The Art & Science of Active Listening
By: Romaine Bailey and Naomi Henderson
The Art
Listening is not sitting in silence waiting for your turn to speak. Rather, it is turning off the “me” mind and turning on the “you” mind. In active listening one listens to another’s story and its nuances.
It’s been said that great leaders don’t just hear you. They make you feel like you’re the only person in the world while you’re speaking to them.
The Science
Active listening is also a science and requires one to use research rigor to honor the premise of listening, which is words from another traveling across space and time into the brain of the listener.
Be cautious: this is where the filters of perceptions, opinions, beliefs, and attitudes [POBAs] may distort – so one must be careful to avoid making assumptions about what is internal belief in contrast to what one hears from the speaker.
What are Some Active Listening Aspects?
It’s important to pay attention to the interviewee. Look at the person directly, attending to their words, intonation, facial expressions, and body language. If not in the same room, visualize them – imagine the participants height, age range, their environment, etc., if doing a one-on-one through the phone or virtually, without the aid of video.
Show and indicate that active listening. Nod occasionally or make other noncommittal sounds. Avoid going into agreement with what’s being said but are acknowledging what is being said.
Demonstrate understanding from their perspective. Reflect back to them: “I want to make sure I got what you said: I heard…..” However, be mindful that your personal POBAs can act like a filter when you paraphrase or summarize someone’s statement. Use the speaker’s words as often as possible.
Some of the filters that can set up barriers to active listening include:
Practice living with the silence. Give people time to actively listen while processing the statement or question. Participants may be searching for their ‘right’ way to express their thoughts. Resist the temptation to ‘help’ them formulate their response. This is where patience is appreciated and, in fact, can lead to a willingness for them to go deeper in giving information.
Always probe for clarification on generalizations such as “everybody knows…,” “men don’t want to commit,” “women choose cars based on color,” and so on.
Stay alert to recurring answers or themes that are relevant to the research purpose. They may have stronger meanings than appears on the surface. This is more likely to be noticed when one is listening “to” a flow of information rather than listening “for” something specific.
It’s important to acknowledge respondent efforts to respond to questions, even if one is not planning to expand on their comments. No need to say “thank you” after each response, but verbal statements/rejoinders such as “uh huh,” “I see,” “I got it,” and nonverbal cues like nodding or smiling matter. An occasional “I love the energy in this group,” after a conversational burst or rolls can serve to encourage enthusiastic participation from others.
Summary
Active listening is truly and art and a science. It’s important to keep that in mind when interviewing respondents and pay attention to how the listener’s rejoinders may be influencing participation.