Active listening is more than just hearing words; it’s the skill of fully focusing on, understanding, and responding to someone so that both of you walk away with clarity and trust. Unlike passive hearing, which only processes sound, active listening demands your full attention, emotional presence, and thoughtful responses.
In this video, Morgane Peng, Head of Product Design & AI Transformation at Societe Generale, shows you what active listening is, how it works, and how you can start practicing it:
Think about the last time you told someone an important story and realized halfway through that they weren’t really paying attention. Maybe they were checking their phone or already planning their response. How did that make you feel? Probably frustrated, maybe even dismissed.
Now flip it: when someone listens to you with their full attention, you feel valued and understood. That’s the power of active listening.
And here’s why it matters so much for your career: active listening directly shapes how people see you. Colleagues, stakeholders, and users are far more likely to trust you, respect you, and remember you when you truly listen. When you master active listening, you position yourself as the kind of professional people want on their team, want to follow, and want to promote.
The way you listen changes everything. It determines whether users open up to you, whether stakeholders trust you, and whether teammates feel understood—or dismissed. People decide, often in seconds, if you’re someone they can rely on, and that judgment is shaped far less by what you say than by how you listen.
In your role as a designer, researcher, or leader, active listening is one of the rare skills that multiplies the impact of everything else you do. When you practice it, you don’t just capture surface-level answers—you uncover the frustrations, motivations, and hidden needs that drive real insights. You prevent costly misunderstandings that waste time and damage trust.
Active listening is one of the most underrated career skills—and that’s exactly what makes it such a powerful advantage. When you practice it, you gain an ally that strengthens every interaction, and accelerates your growth. It’s a simple shift in how you engage with others, yet it delivers some of the deepest and most lasting results for your career. It’s a simple shift with a massive return on trust, influence, and opportunities.
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Active listening is a practice you can apply in every conversation. Here’s a step-by-step guide you can use to easily master it:
Put your phone away, face the person, and keep your posture open. A slight lean forward and a relaxed presence say: “I’m here for you.” In a user interview, this simple preparation helps participants feel safe enough to share the details that matter most.
Use natural eye contact, small nods, or short cues like “I see” to signal attention. These subtle actions reassure the speaker that you value their perspective. In a design critique, this visible engagement encourages teammates to give honest feedback instead of holding back.
Don’t plan your response while they’re talking. Watch for tone, body language, and pauses—these often reveal more than the words themselves. In a stakeholder meeting, for example, you might notice the hesitation in their voice when they say “next month”—a clue that the deadline could be more flexible than it sounds.
Paraphrase to check understanding: “So what you’re saying is the checkout button feels hidden because it blends into the header, right?” This ensures accuracy and prevents assumptions. In usability testing, this kind of reflection can reveal whether the issue is really about labeling, placement, or navigation.
Show that you’ve heard both the content and the feeling behind it: “I can see how that would be frustrating.” Empathy like this goes beyond facts—it builds trust faster than any design deliverable. In project discussions, acknowledging emotion can transform a tense debate into collaborative problem-solving.
Use the template below to guide you in the practice of active listening and embed these powerful habits into everyday life.
Get your free template for “Active Listening: The Complete Toolkit”
Most people think presentations are about delivering a message. The real magic happens when you listen to your audience. In fact, training in active listening can boost presentation effectiveness by 65%, according to research.
A standout presenter doesn’t just speak, they read the room. Spotting raised eyebrows or puzzled expressions, then pausing to ask, “Does this make sense?” shifts the dynamic from a monologue to a two-way conversation.
In the video below, you’ll see what active listening looks like, and why it’s your secret presentation skill.
As you can see, when you “actively listen”, it shows.
Simple moves like eye contact and reflection send the signal “I hear you—and you matter.” These habits make you a better communicator, collaborator and presenter, and are essential for your career growth.
Active listening isn't a soft skill; it's a leadership amplifier. HR professionals agree: 64% identify it as the single most important leadership skill.
When your team feels genuinely heard, engagement and creativity soar. One study showed that managers who improved their listening saw a 30% increase in employee satisfaction.
Each step you take to listen deeply today builds your leadership potential for tomorrow.
Try this: start meetings with one question that isn’t on the agenda—like “What’s something you’re excited or stuck on this week?” Then, really listen. No fixes. No fast-forwarding. Just make space.
Leaders who listen get more than updates, they get truth. And when people feel safe to speak honestly, everything improves: morale, retention, and results.
Miscommunication has a steep cost; over 60% of workplace errors stem from communication breakdowns.
Imagine a design sprint based on assumptions: you rush to meet what you think is a deadline, only to learn it wasn’t even real. That misalignment damages trust and forks resources into a road to nowhere. One clarifying question can change the outcome entirely.
Before jumping into execution mode, ask: “Can I repeat this back to make sure I’ve got it right?” Or: “What’s the most important outcome here?” These simple check-ins can save days—or weeks—of wasted effort.
