Last week, we talked about listening skills. The benefits of good listening for us and others, and common challenges we experience.

This week, in part II. Of the episode, we explore different strategies to fully listen and understand. One of the most important steps of good listening includes making a conscious decision about being able to listen. We have to ask ourselves if we are able to temporarily park our own feelings and needs in order to fully focus on our conversation partner.

Additionally, it's helpful to come from a place of openness and care. Meaning, we don't already decide on a situation, or how a conversation has to go. We are flexible to learn, possibly adjust an opinion, and bring a willingness to find a compromise or solution.

Good listening will be authentic and depend on your style and the context. We can tap into different listening strategies, such as giving the other person space and listen in attentive silence. Or making brief sounds and use body language to show our understanding. Another strategy is to summarize what we hear in our own words. And finally, we can make a guess how somebody else might feel and need, demonstrating that we listen empathically and understand what matters to that person.

Let me know what strategies you are most familiar with and what works well or less well for you. Leave me a comment on YouTube or Instagram.