Here's how you can enhance your active listening skills.

Listen, Listen and Listen Do this till the speaker has completed what he/she has to say, and don't just simply listen be an active listener and try your best to understand what they are speaking. Leverage notes to jot down and keep pointers and questions. But don't interrupt in between, wait for them to complete and then ask clarifying questions and make an effort to understand their perspective even though you might not be aligned with it!

Paying attention is about focusing. This is a cognitive process where you can suppress your own thought process and any kind of anxiety or fear with full focus on hearing the words and keeping an eye contact. This should be natural and not appear to be conscious. We can develop this with practice.

Have you ever talk to someone that is clearly just waiting to give a reply? Did you feel heard? Probably not. For effective communication, it is important to really listen, to even read in between the lines of what is being said. You can even ask questions rephrasing what was said in order to not only better understand what was conceived, but also to show you paid attention and you care. Asking open questions such as "How...?" might also lead to more in depth answers to better understand each other.

This might be the most missed out component for an active listening though it's one of the elements that helps us be a great active listener.

Its fine to clarify what you've understood of the conversation and also help articulate it in a simplistic manner. Some conversations are very sensitive and its important that the listener understands and interprets what is being said as well as whats left unsaid. Another perspective is to enlisted trusted peers, colleagues, team members and seeking feedback from them on your listening skills.

It is easy to hear someone say something and immediately start to think about how you'll respond. I've seen this most often with junior team members. When you do that, it's possible to miss something critical, they follow their initial statement with. Try to focus on what they are saying until they are finished speaking. It is okay to take a moment to collect your thoughts and respond. Silence in the form of some pauses in the dialogue is a good thing. In some situations, it may actually be helpful to walk the other party through how you are thinking about the scenario live.

Listening is far more important than speaking for an effective communication. The calmness of mind and your thought process is the key. To practice this, mindfulness exercises, meditation techniques and continual practice will help. Not just for communication skills but in many walks of life focus and will power hold the key to be effective

Listening is key in most roles, and many people are great at it to a point. This may sound crazy, but when I was at Duke, I participated in a discussion on staying focused and present during longer meetings. One of the takeaways I had from a classmate was to wiggle your toes when you feel your focus drifting. Believe it or not, it works, and I still use this technique today.