Active Listening

Active listening is the skill of giving people your full attention, so you take in everything they’re saying. People who are good at this skill are much less likely to misunderstand something, or get into an argument. This means it’s a powerful tool for getting things done at work. It’s one of the key skills of successful leaders, and a superpower when you’re working in a team.

This course provides five clear, practical pointers to help you master this skill.

First, we learn how to listen with complete attention, and which common distractions to avoid.

Next, we look at the vital importance of non-verbal communication. Active listeners pay close attention to body language, expression and tone of voice, and they also use their own body language to signal attention and interest.

Then we look at the skill of listening without judgement, with a simple example of how it’s done, before examining two key behaviours you can use to engage a speaker without cutting across them. The first of these is summarising key points to check your understanding, and the second is asking clarifying questions.

This microlearning course is an animated video, with audio narration and a multiple-choice post-assessment.