Listening Skills

Listening is an important part of communication whether it is verbal communication or non-verbal communication. There is no communication if the message which is to be conveyed it not listened to properly by the listeners. Listening skills are important in organizational culture. Effective listening is a key to better work attitudes and working relationships between the management and the employees. Listening skills also impact the company’s communication with its customers. A very dynamic process, listening is about the attention and interest one gives to another during communication. Most of the time, listening is used as hearing while there are differences. Listening is an active and dynamic process but hearing is a passive process. Listening is more about focusing and concentrating on what is being said. Hearing just perceives the sounds. Listening means whatever is said, is understood properly.

In organizational behavior, listening is more refined than workplace listening. It’s a type of active listening in the organizational environment. Listening is very important for better customer satisfaction, growth, and performance and for organizational effectiveness.

Workplace listening becomes more important during non-verbal communication. With the help of effective listening skills, employees can acquire the facts and information that is given. For human resource managers, listening skills are of great advantage. With help of sound listening skills, HR managers can listen an applicant carefully during interview, so that they can understand know his/her behavior, and attitude which is not written in a resume. Active listening can improve relations with the clients. It builds trust in the relations. If any customer/client is not heard actively, it can create problem in business relations and the customer can move to different company. It hampers the company’s reputation in the market. So, listening actively also develops reputations. Active listening is a trait of good leadership and good organizational leadership is always required for the success of the organization.

If the message is not listened to effectively and actively, it can lead the message to be misunderstood. This further arises in a situation of conflicts. Thus active listening avoids such situations. Organizational culture which focuses on active listening, better eliminates these problems, remains up to date with the market changes, and avoids any such crisis situations. Active listening is an end-to-end process where the people communicate with each other effectively. There are no random assumptions as good listeners never ignore the information and retain the information. The quality of communication can be enhanced by effective and active listening. Active workplace listening facilitates an optimistic attitude and enables active participation of the employees. Thus, it results in good and healthy relationships. In a nutshell, listening skills are the most important skills one must possess personally and professionally.

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