Practice active listening without interrupting.
It’s an emotionally healthy thing to listen to others. When we listen to others we show them our respect. We also open ourselves to learning. We’re born with two ears, even though we have ears, it doesn’t mean we are listening. When our brains are racing ahead all we hear from the one speaking to us is noise. Early on in my career, a senior colleague was trying to warn me of an organizational pitfall. I had too much going on in my brain to be listening to him and boom, right over the edge of the cliff I went. Learning to listen is an acquired skill. One of the best ways to practice listening is to “member check.” Member checking is a tool qualitative researchers use to make sure they understand what they are hearing. This is the way one might use it, “This is what I hear you saying, did I get that right?” When we check with the person we’re speaking with to see if we understand him/her we demonstrate that we are intentionally trying to listen. Give it a try.