Active listening examples (Top 5)

The current blogspot will be based on the question “What are active listening examples?”. We will discuss the various examples that help us understand the tenets of active listening and also enable us to comprehend the usage of  active listening skills across various life scenarios.

What are active listening examples?

Active listening skills are the main components of any effective communication. In order to better understand the usage of active listening in our routine life, we need to be better aware of various examples that help us understand the concepts behind active listening.

Below are some of the active listening examples for many different skills used in active listening. Each skill of active listening has its own effectiveness and can be used to achieve the maximum benefit of active listening.

Following are some of the active listening examples :

• Building trust and rapport examples in active listening
• Demonstrating concern examples in active listening
• Paraphrasing examples in active listening
• Verbal reaffirmation examples in active listening
• Asking open ended questions examples in active listening
• Waiting to disclose your opinion examples in active listening
• Disclosing similar situations examples in active listening
• Non verbal active listening skills examples examples in active listening

Building trust and rapport examples in active listening

Active listening helps us to build connections and a strong rapport with the other person. It helps us to understand the other person and helps us to make the other person feel heard and attended well. 

In life scenarios, when you actively listen to what other people say, the chances are that the other people will be more interested in talking to you. 

Thus through active listening we can better collaborate with other people in formal and informal settings and we can understand their persona better.

Counselors and therapists often use active listening in the initial sessions to build a strong rapport with clients.

Demonstrating concern examples in active listening

Empathising and demonstrating concern is a key to active listening. When a listener demonstrates concern and empathises with the speaker, the speaker feels that he is being heard and attended well, thus the speaker is encouraged to share more of his experiences without shattering the relationship of the speaker and the listener.

Empathising never means that you agree to whatever is being shared by the speaker. Rather it means that you understand the feelings and thoughts of the speaker and respect them.

For example a boss empathizes with the subordinate who came late to office and attends well to whatever he needs to share without interrupting or judging. At the end the boss warns him politely to be careful in the future.

This way the relationship of the boss with the subordinate will not be tarnished and the employee will also be careful in future.

Paraphrasing examples in active listening

Paraphrasing in active listening helps the listener to better understand the intent and feelings of the speaker. It confirms that whatever we have understood is right and does not involve our personal version of what the speaker wanted to say. 

The listener is able to clarify any of his understanding by better communicating what he understood from the speaker’s words. 

For example a child shares with his mom how his class teacher calls him lazy in school and mother paraphrases “you feel humiliated and ashamed in front of your class when the teacher calls you for completing the class work late?”.

Verbal affirmation examples in active listening

Verbal affirmations in active listening enable us to reassure the speaker that we have better understood their concern. When the listener provides affirmation to the speaker the speaker is reassured that we have understood their concern better.

For example while winding up the session the counselor tells the client “i understand mrs. x that you feel to be emotionally drained by your husband’s abusive nature. We can initially start with the therapy so that his negative energies get channelized”.

Asking open ended questions examples in active listening

Asking open ended questions in active listening helps us to gain a deeper insight and a more relevant description of the situation and the feelings and thoughts of the speaker. Since the close ended questions only yield us yes and no answers, the open ended questions are preferably used in active listening. 

For example, instead of saying do you feel good about being in therapy? You may ask the client “how do you feel being in therapy?, can you share your experience of being in therapy?”.

Waiting to disclose your opinion examples in active listening

Active listening suggests that the listener does not interrupt while the speaker is speaking. It emphasizes the listener to hold on to the questions and comments for the end. Active listening believes that too much interruption may distract the speaker. 

For example, the briefing is listened to attentively by all the audiences and in the end any questions for clarification are asked so that the speaker feels being respected and not beig crticised.

Disclosing similar situations examples in active listening

Active listening helps us to normalize other people’s experiences and pains. Often when we disclose similar experiences as being experienced by the speaker, the speaker feels more confident and encouraged. 

For example, a mother shares with the therapist being depressed and feeling agitated due to lack of sleep after baby birth. The therapist normalizes by sharing how often all mothers feel the same.

Non verbal active listening skills examples in active listening

Non verbal active listening skills are recommended to understand and comprehend better what the speaker wants to say. It often happens that we ask a friend how she is doing in life and she replies with a dull tone that she is ok. Here we need to notice her voice, her mood, her body posture and her energy. 

After noticing all this we may ask open ended questions in  a polite manner to know what she has been up to recently .

Conclusion

The current blogspot was based on the question “what are active listening skills examples?”. We discussed the various examples of active listening skills that help us understand better the tenets of active listening and also enable us to take maximum benefit of being an active listener in our routine life.

Frequently asked questions : active listening examples

What are four features of active listening?

The four features of active listening are as follows :

• Being neutral and non judgmental
• Being patient
• Being attentive and avoiding distraction
• Reflecting back the feelings

What are examples of other tips for active listening?

The examples of other tips for active listening are as follows :

• Face the speaker and have an appropriate eye contact
• Listen and pay attention to non verbal cues
• Listen without being judgmental
• Keep focused
• Avoid paying attention to mental thoughts
• Don’t impose your opinions or solutions
• Listen first speak later

What does it mean to be an active listener?

Being an active listener means that an individual demonstrates concern to the speaker. Showing concern suggests being attentive to the feelings, non verbal and verbal cues of the speaker to fully understand the intent of the speaker.

What are the uses of active listening?

The uses of active listening are as follows :

• Conflict resolution
• Problem solving
• Rapport building
• Gaining trust

Citations

https://virtualspeech.com/blog/active-listening-skills-examples-and-exercises

https://www.thebalancecareers.com/active-listening-skills-with-examples-2059684