.
An important element for active listening is the limitation of external noises in order to gather all the information that the interlocutor offers.
For example: if you are going to have a dialogue with someone, put the phone away. That person will notice that they have your attention at that moment.
Avoid the need to do several things at the same time and start prioritizing daily tasks.
Thus, you are your own manager of your time and the people you talk to will feel that they have a place in your agenda.

A man who feels listened to feels important.

Who is the most important person for you?
Listening is important, but if the culmination point is to make them happy, we have to show them that we listen to them. Even if we heard what was said to us by a partner or a client, in order for him to be sure that he is being listened to, we must respond in a way that proves that we understood.

Concrete language is the one that gives the signal. The use of specific language demonstrates that we made an effort to pay attention to what we were told.

For example: our partner tells us about a difficult situation he had with a friend. There are two ways to answer, either we say “I’m sorry” or “What a shame”, or we answer “I can’t believe he canceled the meeting when you were already there”. In the second situation, the answer is concrete, we convey to the partner the information that he had our attention and most importantly, that we care.