Effective communication is more than just knowing what to say. Itโs about how you listen, how you respond, and how your message lands. For many people, staying silent long enough to really listen can be a challenge. But listening well is a crucial part of influencing others, building trust, and improving communication in the workplace. Listening well is one of the most underrated communication skills. It requires presence, patience and curiosity. And while it might feel passive, itโs actually a deeply active skill. When we learn to stay with someone elseโs perspective long enough to really understand it; everything changes, trust builds, defensiveness lowers and influence becomes possible.
Whether youโre leading a team, working with peers, or trying to get an idea heard in a meeting, these skills can make all the difference.
Making Space for Your Voice โ and Theirs
One of the main reasons people interrupt is because they fear their idea will be lost if they donโt seize the moment. When you learn to structure how and when you speak, your voice can be heard without having to cut others off.
Clear communication starts with signalling your intention to contribute, expressing your idea succinctly, giving your reasoning and then opening the floor for response. This structure ensures ideas are heard without dominating the conversation and it models the same respect youโre asking from others. Itโs a core skill in communication training for managers and leaders who need their ideas to land clearly.
Impact Matters More Than Intention
Even when we mean well, the impact of our words can be very different from what we intended. This is why listening matters so much: when we slow down, hear the other personโs point of view and reflect it back, weโre more likely to bridge the gap between what we meant and what they heard.
A curious tone of voice can turn a potential clash into a constructive dialogue. A raised eyebrow or sharp edge in your tone can do the opposite. In leadership development and executive coaching, understanding this distinction is a key skill for influencing effectively.
Listening is a Habit You Build
Interrupting is often a habit. So is listening. Developing better listening skills doesnโt happen overnight; it happens through small, consistent changes. Choosing to wait, to reflect back what youโve heard, to ask before asserting โ each repetition rewires how we show up in conversations.
This is the essence of strong communication: balancing clarity with curiosity, and your voice with space for others. And when you do, your influence grows naturally.
Turning Resistance into Openness
When conversations get stuck, itโs often because energy has turned negative. Frustration, avoidance or fear takes over. Skilled communicators know how to reframe that energy by painting a picture of what a more constructive, collaborative conversation could look like, you pull people towards resolution rather than pushing against resistance.
This isnโt about ignoring problems. Itโs about acknowledging them honestly while focusing on shared goals. That shared vision acts like a magnet for forward movement.
Body language plays a subtle but powerful role in how we listen. Something as simple as where your feet point can reveal whether your attention is fully with someone. When your body is angled towards the person speaking, you signal presence and respect. When you stand grounded, feet stable, body open, your assertiveness comes across as confident, not forceful.
These physical signals are often overlooked but can transform how your words and silences are interpreted.
Build Your Influence with Better Conversations
If you want to strengthen how you communicate and influence others at work, join us in March for our Influence for Results Workshop: a 3-day intensive online communication skills training designed to help leaders and teams build trust, influence effectively, and achieve stronger results.
Influence for Results is a practical and immersive leadership training programme. It will help you build confidence in handling difficult conversations, navigate disagreement constructively, and create meaningful engagement. This is about more than learning how to โsay it betterโ โ itโs about learning how to shape conversations that unlock performance.
Through expert facilitation and proven communication tools, youโll learn how to clearly express ideas, disagree well, explore perspectives, and work more effectively with groups.
Over the years, weโve helped clients develop lasting skills in influencing, listening, and decision-making โ skills that strengthen teams and create more resilient organisations.
Unlock Performance Through Better Communication
With executive coaching insights and practical team leader training, youโll leave with tangible tools to improve communication in the workplace, build trust, and influence more effectively.
When feedback is underpinned by genuine listening, conversations change. Trust grows. And people are far more likely to act on what you have to say.
Boost Your Influence Online Course
Influence is a life skill; every choice you make in a conversation greatly impacts the outcome. Throughout the course, we will guide you through which decisions get the most fulfilling results.
You can learn to use these skills for just ยฃ30 (Including VAT) through our ‘Boost Your Influence‘ ONLINE course, making difficult conversations effective and efficient.
Our 11 modules can develop your discourse in both personal and work relationships. It can be taken at your own pace for 12 months, so we recommend referring back with continuous practice.
