Lending someone’s ear for a few minutes sounds pretty easy. But all too often we just want to make our own position clear instead of really listening to others. Anyone can become a good listener – with a little help.
“Everyone only hears what they understand,” Johann Wolfgang von Goethe is said to have once said. This bon mot already suggests that listening, even in the poet’s time, may have seemed much easier than it actually was. Whether in everyday working life, on the phone with a friend or in a seemingly banal conversation over dinner with our partner – we communicate a lot in everyday life, but often what is said is not received or misunderstandings arise. But how do you actually make others feel truly understood and heard? An excursion into research provides tips that will make everyone a better listener.