So what is Active Listening anyway? Active listening is hearing and digesting information so that you prove to the speaker or deliverer of that information you heard and understood what was said.
It is important because:
- Proves that your message is getting across
- Team members can only act on information if they understand what it means to them and others
- Your real advocates will be those that make your message (that of the project) their own
Now if that sounds obvious, there are many less effective listeners out there than you might believe. Or perhaps not. I know there seem to be days when either no none is listening or “paying attention” to what is going on in the project.
Without getting into all the technicalities of this topic, safe to say we want our listeners (or project team members/participants) to not only hear what is being said, but to digest it.
Assuming they are not asleep and have no clue or ability to repeat your message to them, they will likely fall into one of 3 categories of active listening. The diagram below outlines the differences in comprehension of the message. In the 3rd degree; reflecting, they have fully internalized the information and made it their own. In an ideal world we would like all our project team members to get to this level.
