The Skill Of Active Listening

Are you a good listener?

You may think you’re a good listener-maybe someone even told you were a good listener. Or maybe not. As a leader, this is a very important question. So much of your ability to solve the problems your team is bringing to you depends upon your ability to understand them. And in order to help your team feel heard and listened to when they’re pitching possible solutions depends on being a good listener.

No matter what you answered to the opening question, there’s good news for all. Listening well is a skill-the skill of active listening. And while that skill is crucial for communication, collaboration, and problem-solving, it’s also learnable.

In this article, we will explore the skill of active listening and how it can benefit both leaders and their teams. To do that, we will delve into the four specific skills involved in active listening using an acronym first developed by communication expert Julian Treasure: RASA-Receive, Appreciate, Summarize, and Ask.

Receive

The first skill of active listening is to receive. Truly paying attention and receiving the information being shared is the first step in active listening. It involves listening without interrupting or formulating a response, making eye contact, and paying attention to non-verbal cues. By actively…