10 Best Active Listening Exercises for the Workplace

What is active listening?

Active listening is a soft skill among good listening skills.  It is a communication process that involves you absorbing information that is shared and then signaling back – through body language, tonality, and relevant questions – that you heard and understood what was shared.

Why is active listening important?

Active listening goes beyond hearing someone and dives deeper into understanding what is being said.  It helps to build trust and rapport with colleagues as well as family and friends. Like critical thinking and problem-solving skills, active listening hits high on the list of key communication skills that employers and organizations value in their team members.

How to improve active listening skills

There are tons of effective active listening activities that provide an engaging and fun way to help your team become more effective listeners.  Our detailed list will take you through 10 of the best active listening exercises for the workplace. Among the many benefits of active listening, these exercises will help to build better communication, increase emotional intelligence, improve interpersonal skills, and ultimately help grow teams into better listeners within the organization.

Best Active Listening Exercises for the Workplace

1. Intentional Contradiction 2. Phones Down 3. Interview Activity 4. Blindfold Walk

Best Active Listening Exercises for the Workplace

5. One-time Directions 6. Charades 7. Background Noise 8. Telephone

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