When people say that they want their voices to be heard, they mean that they want not just to be heard but rather to be listened to and understood. At workplaces, employees seek attention, support and feedback forcing their leaders to be mindful of their particular needs. Conscious listening in workplaces is important as it inspires professional development and the general performance (Rost & Candlin, 2014). People who listen create trustworthy relationships at homes and at their workplaces. Trustworthy relationships are important because they breed loyalty, transparency and enable friendly living and working environments (Baranger, 2018). One way to determine if the boss has the best interest of the employees is when the boss listens to them.
There are several ways through which I listen while at home and at work. The first way is through facing the one speaking and maintaining eye contact. When someone is talking with me whether at home or at work, I avoid doing other things like scrolling the phone, gazing at the computer or doing something else. Eye contact is normally a basic component of effective communication (Nancy, 2014). Another way through which I listen is by being attentive and relaxed. After making an eye contact with the speaker, the next thing is to give attention and relax. This means I make my presence felt in the conversation. Mentally, I screen out distractions such as noise and background activity. I also avoid focusing on the speaker's accent or speech mannerism if they can be a point of distraction.
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While at work, I try keeping an open mind when talking with my colleagues. This means that I listen without judging or criticizing what the speaker says. Even if the speaker says something which is alarming, I would react like I am alarmed but I would not go ahead and say something judgmental about it. I also avoid jumping into conclusions when I do not have facts or if I do not know the whole story. Additionally, I avoid grabbing a sentence from the speaker before it is completed by the speaker. Occasionally, people do not slow their mental space enough that they can listen effectively so they try to speed up people by interrupting and finishing other people's sentences. Also, I avoid interrupting the speaker or imposing my solutions. Interrupting one in the middle of the speech is not only a sign of not listening but also a sign of disrespect (Nancy, 2014). When one interrupts a speech, it may mean that one does not have time for the speaker's opinion or that he/she is more important than the speaker. Another way to show that one is listening is to ask valid questions and to give frequent feedback.
Conscious listening is when one intentionally becomes present to see, recognize and understand the presence of oneself and that of another person and the value of every individual in the relationship. It is not possible to love one another without giving the essential gift of conscious listening (Rost & Candlin, 2014). If one does not listen to their partners, then they will also stop listening and the relationship may not last. The difference between conscious listening and the general listening is that conscious listening entails being aware of and appreciative of the environment, paying attention to the different background sounds and the general environment (Baranger, 2018). People need to listen consciously to live fully connected with the physical world and to understand each other. Conscious listening is different from the way I listen because I fail to recognize and appreciate the environment around and the ambient sounds as well as the attitudes of the speaker. This is particularly important because it makes the listener calculate what to say and how to react to situations.
References
Baranger, M. (2018). The mind of the analyst: From listening to interpretation. In The Work of Confluence (pp. 89-105). Routledge.
Nancy, J. L. (2014). On listening. In The Improvisation Studies Reader (pp. 35-44). Routledge.
Rost, M., & Candlin, C. N. (2014). Listening in language learning . Routledge.
