Active listening makes you feel good, we’ll tell you how!

Listening provides a positive feeling

Active listening creates commonality and creates trust for both the listener and the one being listened to. It has been shown that parts of the brain expand a little during the conversation and create a positive memory. The person listening to gets a \”feel good\” feeling and that in turn gives the person listening a positive feeling that remains in their memory. The great thing is that it works just as well in the workplace as it does with friends or family!

3 tips for active listening:

1, Show the speaker that you are interested in listening by creating time and space. Don’t ask a question if you don’t have the time or energy to receive the answer, it can instead give the impression that you don’t want to listen at all. If you find it difficult to listen spontaneously make an appointment, why not make it a walk.

It provides both confidence and a framework for both of you that makes it easier to manage when you have to start and stop.

2, Listen to understand, not to answer. It simply means that you should not interrupt the other person, whether you think you know what they are going to say or not. It is also likely that you don’t really have the whole picture, that the person who is talking may just need to talk or, even better, needs to hear himself and come up with his own solutions. If you really want to help, ask the person to tell you more about their thoughts and feelings and ask how they themselves would solve their problem.

3, And as a small bonus, the tip is to check in at a later time and ask how the person is doing or how things are going. It shows that you didn’t just listen there and then, but are here for that person.