How can you use active listening to improve your feedback skills?

Feedback is a crucial part of people management, but it can also be challenging and stressful. How can you give constructive and meaningful feedback to your team members without causing resentment or misunderstanding? One of the key skills you need is active listening. Active listening is the ability to pay attention, understand, and respond to what someone is saying, without interrupting, judging, or imposing your own opinions. In this article, you will learn how to use active listening to improve your feedback skills in the workplace.

1 What is active listening?

Active listening is more than just hearing what someone is saying. It involves showing interest, empathy, and respect for the speaker, and using verbal and non-verbal cues to indicate your attention and comprehension. Active listening also requires you to ask open-ended questions, paraphrase, and summarize what you have heard, and give feedback to the speaker. Active listening helps you to build rapport, trust, and mutual understanding with the speaker, and to avoid misunderstandings, conflicts, and errors.

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Robert Hanna

LEGAL COMMUNITY BUILDER 👉 I Help LAWYERS to Land Dream JOBS 📹 Host of Legally Speaking Podcast powered by Clio🎙 Co-Founder of The Great Big Legal Offsite (GBLO) 💪 LinkedIn Top Voice 🏆 Advisor to Caseguru ⚖️ Dad 👨
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By actively listening, you demonstrate empathy, build trust, and gain valuable insights that can help you win new clients and hire top talent. For example, when trying to win a client, active listening means taking the time to understand their needs, concerns, and goals. By asking thoughtful questions, and truly listening to their responses, you can tailor your solutions to meet their specific needs, and differentiate yourself from the competition. Similarly, when interviewing a candidate, active listening means paying attention to their responses, asking follow-up questions, picking up on non-verbal cues. You can then gain a deeper understanding of their skills, experience, and personality, and make a more informed hiring decision.

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2 Why is active listening important for feedback?

Feedback is a two-way communication process that involves giving and receiving information, opinions, and suggestions. It can be positive or negative, formal or informal, and can have different purposes, such as to praise, motivate, correct, or improve performance. However, feedback can be challenging, as it can trigger emotional reactions, defensiveness, or resistance from the receiver. Active listening can help to overcome these challenges and make feedback more effective and constructive. By using active listening, you can show respect and appreciation for the receiver's work and perspective, understand their strengths, weaknesses, goals, and challenges, identify the gaps between expectations and reality, provide clear, specific, and actionable feedback, encourage the receiver to share their thoughts, feelings, and concerns, address any issues or objections that may arise, support the receiver to find solutions and implement changes, and follow up and monitor the progress and outcomes of the feedback.

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3 How to practice active listening for feedback?

Active listening is a skill that can be learned and improved with practice. To practice active listening for feedback, it is important to prepare yourself by having a clear purpose, goal, and message for the feedback. During the feedback, focus on what the receiver is saying, and use verbal and non-verbal cues to indicate your understanding and response. Show empathy and respect for the receiver's feelings, and give feedback that is clear, specific, and actionable. Finally, acknowledge and reciprocate the feedback, and offer your assistance and support.

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4 How to improve your active listening skills?

Active listening is a skill that can be improved with practice and feedback. To do so, seek feedback from others on how well you listen and communicate. Monitor your own verbal and non-verbal cues, such as tone, volume, pitch, gestures, and posture, and adjust them to match the receiver's cues. Practice mindfulness exercises, such as meditation, breathing, or yoga, to improve your focus, concentration, and attention. Additionally, practice listening to different types of speakers and topics, and use active listening techniques, such as asking questions, paraphrasing, summarizing, and giving feedback. Finally, practice listening to people with different backgrounds, cultures, languages, or accents, and learn to appreciate and respect the diversity and richness of communication.

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Christina Vargeletis

Lead Associate Operations for JPMorgan Chase & Co.
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Something I have found useful is listening to learn. You can only learn when you stop talking. By letting silence do the heavy lifting, and creating an environment to help others feel comfortable in sharing their thoughts, ideas, opinions, and feelings, you begin seeing things in their perspective better. By putting yourself in their shoes and showing empathy, you are more likely to come to a civil conclusion or solution. Only when we listen to learn can we then cater what we say next to ensure what you say, and how you say it, are in a way that makes sense and more willing to be received.

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How can you use active listening to improve your feedback skills?

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1 What is active listening?

2 Why is active listening important for feedback?

3 How to practice active listening for feedback?

4 How to improve your active listening skills?

People Management

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How can you use active listening to improve your feedback skills?

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1 What is active listening?

2 Why is active listening important for feedback?

3 How to practice active listening for feedback?

4 How to improve your active listening skills?

People Management

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