How to improve your active listening skills

Active listening is one of the most underrated soft skills anyone can possess at work. Whether it’s customers, colleagues or the big boss, everyone wants to feel like they’re being truly listened to, and something as simple as a wandering gaze or one ‘mhmm’ too many can destroy that in a split second.

Improving your active listening skills isn’t something you can do off the back of a single elearning course or coaching session. It takes time – not just to weave active listening into your day-to-day behaviours, but also to prove to others that you’re really hearing and understanding what they’re saying.

So, how can you improve your active listening skills to boost your reputation at work?

What is active listening?

Active listening goes beyond simply ‘listening’. When you actively listen to someone, you’re demonstrating through your words and actions that you’re really engaging with what they’re saying, rather than simply passively hearing them.

There are verbal elements – such as clarifying what someone said or summarising their point – and non-verbal elements – such as nodding, leaning towards the speaker and maintaining eye contact – both of which contribute to active listening.

Why active listening matters at work

Active listening in the workplace helps build trust, reduce misunderstandings and improve collaboration, as it requires people to make a conscious effort to understand the content, context and emotion behind what’s being communicated – and perhaps, what’s not being communicated.

It closely ties to other workplace soft skills such as empathy, collaboration and emotional intelligence, and is useful for supporting effective feedback, leadership and inclusion.

While active listening is important for all employees, it’s particularly crucial for hybrid and remote teams where verbal cues carry more weight. It can be trickier to see someone’s body language on a Microsoft Teams call, so the ability to demonstrate your verbal active listening skills is even more important.

Example: During a team meeting, Maria noticed Jack seemed frustrated. Instead of moving on, she said, “It sounds like this timeline feels unrealistic – am I understanding that right?”. Jack nodded, relieved. Maria’s response showed she was actively listening, not just hearing, and opened up a productive discussion about adjusting the project plan.

Core verbal skills for better active listening

Of course active listening depends on the context – the way you demonstrate it over the phone vs in person is very different! But in the workplace, there are lots of verbal ‘tells’ you can try to improve your active listening skills. 

For instance:

• Ask open-ended questions – try ‘What do you think about…’, which welcomes opinions, instead of ‘Do you agree?’, which might pressure someone into a specific answer.
• Paraphrase and reflect back – try phrases like ‘So to recap…’ or ‘Just to make sure I understand, are you saying…?’ to show that you’ve been paying attention and have understood what the other person is saying.
• Play with encouraging language – use small signals such as ‘I see’ or ‘That makes sense’ to show that you’re engaged. This can be especially useful for phone calls or video calls, where a long period of silence could suggest that your connection has dropped!
• Avoid interruptions – let someone finish their thought before responding. Active listening is very different to simply ‘waiting for your turn to respond’, and means you won’t jump in without having all the necessary information.
• Use a respectful tone of voice – ensure you sound empathetic, respectful and open to encourage real conversation and improve psychological safety.

These verbal listening techniques can be very powerful, and they can even be used in written conversations. If you see someone is typing a bunch of messages on Slack, instead of interrupting them ‘mid-flow’ with a different thought, wait for them to finish their messages before you jump in.

Verbal active listening cues can also be more accessible and inclusive for some neurodivergent people, as they can be clearer and more reliable than body language. They create space for clarification and mutual understanding, which can be especially useful for those who struggle with processing speed or executive functioning.

The role of non-verbal cues in active listening

If you’re in a face-to-face conversation or engaged in a video call, there are lots of ways to show that you’re actively listening. Non-verbal communication shouldn’t be relied on on its own, as they can be easier to miss and harder to interpret (especially on video calls or in group settings), but they can support your verbal cues to reinforce your active listening.

Examples of positive non-verbal active listening cues include:

• Eye contact – eye contact shows that you’re focused on the speaker and your attention isn’t wandering (though be aware that neurodivergent people may struggle to maintain eye contact)
• Nodding – nodding can symbolise sentiments like ‘Go on’ or ‘I hear you’
• Open posture – leaning slightly forward and uncrossing your arms and legs helps build a sense of openness and engagement
• Pausing before responding – consider pausing for a moment before jumping into your response to show that you’re processing, not just waiting for your turn to talk

This type of body language can contribute to an overall sense of active listening, and can unconsciously tell the other person that you’re fully engaged, curious and present in the conversation.

How to strengthen your active listening skills

OK, so you know what you’re aiming for to demonstrate better active listening skills… so how can you translate that from knowledge into application?

There are several ways you can practise active listening to ensure your newfound skills are embedding themselves in your day-to-day work:

• Request feedback on your listening skills – your manager or a trusted colleague can tell you honestly if they feel like you’re a good listener
• Record yourself in a conversation – hit that record button on your next video call so you can analyse your active listening skills. Is your attention wandering? Do you look bored? Do you keep interrupting?
• Make space in conversations – conversations are all about the back and forth between speakers. Adding an extra second of buffer time to your exchanges will ensure everyone feels truly heard and not rushed.
• Subtly mirror language – picking up on the terminology someone uses and using it yourself can help the other person feel like you’ve really been listening to them. You can also use body language mirroring (such as leaning in or nodding) to help someone feel truly heard and understood.
• Get live 1:1 coaching – some people are naturals at active listening. Blocking out some time with them can help you pick up on their behaviours, and they can give you feedback in real time to ensure you stay focused and engaged in the conversation.

How Helix can help you improve active listening skills

Keeping track of your active listening skills in your day-to-day work isn’t always easy. Unless you have hours to spend watching back recordings of your video calls (which, let’s face it, most of us would find excruciating), how are we meant to know for sure whether or not we’re good listeners, or whether our skills are improving over time?

Helix, our new AI skills intelligence tool, identifies soft skills like active listening directly in the flow of work. It listens into your calls (only the ones you choose!), and sends you a personalised summary immediately afterwards highlighting which skills you demonstrated, as well as recommending ways you can improve your performance next time.

For active listening, Helix listens out for specific behaviours and indicators via AI skills tracking, such as:

• Reflective statements and paraphrasing (e.g. ‘So you’re saying we’re short on resources, right?’)
• Prompts for elaboration (e.g. ‘Could you share more about why that’s a concern?’)
• Acknowledging emotions (e.g. ‘I hear you’re frustrated, so let’s explore how we can solve this.’)
• Following up on previous points (e.g. ‘Earlier you mentioned a scheduling issue. Let’s come back to that as I don’t want it to get missed.’)
• Summarising the conversation or topic (e.g. ‘So to confirm, you need more resources for this project, and I’ll talk to Ash about how to make that happen.’)
• Waiting for the speaker to finish without interrupting

Helix can be invited to all sorts of meetings, from 1:1s to team meetings to coaching sessions, offering employees a holistic insight into their own performance. For a skill as tricky to measure as active listening, this is hugely valuable, and helps encourage a culture of listening and reflection through measurable behaviours, not just self-perception.