How to Improve Your Active Listening Skills [With examples]

Something we are told since the time we were young children is to pay attention. Pay attention at school, to your parents, and nowadays at work.

How good of a listener are you, though? Have you caught yourself just nodding along at a meeting? When a friend is speaking to you, do you completely zone out?

If the answers to these questions are yes, then you need to improve your active listening skills.

Active listening is an essential skill for effective communication in any setting. It’s the ability to hear what someone is saying and respond appropriately.

The best way to improve active listening skills is by practicing them regularly. This includes all types of conversations with your family, friends, colleagues, and more.

Communication skills are an incredibly essential skill for employees and managers in just about any type of workplace. Many hiring managers look for employees that have active listening skills.

That’s why when you create a resume, it’s always a plus if you can prove you have active listening skills. You can use a resume builder to list these skills correctly.

However, communication skills aren’t only useful for employees.

Anyone working in management should also be an active listener. By working on this type of soft skill, you will be able to resolve problems and conflicts more effectively.

You can also remember instructions and details much better, and also understand your colleagues and employees much more.

All of this translates to more productivity and a happier work environment. Keep reading below to improve your listening abilities as well as get rid of some nasty habits.

What Is Active Listening?

Characteristics of active listening involve listening carefully and processing what someone is saying.

You can physically demonstrate you are following along by doing some actions, such as:

• Nodding your head
• Asking questions
• Making comments

Doing these actions are non-verbal ways to show you understand what the other person is saying. However, make sure these actions are genuine, and you are paying attention.

This is a great example of active listening, the opposite of passive listening because you are retaining the information that you are receiving.

Active listening is not only hearing what someone says but also understanding what they mean by it. It requires that you be engaged with the person speaking to you and includes more than just taking in information.

It also requires thoughtful analysis on your part so that you fully comprehend what the other person is trying to convey.

Communication helps build stronger relationships with coworkers and clients by demonstrating effective communication skills.

It also improves your ability to give feedback as well as receive feedback from others without getting defensive or angry about criticism—which can greatly benefit both personal relationships and professional ones alike.

One of the goals of active listening is to make sure you understand what someone else is saying before responding.

This type of communication skill can help you build better relationships with coworkers, colleagues, friends, and family members by making it easier for them to get their point across.

The benefits of active listening are manifold. Not only does it improve interpersonal relationships, but it also helps people work together more effectively towards their goals.

How Does Active Listening Help in the Workplace?

If you are wondering if it is worth it to write your resume to include active listening skills, you should try to put some on there.

There are plenty of active listening examples that you should try to include on your resume whenever you are searching for an open position.

A hiring manager searches for good active listeners because there are benefits of having a good active listener on staff.

Being an active listener helps build relationships between coworkers because it makes them feel heard and understood. The more colleagues trust each other, the better they’ll work together as a team.

There are two types of active listening that you can improve on:

• Verbal
• Non-verbal

There are several things you can work on to get better as both a verbal listener and a non-verbal active listener.

Verbal Communication

Active verbal communication is essential to the workplace. You might be wondering how to be a verbal active listener. Here are some things you can do to demonstrate you are a good active listener:

• Ask open-ended questions
• Give short positive answers
• Talk about similar experiences
• Go over past information

These are some examples of verbal active listening that you can practice at home and the workplace.

You can also say how you practice these habits to a hiring manager during a job interview.

If you aren’t sure how to include active listening examples like on your resume, it would be a good idea to use a resume template.

By doing so, you’ll know exactly how to outline your document with the appropriate skills and examples.

Non-Verbal Communication

You should listen to verbal and nonverbal cues from coworkers.

Non-verbal active listening is also essential when at the workplace, in a meeting, talking one on one, or in other situations.

When you listen to what your coworkers are saying, it helps you understand better how they feel about something or if there’s an issue that needs addressing.

Sometimes non-verbal active listening can help you follow directions more easily, too. It is a way for you to show you are following along without the need to say it.

Sometimes in the workplace, such as in a meeting or presentation, it is critical to keep silent, however, with non-verbal cues you can display that you are following along, and retaining important information.

Some ways to show you are listening without speaking, include:

• Smiling
• Maintaining eye contact

Nonverbal communication is key for any employee or manager to create success in a unit at the workplace.

