Active listening plays a significant role in a workplace environment in many ways that are likely to benefit both day-to-day work and one’s career in the long term. Typically, active listening is deemed as solely listening with purpose and strategy. In the workplace, active listening aids in developing trust, making individuals communicate freely without judgment or interruption. This makes work colleagues feel listened to when sharing information and makes it easier to identify a problem and devise a solution. In addition, the willingness and ability to actively listen to others motivate individuals to communicate on a routine basis. This provides opportunities to collaborate, begin new projects, or complete tasks quickly. Each of these factors can massively contribute to one’s career growth and success.
The brain stumbles, and the idle space begins handling other information spurred by different stimuli, which it may seek from other sensory receptors or process other previously incomplete activities. Typically, the brain operates independently and begins processing other information or reminds one of the things they were meant to do but managed to forget. For instance, one may be sitting in a staff meeting and hearing the manager talk but find that you have totally zoned out 20 minutes into the meeting, thinking about how you left things at home.
Communication is much more essential than ever in today’s high-stress and the high-tech universe. Unfortunately, we spend less time genuinely listening to one another, and active listening has become increasingly rare. Despite many poor listeners, I believe one can adopt active listening daily. For instance, after holding a conversation with my friend on the phone, I realized that I had developed active listening skills. Among the active listening techniques I applied were limiting interruptions and paying full attention to my friend’s tone and words. I found the conversation not awkward since I have worked part-time for a local McDonald’s customer service, which required me to use my active skills daily.