Active Listening Skills For Managers

Active listening skills for managers can make a massive different to how well you do job as a manager. To manage a team effectively and well, learning about each individual and what is going on in the team is essential and active listening skills are a key part of your management skills to achieve this.  We spend around 45% of our day listening to others, yet only 2% of professionals have received formal training on understanding and improving their listening skills.  Using actively listening gives you lots of benefits as a manager. Some include:1.      Showing you care2.      Conveying empathy and understanding3.      Encouraging the other to reveal more4.      Builds trust in your5.      Gives you many insights into the other person emotional state and thought process.The importance of active listening in the workplace , particularly if you are a manager, is very high in my opinion.  I take you through 7 active listening techniques which give you a list of how to improve listening skills. Anyone can learn and improve their active listening skills.  The first skill for active listening in the office is to keep your mind in the present – to concentrate and stay focused on what the other person is communicating to you.  The second skill of active listening skills for managers is to maintain eye contact to demonstrate your attention and interest in the other person.  The third skill of active listening skills in the workplace is to manage your own body language to show your interest. The fourth skill of active listening and communication skills is to use paraphrasing and summaries to prove to the other person that you are taking in what they are saying.  The fifth active listening techniques in the workplace is to keep an open mind. You will not take in what is being communicated to you if you have already made up your mind. The sixth active listening skill is not to interrupt the other person. Make sure they have truly finished speaking before saying anything in return.  The seventh skill of active listening is to ask open ended questions to probe for more depth or a better understanding of the points being made.  I then take you through 10 signs to look out for what you are putting these active listening skills into practice. These will help you in your role of manager to support and help your team members. Finally, I take you through how to use these active listening skills to build awareness of the group dynamics and what is happening around at work. This awareness will make your job as a manager a lot easier. Enjoy learning a lot more with your active listening skills!