Ultimately, when you can do this, it demonstrates to your coworkers will know they can count on you.

How to Include Active Listening Skills on Your Resume

When creating your resume, it’s essential to know what to include as proof that you have been a good active listener in past work or educational experiences.

This is especially true if you have found a job posting made by a hiring manager that specifically wants an active listener on their team.

There are plenty of resume examples to give you an idea of how to create your document in the best way possible.

Plenty of specific skill words exist regarding active listening, and you should definitely look to include them on your resume.

Different Active Listening Skill Words

Including active listening skills on your resume is a great way to show that you’re able to work well with others.

Here are some words that can be used on your resume that can grab a job recruiter’s attention:

• Interpersonal Skills
• Communication Skills
• Collaborative Skills
• People Skills
• Empathy
• Sympathy
• Tolerance
• Observation
• Understanding
• Attention to detail

By adding these words, you demonstrate to a hiring manager that you are an active listener. It shows that you are a good collaborator as well as empathetic.

It is critical to write these skills correctly in the experience section of your resume. That means adding all the relevant and useful details and data.

Otherwise, you run the risk of your job application being rejected before you even interview.

Have a look at the two examples below:

❌ Wrong

“Working in customer service, I communicated a lot with the customers to help fulfill their requests”

Ultimately, this doesn’t give enough details about your previous position or how your active listening skills helped you.

✅ Correct

“Communicated with 40 or more customers a day, giving detailed information, while being sympathetic to their needs and frustrations, resolving each conflict to ensure customer satisfaction and retention.”

This example gives quantifiable data as well as speaks to your abilities. Adding these details could be the difference between a call for an interview or a rejection notice.

Poor Listening Habits to Avoid

To become a better active listener, you should also focus on habits to avoid as much as the habits you need to practice.

Below you can find some poor habits to avoid as you look to improve.

• Not paying attention – It’s easy to get distracted, especially at work. If your mind is elsewhere, you’re not going to be able to listen effectively.
• Interrupting – or not letting the speaker finish their thought. You might know what the person is going to say before they even say it! Bad idea! They’ll feel like their ideas aren’t being heard, and you won’t learn anything new by interrupting them.
• Not paying attention – Try not to let your mind wander when someone else is talking; you must stay focused on what they’re saying instead of thinking about something else entirely (like how hungry/tired/angry/excited etc. you are).
• Not asking questions – When clarification is needed or asked for, you should do just that. Make sure to ask if you don’t understand something, also ask your audience if they had trouble understanding something you said (i e: if there was confusion over a certain aspect during communication.).
• Being closed-minded – Try not to be so set in your ways that you refuse to listen to what others have to say, even if their opinions differ from yours. Everyone has different experiences, opinions, and points of view. In other words, there’s no “right” or “wrong” way. That goes for those with less experience than you
• Not summarizing – It’s important to summarize what you’ve heard at the end of each conversation. That way, there is no confusion about any details that were missed during communication.
• Not paraphrasing – Paraphrasing helps clarify if there are any misunderstandings or misinterpretations with what someone else said earlier on during that same conversation.

6 Ways to Improve Your Active Listening

If you have identified that you have some listening difficulties, or you just want to improve your active listening skills to be a better employee, below you can find some great tips.

By implementing these actions, you’ll become a much better active listener and prove to others that you can keep essential info in your head.

• Go over previously shared information – Remember key concepts the person who is speaking has mentioned to you before. This shows you are listening and can retain important details.
• Avoid unnecessary movements – This helps the speaker feel less distracted.
• Summarize what you’ve heard – Give a summary of the speaker’s main points and add your thoughts as appropriate (you can even draw a simple diagram of the main points if it helps you stay on track).
• Ask related questions – “How did you feel about that?” or “What would happen next?”; etc., so that both parties are involved in an open two-way dialogue about the topic.
• Understand the other person’s feelings – Learning how to be empathetic is difficult. Not everyone is as naturally empathetic as others, but you can still ask certain questions to understand someone else, such as “What do you think?” “How does this make you feel?” Why do they believe this is true?
• Keep eye contact with the speaker – This helps them know that you are listening and engaged in the conversation, which can create a sense of trust.

Becoming a better active listener is not always easy. However, it will help your resume look much better, especially with the correct resume format.

By working on your communication skills, you’ll become a valuable asset to the company you work for in the future.