Active listening

Active listening is a communication skill that involves fully concentrating on, understanding, and responding to what is being said by the speaker. It is a technique used in a variety of settings, including personal and professional interactions. As a Business Analyst, active listening is one of the tools in your kitbag that can help you to understand your subjects better, which, in turn, will improve your ability to create better analysis products.

Active listening requires the listener to engage in a number of best practices. These include (obviously) paying attention, withholding judgment (so you biases don’t influence the subject), reflecting, clarifying, and responding appropriately.

To actively listen, one must focus on the speaker and what they are saying, without interrupting or distracting oneself. This involves giving the speaker one's full attention, maintaining eye contact, and using body language and nonverbal cues to show interest and engagement. It’s worth trying to have your conversation in a quiet place, ideally away from other people who may interrupt. During one of my roles, I used to talk to a middle-manager a lot and he was constantly being interrupted by members of staff to ask various things; it would have been easier if I’d taken him somewhere where his staff couldn’t find him for 45 minutes.

Another key aspect of active listening is withholding judgment. It is important to avoid making assumptions or drawing conclusions before hearing the speaker out completely. Instead, one should aim to remain open-minded and non-judgmental throughout the conversation. This is an easy trap to fall into. As business analysts, we often come up with good ideas and can be seen as a source of deep knowledge; as a result it’s easy to listen to someone explaining an issue and immediately think you have the solution – a good active listener will defer their judgment to ensure that they gather the full picture without jumping to conclusions.

Reflection and clarification are also important components of active listening. This involves paraphrasing or summarising what the speaker has said in one's own words, to ensure that one has understood their message correctly. It may also involve asking clarifying questions to gain a deeper understanding of the speaker's perspective. This is a very powerful technique, simply explaining something back to an expert will rapidly reveal gaps in understanding.

Finally, responding appropriately is a key component of active listening. This may involve providing feedback, asking follow-up questions, or offering support or encouragement, depending on the situation. This is the act of actually showing that you are listening, that you value their words and that you are understanding what is being said. It’s all too easy to disconnect in the middle of a conversation as you think about what you’re going to say next. This is why the crux of the whole technique is the mindset shift from being involved in a conversation to being an active listener. You are consciously making the decision to listen well!

Done well, active listening helps promote effective communication, builds stronger relationships, and fosters understanding and empathy between individuals. By actively listening to others, we can gain a better understanding of their perspectives, needs, and goals, and respond in a way that is more meaningful and supportive. Given that a business analyst exists to find out what people know and think and to present that information in new ways, this is a skill that cannot be ignored.