Blog entry by Funmi Adeoye

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by Funmi Adeoye - Tuesday, 20 October 2020, 4:04 PM
Anyone in the world

One of the building blocks to communication is active listening. In a conversation, active listening is not just been a good listener. Most of the time, we think that we are active listeners, we may be listening well but we are not processing the message. An active listener looks and sound interested in conversations, he encourages the speaker to communicate extensively, he clarifies and expands on thoughts and feelings, he maintains good eye contact.

Active listening can be learned and as a result, leaders should learn the skill to enhance success in an organization. Research has proven that leaders who listen to ideas and input from their subordinates are able to make better-informed decisions. The benefits of this include: it helps to establish a good working relationship, it helps to repair and level status imbalance in the organization, it equips the leaders to give relevant and good advice, it helps to build stronger teams and ultimately leads to profit.    

How do we listen actively?

·         Listen and hear what the issue is

·         Stop to clarify, be sure you have heard right

·         Watch body language

·         Summarize the key points

The reflective response technique is designed to elicit a full sense of the speaker's thoughts especially feelings. To show an effective reflective response, a listener must be able to respond and reflect back on what the speaker has said, a listener should not ask questions that would make the speaker divert his own attention, a listener should not ask why, as it may distract the speaker from his line of thoughts. In reflective responses, it is important to respond to feelings rather than content because feelings are a better indication of personal meanings than the content, it also helps the speaker’s self-exploration.

Reflective Responses is to be used in the following instances:

·         When you want to understand the other person’s feeling s more completely

·         When you sense that the other person has not revealed his thoughts

·         When you sense that the other person is not sure of his line of feelings.

In conclusion, active listening and reflective responses are important, it enhances easy communication between people and helps to build good communication skills.


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