Five Tips to Become an Active Listener

We’ve heard for years that communication is the cornerstone of becoming a successful leader. We’re assured that strong communication skills can help us motivate, inspire and create passion within our workforce. While the art of communication is certainly a vital tool, it’s actually the element of effective listening that’s the secret to leadership success.

Have you ever been speaking to someone and wondered if they were even listening to you? How about when folks are speaking to you—are you listening to hear their message, or are you listening to give a quick response? Most of the time individuals listening have already created a response in their heads even before the message has been completed. This is the most common reason you will have a breakdown in communication.

Being an active listener means being able to correctly obtain the meaning of the message being relayed to you. Once you truly understand that message, you can choose the appropriate response for the situation. As a leader it is vital you develop the necessary skills to master listening to your workforce. Below are some tips to develop your active-listening skills.

1. Be attentive to the speaker—When you engage in listening, face the speaker, remove distractions, turn off your computer monitor, set your phone to silent and leave it turned over. When you give your time to an employee, it becomes their time. Show them you truly care about them and their message.
2. Set a relaxing atmosphere—This is vital to ensuring the communication process occurs. Individuals need to realize it is safe to share ideas, identify concerns and seek guidance.
3. Keep an open mind—This is an important factor when listening to others’ thoughts. When you keep an open mind, you can learn tons from listening to how others are interrupting or understanding an issue. It is paramount that you do not bring in your personal biases, pass judgment or jump to conclusions. Just because you don’t have the same beliefs as the speaker doesn’t mean they’re wrong.
4. Listen to understand, not respond—As EMS providers our job is to help people. Members of our workforce are no different when they come to us with a challenge or concern—all we want to do is give them a solution or tell them how to handle it. Sometimes it’s not a solution the speakers are looking for; maybe they just want to feel heard. You won’t know the intention of the speaker’s message if you’re not listening to understand them.
5. Be empathetic—This is a very important component in the active-listening process. One of the keys to listening with empathy is to stop listening to what the speaker is saying and instead listen to what the speaker is feeling. If you can listen to their feelings, you will understand their words.

There is a great quote by the Dalai Lama: “When you speak, you are only repeating what you already know. But when you listen, you may learn something new.” Listen to your workforce and take the time to learn something new.

Chris Cebollero, NREMT-P, is a senior partner for Cebollero & Associates in St. Louis, MO. He also hosts the EMS Leadership podcast and EMS World’s The World of EMS podcast and is a member of the EMS World editorial advisory board.