10 Ways To Become an Active Listener

Are you trained to listen passively? It’s what we are taught in school and even at work so odds are the answer is yes. Do you focus on not fidgeting during a conversation? Do you try to act interested and take notes? I am sure they sound as familiar to you as they do to me. They are signs of passive listening. If the goal you set is to not interrupt the speaker and to not fall asleep, you are definitely listening passively! The question is: are we really doing the speaker a favor by taking on a passive role? Not really. We don’t share ideas. We don’t ask questions. We just give courteous applause when the presentation is over. We are having one-way conversation.

Live interaction during meetings, teachings, presentations and brainstorming sessions can lead to real chance. The listener has just as big of a responsibility as the speaker, yet Google has four times as many matches for “how to speak” than “how to listen.” If we are doing it right, listening is not a passive act.

Let’s make the dialog more valuable for both speaker and listener with active listening. Active listening encourages two-way communication to improve mutual understanding. It prevents you from wandering off to your dinner plans or hair appointment you have later that day. Active listening encourages you to engage with the speaker. The intention is not to start an argument but simply to check understanding. Your feedback allows the speaker to check if the message is clear and encourages him or her to think critically about what he or she is saying. The hardest step in better listening is the first rule: do it on purpose. Make the effort to be great at listening. After all, better listening leads to better speaking.

10 ways to become an active listener

1. Do it on purpose

Be fully engaged with the speaker and do not let your mind wonder. Think about the points the speaker is making. How do you agree with the speaker? What would you say or do differently?

2. Don’t worry so much about taking notes

Notes can be summarized in a memo later, or better yet, ask the speaker for a copy of their presentation if it is available. Ask another great listener in the room to share notes.  Write down only the absolute must have take-away from the presentation.

3. Pay the person who is speaking back with enthusiasm

The expression on your face, your posture and your questions. Do you look like you are listening?

4. Role-play in your mind what you hear in your own situation

Build on what you are hearing and make it your own. How will you apply this information in your day-to-day and how will it make a difference. Take what you have heard and make it the foundation for your next great idea.

5. If you disagree, wait a few seconds

Make sure the thought is finished before interrupting and then explain why you disagree. Do not challenge the speaker, instead challenge the idea.

6. Ask the question

If it’s worth listening to, it’s worth questioning until you understand it. Ask the speaker a truly difficult question on the subject that the whole room will benefit from. Many times the best questions are asked in private after the presentation is over. Make sure everyone benefits from your curiosity.

7. Everyone in the room has a wealth of experience to share

Regardless if they have only been on the job two weeks, valuable advice and insight often comes from unexpected sources. The speaker should actively try to engage the room. Share your incredibly valuable experience when you have the opportunity!

8. Honor the speaker

They have spent a great amount of valuable time in order to stand in front of the room and deliver the talk. The best way to honor someone who has said something smart and useful is to say something back that is smart and useful. A better way to honor them is to do something with what you learned in the presentation.

9. Give honest feedback

Was it a 10 out of 10? Then let them know! Same rule applies if there was any room for improvement. Speakers want to know how then can continually improve their presentations.

10. Active listeners get what they deserve – Better speakers!

Active listening requires more from both the speaker and the attendee, but the returns are huge. By listening actively we get better speakers! How is that for a win-win?

What can you do to create an environment where active listening thrives in your workplace?

If you're interested in the topic, you will enjoy one of our free articles too: Developing Others Through Feedback.

Still learning

Honey

Enjoy this blog that Zack Merrill, CBTP,  wrote for your reading pleasure!

This would probably be the most effective billboard ever created. Especially if it’s typeset correctly and placed in a highly visible area along a major interstate. But most billboards aren’t nearly this effective because most marketing isn’t this simple or obvious. Either the wrong service is promoted to the audience or the offer simply isn’t that great.

The same can be said about most websites. They look great and the creators have worked very hard to convey their message and mission in as few words as possible. That can be utterly frightening when you know the ins and outs of the product you offer. In marketing, the goal isn’t to immediately close a sale as much as the goal of the first date is to get married. It’s to showcase a product you offer to earn attention, trust, curiosity and hopefully start a conversation.

So I would like to start the conversation.

Before joining the InterAction Training team, I was a Branch Manager and Organizational Trainer for a mid-sized community bank. I can un-biasedly say that some of the best third-party tools I was given came to me for free. Those tools are on the Free Stuff page of the InterAction Training website at https://www.interaction-training.com/product-category/free/

I used many of these tools to perform staff evaluations, have difficult conversations, train employees and create countless action plans. It’s not very often that you encounter a 'free gas' situation, but this was certainly one for me. Check out the free articles, worksheets and forms InterAction Training has to offer and let us know what other tools we can provide that will help improve your day-to-day. That’s what we are here to do!

Thank you for another blog post Zack!

Still learning,

Honey

The Secret to Training Tellers

Our guest blogger, Zack Merrill, CBTP, is a Senior Training Consultant with InterAction Training. You will enjoy learning the secret to training tellers.

We seldom remember the expected exchange of everyday conversation because our brain is chock-full of stuff already. If the exchange is meaningful or helpful to you then there is a better than average chance you can recall it. When you are called upon to train or be trained remember this secret: Engagement, getting involved in the training, creates a very distinct file in the brain. When you want learners to learn, teach utilizing engagement and involvement.
When we only read, look, or listen that information is instantly processed and we file it away in our brain under the junk file marked MISC. Very hard to recover information in this file of the brain because it is overloaded and stuff is tossed in there in no particular order. Like taking your trash and junk to the landfill. If you cleaned out that file you could sort it into four piles: Don’t care, Don’t Understand, Won’t Ever Use, I Need This. The last pile will be the smallest.

When training tellers how to perform, the expectations are high. Both the teller and the company want recall to be quick and spot-on so we wow the client and protect the company. Many bank and credit union trainers feel lousy when the trainees that attend their training don’t remember what was covered. Most trainers are offended when leadership complains that so and so wasn’t trained very well.

In teller training, the amount of information that needs to be transferred to learning is staggering if you look at the whole picture. The trainer must breakdown the required knowledge, skills, and attitudes into training modules that call for engagement, relatable stories, discussion, real world examples, role play, FAQs, and note taking.

A module that I always enjoyed training tellers about had to do with the persistent threat of counterfeit items. A highly impactful technique for training tellers is the use of storytelling. Here is a favorite one of mine.

Our customer, a decorated veteran was a favorite with the branch staff. Kind and friendly, everyone enjoyed seeing him walk into the lobby. His daughter convinced him to cash some postal money orders she had received as part of a Craig’s List employment opportunity. I don’t need to tell you what happened next. He became my favorite former customer. He thought we should have been able to tell the items were worthless and counterfeit.

It’s still a punch in the gut to think about today. When we charged back the fraudulent activity it cost him over a third of his irreplaceable nest egg that he had earmarked for retirement. It pained all of us to see Mr. Smith fall victim to a scammer.

Immediately after this unfortunate event came to light, I went to the Post Office and purchased a low dollar amount authentic money order to use in the counterfeit module as a “show and tell” discussion. All new tellers as well as veterans should have at their fingertips the means to compare an incoming postal money order to a genuine one.

What stories or techniques have you used to create highly impactful training for tellers?

Great info for our audience, Zack, thank you for sharing your story.

Still learning,

Honey