How can you improve your listening skills to become a better team player?

1 Assess your listening style

Before you can improve your listening skills, you need to understand your listening style and how it affects your communication with others. There are four main types of listening styles: analytical, critical, relational, and supportive. Analytical listeners focus on facts and logic, critical listeners evaluate and challenge, relational listeners empathize and connect, and supportive listeners encourage and praise. Each style has its strengths and weaknesses, and you may use different styles in different situations. However, you may also have a dominant or preferred style that influences how you listen and respond to others. To assess your listening style, you can take a self-test or ask for feedback from your colleagues.

2 Adapt your listening style

Once you have identified your listening style, you can learn to adapt it to suit the needs and preferences of your team members. For example, if you are an analytical listener, you may need to pay more attention to the emotions and feelings of your relational colleagues, and avoid interrupting or dismissing them. If you are a critical listener, you may need to balance your criticism with appreciation and recognition, and avoid being too harsh or negative. If you are a relational listener, you may need to be more objective and concise, and avoid being too personal or emotional. If you are a supportive listener, you may need to be more assertive and constructive, and avoid being too passive or agreeable.

3 Use active listening techniques

Active listening is an important skill that involves showing interest and respect to the speaker, as well as providing feedback and clarification. It can help you build better understanding, rapport, and trust with your team members, thus enhancing collaboration and teamwork. To do this, you can use techniques such as paraphrasing, reflecting, asking questions, affirming, and giving feedback. Paraphrasing involves repeating or summarizing the speaker's words in your own words to check your comprehension. Reflecting involves mirroring or expressing the emotions or feelings conveyed by the speaker. Asking questions means probing or requesting more information or details to clarify your understanding of the speaker's message or perspective. Affirming means nodding, smiling, or using verbal cues such as "uh-huh", "I see", or "go on" to indicate that you are following and encouraging the speaker. Lastly, giving feedback involves providing your opinion, perspective, or suggestion in a respectful and constructive way to add value or offer support to the speaker.

5 Practice and improve your listening skills

Like any other skill, listening skills require practice and improvement. You can practice your listening skills by seeking out opportunities to listen to different people and perspectives, such as your colleagues, customers, or experts. You can also improve your listening skills by seeking feedback from others, reflecting on your listening performance, and setting goals for yourself. For example, you can ask your team members to rate your listening skills on a scale of 1 to 10, identify your strengths and weaknesses, and suggest areas for improvement. You can also review your listening interactions and note what you did well and what you can do better next time. You can also set specific and measurable goals for yourself, such as listening to one TED talk per week, paraphrasing at least three times per conversation, or avoiding interruptions for a whole day.