Did I Really Hear That Correctly? The Importance of Effective Listening

A life skill that can be challenging is the art of effective listening. Sometimes we hear what others are saying to us, but we are not actually listening to what is being said. We hear the voice, the tone, the words, but we are not actually taking in what is being said, comprehending it, and truly listening to what is being stated.

There are times when I told another person that I heard them talking, but I had no clue what they just said. I was hearing them, but not listening to what they were saying. Have you ever been in a situation like this? It is so common to do because our minds are racing at a rapid pace because we have so much going on and our thoughts have filled our minds with continuous data until we may not listen to someone when they are talking to us.

In one work related instance, our supervisor gave us specific directions on a particular task. If you were not listening closely to what was being said, the complete project would be a total disaster. Well, sure enough, one of our team members was not listening to our supervisor and ended up doing their part of the assignment completely wrong. This made our supervisor furious and he proceeded to ask our team member if they “heard him correctly.” Our team member answered and said that he heard what was said, but did not listen closely to what was actually being spoken. In the end, everything worked out because our supervisor and team member had a one on one in depth meeting where both sides listened to what was being said and got a full understanding of the task at hand. This incident then led to a special training session on effective listening skills for our entire department which was very enlightening and very helpful in both our professional and personal lives.