10 Tips to Improve Your Listening Skills at Work

Sarah Wilson
3 min readJan 8, 2022

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I’m sure you’ve heard this before: “People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.” The same can be said for listening skills. You might have the best ideas and the most knowledge, but no one will ever know without good listening skills! This article will discuss ten tips to improve your ability to listen effectively at work.

Two colleagues engage in conversation

Tip #01: Pay attention. This might seem like a no-brainer, but it’s harder than it looks. To be an effective listener, you need to be focused entirely on the person who is speaking. Put away your phone, close your email, and make eye contact. It’s essential to show the other person your physical cues that show you are listening.

Tip #02: Don’t multitask. Do not do anything that will take your mind off of the conversation. The temptation to check email, send a text message, or even think about what you will say next is strong, but it’s vital for effective listening, so resist! If you are too busy to engage in conversation, be clear about this to the other person and indicate that you aren’t able to talk — but that you are eager to continue the discussion at another time.

Tip #03: Be an active listener. Don’t just wait for your turn to speak, don’t interrupt and finish the speaker’s sentence by default; take notes if necessary.

Tip #04: Avoid withholding or expressing judgment until you fully understand what someone is saying. Take this opportunity to ask a lot of questions. Asking questions is another way to show the other person you are listening.

Tip #05: Paraphrase to ensure understanding. “So what I’m hearing is _____.”

Tip #06: Use body language to show that you’re listening. Lean in and show that you are present by making eye contact, or if not in person and communicating virtually, focus on the person’s face on camera.

Tip #07: Don’t just listen with your ears; listen with your heart. Be open-minded and empathetic to what the other person is saying. Asking open-ended questions like “How is that feeling for you?” and getting people to expand on what they are saying makes them feel heard.

Tip #09: Silence isn’t always a bad thing. After the other person has spoken, Pausing can give you time to process what they’ve said and formulate a response. It also shows that you’re taking their words seriously.

Tip #10: Practice, practice, practice! The more you listen attentively in all types of personal and professional situations, the better listener you will become.

Actively showing you are listening is the most critical way to connect with others.

If you build strong listening skills, it will benefit your relationships and feelings of self-worth and enhance the quality of work produced.

Listening isn’t easy; we’re all tempted to jump in with our own stories or react emotionally when someone says something we don’t like hearing. However, listening well will become second nature if you can calmy process what is being said and use the above tips consistently.

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Sarah Wilson
Sarah Wilson

Written by Sarah Wilson

A Lean, Six Sigma Greenbelt with extensive project management and cross-functional process improvement experience