Communication skills play a crucial role in the social life of a person. They allow not only exchanging records but also to analyze it, giving a subjective or objective assessment. The method of active listening is one of the complex communicative skills. It makes possible the semantic perception of what the interlocutor said.

What Is Active Listening

The active listening definition implies the technique of interaction of all participants in the colloquy, that is, not only the speaker but also the listener. This technique allows not only to fully absorb the records received but also prevents incorrect interpretation of the above and errors during the colloquy.

With the help of active listening skills, it is possible to move the colloquy in the necessary direction and develop it. The main purpose of active listening activities is always the opportunity to get as many records as possible. This allows the collocutors to resolve the conflict or prevent it prematurely, establish order in the relationship.

Active hearing helps to establish deeper contacts between members of the family or the team. A  productive colloquy requires not only the ability to express one's thoughts, but also the hear skills.

If a person is interested in the colloquy process and its effectiveness, then he tries to hear as closely as possible in order to get all the necessary records. In this case, as a rule, eye contact is established. This is called the ability to listen "with your whole body."

This is one of the active listening examples where there is an expression of the interlocutor's interest in the colloquy, since while he tries to observe only the speaker, he turns his whole body towards him, focuses attention on his face.

Why Listening Skills Are Crucial

Ability to hear to the collocutor is one of the main indicators of culture. Looking at a person who does not hear you, you will feel disappointment, then anger. When people do not listen to us, it's very unpleasant.

People are extraordinarily responsive to those who treat attentively to them. After all, if a person is listened to, it makes him feel crucial, necessary, and even happy. When you become an active listener, you do without a compliment to the companion. A person who can to hear to the interlocutor carefully perceives what is being said to him, and he forms the process of the colloquy.

In business, hearing skills are especially crucial, as this is one of the most crucial principles for conducting business talks and commercial negotiations. Inability to listen to your partner or client often leads to loss of money. A good reason to learn to hear carefully to the collocutor is the opportunity to learn a lot of new and interesting things.

An active hearing is widely applicable for educational purposes. It's about the direct ability to communicate with the child, establishing a trusting relationship, which will make it easier to influence the baby, to solve various conflict situations. A feature of active hearing to a child is that children are much more demanding and require attention to themselves. You can not talk to a child from another room, turning away from him and doing other things.

In addition to the fact that this method is indispensable in family life since it will make it possible to establish relationships not only with the child but also between adults, it is also useful in other social spheres. For example, professionals working in sales are well acquainted with active hearing.

Moreover, it is simply an indispensable skill for any sales consultant or manager.

With the help of active hear, you can not only provoke a client to talk but also find out what exactly interests him and how he can be involved in making a purchase. This can be achieved only when the seller or the manager understands what the buyer is interested in. And for this, you should ask the necessary questions.

Tips to Be Followed to Become a Better Listener

Answering a question on how to be a better listener, it is necessary to take into account the following recommendations on empathic listening.

• Analyze your habits in communication. To correct mistakes, it is necessary to see and realize them. Ask yourself a series of questions about how you are talking. What problems do you have in dealing with people? How often do you interrupt the interlocutor? Do you always correctly interpret the words of the collocutor?
• Give the interlocutor feedback. In communication, always two people participate, alternately acting as a speaker and a listener. For the first one's own reasoning is always understandable. But for the listener, they can be confused or not clear up to the end. As a listener, you must form feedback in order that your opponent understands that he needs to stop and clarify the idea in more detail.
• Do not hesitate to ask clarifying questions and say the words you heard aloud in order that you will be corrected if you are confused. It is recommended to clarify something during a colloquy than to be later in an embarrassing situation.
• Be physically attentive. The speaker wants to communicate with an attentive and responsive listener who will support the colloquy. Turn to the collocutor and keep eye contact with him.
• Focus on the speech of the interlocutor. By itself, concentration can last no more than a minute. A longer concentration requires conscious concentration of attention. Do not let your thoughts distract you, follow the speaker's thoughts.
• Listen not only to words but also pay attention to the feelings of the collocutor. This tip is especially useful in communicating with girls. In addition to the records transmitted in the colloquy, most people also put their emotions and feelings into the message. To understand the feelings of the interlocutor is very crucial because through them he shares with you that records that he does not want or cannot voice.
• Observe non-verbal signals. A large part of the communication is non-verbal, and you need to follow this part very carefully. You need to follow the look, voice, and gestures of the collocutor. The tone of voice and the speed of speech give excitement and interest in specific moments of the colloquy. Pose and gestures will tell you a lot about how much a person trusts you and how relaxed he is when communicating.
• Attitude is very crucial. Your benevolent mood will show the companion that you are open for communication, and this communication is pleasant and interesting for you. And the negative attitude is destructive that your interlocutor will necessarily understand this and turn on a defensive reaction.
• Do not distract the collocutor. Try not to interrupt the interlocutor. If you really want to say something, keep your thought and express it when the time comes. The point here is that you can interrupt the chain of reasoning of the collocutor. That is why interrupting a person is a manifestation of disrespect.
• Ask leading questions. Questions help you to understand the essence of the colloquy and tell your companion about your interest in him and the topic of communication. However, an unnecessarily large number of questions can suppress the initiative of the speaker and cause him to take a defensive position in communication. To practice active listening you can listen to an audiobook, write how you understand it, then read this book summary and compare your understanding with short content.
• Do not succumb to the emotional pressure of the interlocutor. Talking to an agitated or emotionally collocutor, focus only on the meaning of words. Throw away the emotional coloring in order that your own feelings do not block out what you really need to realize. Otherwise, there is a risk of becoming a victim of manipulation.

Conclusion

The ability to communicate with the interlocutor is not really difficult. It is enough to be focused on the colloquy and follow the above tips, as well as the rules of cultural communication. You can learn to listen to the collocutor, the main tip is to want to do it.