Active Listening Skills Essay

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While there are many skills a human resource manager may need, the one that is most important is active listening skills. A person might ask how would a human resource manager learn these skills and why are they important? As a human resource manager it is essential that all communication between each party is clear. If for instance an employee comes into the office complaining that their insurance has not been taken out of their check. This employee is upset because of this situation. To apply good listening skills a human resource manager should say,” I will check on that right away for you.” This acknowledges to the speaker I am listening to your problems and I am willing to fix this issue. A human resource manager must learn these skills …show more content…

By clarifying or interpret to the speaker what they said to you demonstrates your understanding of what they are communicating to you. Elaborating on and asking open-ended questions on the subject will show your comprehension of the topic. Any who, what, where, when, how, or why questions can be a clarifying question, but those are not the only possibilities (Hoppe, 2006, p. 12-18). Another option to a clarifying question is a probing question it offers new ideas or suggestions. This type of question offers thoughtful responses instead of telling the speaker what to do. Clarifying is a coherent way of expressing your understanding of the speaker. The fifth skill on the list of active listening skills is summarize. When you summarize, you pull together all the information you just heard, into a brief version of the events that took place. You will be able to repeat this information back in detail. Summarizing helps people see their key themes, and it confirms and solidifies your grasp of their points of view (Hoppe, 2006, p. 12-18). As a human resource manager this skill can be used to gather the facts of the conversation, and use that to further the conversation with the speaker. Relating back once again to asking open-ended …show more content…

That is, the listener does whatever is necessary to get the full intended meaning from the speaker's communication (Antariksa, n.d). When you take a job as a human resource manager, it is unlikely that active listening skills is one of the job duties listed. Although, learning this skill is important, it needs to be practiced. Good active listening skills for a human resource manager can develop you into an eminent leader in your career. “The heart of a fool is in his mouth, but the mouth of a wise man is in his heart (Franklin, 1998, p. 24).” Benjamin Franklin was saying that we all must think before we speak and our actions speak louder than our words.

Works Cited

Antariksa, Y. (n.d.). Developing active listening skills. Retrieved from http://www.explorehr.org/articles/Personal_Development/Developing_Active_Listening_Skills.html
Franklin, B. (1998). Benjamin Franklin, wit and wisdom. White Plains, N.Y: Peter Pauper Press.
Hoppe, M. (2006). Active Listening: Improve Your Ability to Listen & Lead. . Retrieved May 24, 2014, from http://library.kaplan.edu/
Robbins, S., & DeCenzo, D. (2004, December 3). Best website on HRM - Excellent HR Tools and HR Presentation Slides - HR ppt - Human Resource

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