The fastest way to fix a broken project? Listen better at the start.
Active listening isn’t a niche skill; it’s your quietly powerful career engine. Among professionals, 78% believe improving their listening skills accelerates success.
Think of the people you've trusted most in your career—colleagues, mentors, even friends. Did they make you feel heard, valued and seen?
That’s the subtle influence you develop through active listening. You become the person others want on their team, lean on for insight, and elevate in their plans.
When you're the one who truly understands what matters because you actively listen and hear what others miss, you become invaluable.
Here’s a simple and quick activity to start shaping your listening presence the next time you engage in any conversation:
Fully focus—no multitasking.
Reflect one idea back in your own words.
Name an emotion they express: “That sounds exciting!” or “That must’ve been tough.”
You’ll notice people open up more and feel seen. In just five minutes, you’ll shift how others perceive you—and how you perceive yourself as a communicator.
Every time you practice these steps, you strengthen your reputation as someone who understands, not just someone who talks. That’s what multiplies your value: people will trust your insights, respect your judgment, and want to work with you.
Think back to the people you’ve met—colleagues, mentors, even friends—who made you feel truly heard. Chances are, they’re the ones you wanted to collaborate with again.
Active listening gives you that same presence, and you’d be surprised how many doors it opens simply because people enjoy working with someone who genuinely listens.
Want career growth? Take our course Present Like a Pro: Communication Skills to Fast-track Your Career.
Read Forbes’ Listening Is An Underrated Leadership Tool to learn more about why active listening is essential for leaders and how it boosts team performance and trust.
Explore the Harvard Business Review article How to Become a Better Listener to learn more about overcoming common barriers and misconceptions around listening, with practical tips rooted in recent research.
Read The Power of Listening at Work (Annual Review of Organizational Psychology and Organizational Behavior, 2022, Vol.9, Issue 1) by Avraham N. Kluger and Guy Itzchakov to learn more about how listening improves organizational trust, performance, and well-being.
Read The Lost Art of Listening: How Learning to Listen Can Improve Relationships by Michael P. Nichols to learn more about the foundations and deep benefits of active listening in both personal and professional life.
Here are some highly cited research papers about active listening:
Perceiving active listening activates the reward system and improves emotional appraisal (Kawamichi et al., 2014) shows neurological evidence for the positive social and emotional effects of active listening.
Leadership and the Art of Active Listening (Younger, 2023), which explains the role of active listening within leadership, including types of listening and how leaders can use listening to foster empathy, presence, inclusion, and trust.
Listening and Leadership: A Study on Their Relationship (Rynders, 1999), which investigates the relationship between effective listening and leadership effectiveness, highlighting how empathetic and active listening are perceived as key leadership qualities that build trust and positive work relations.
The motivational value of listening during intimate and difficult conversations (Weinstein et al., 2022) explains why high-quality listening reduces defensiveness and promotes change.
Active listening (Friston, 2021) introduces a unified framework for speech synthesis and recognition related to active listening concepts.
The Lost Art of Listening: How Learning to Listen Can Improve Relationships by Michael P. Nichols. A classic and highly regarded book exploring why listening is so vital and how to improve this fundamental skill to enhance personal and professional relationships.
Active Listening: Improve Your Ability to Listen and Lead, Second Edition by Michael Hoppe (Center for Creative Leadership). A practical guide focused especially on active listening as an essential leadership skill to build trust, respect, and stronger working relationships.
Active Listening Techniques: 30 Practical Tools to Hone Your Listening Skills by Nixali Leonardo.
A hands-on book offering actionable tools and exercises to develop active listening, suspend judgment, and better understand others in professional and personal contexts.
How to Win Friends & Influence People by Dale Carnegie. While broader than just listening, this timeless classic covers fundamental communication skills, including listening, that build strong relationships and effective leadership.
Active listening means you're fully present and engaged in a conversation—not just hearing words, but understanding the intent, emotions, and meaning behind them. It involves making eye contact, nodding, asking clarifying questions, and reflecting back what the speaker says to show you’re really tuned in. Basically, you’re giving the speaker your mental and emotional attention.
Passive listening, on the other hand, is when you hear someone but you’re not really processing what they’re saying. You might nod out of habit or say “uh-huh” while your mind is somewhere else (like lunch or your inbox). It's the difference between truly connecting and just hearing noise.
You’re truly practicing active listening if the speaker feels heard, understood, and respected—not just if you think you're doing a good job. Signs include: you’re not interrupting, your responses are thoughtful, and you’re asking follow-up questions that show you’re paying attention. You can also paraphrase what they said to confirm understanding (“So what I’m hearing is…”).
If you catch yourself formulating your reply while they’re still talking, zoning out, or checking your phone, that’s a red flag. Active listening requires staying present and curious, not jumping ahead to your own point.
Active listening is essential in design teams because it builds trust, fuels collaboration, and surfaces better ideas. When leaders listen actively, team members feel valued and safe sharing their thoughts—whether it’s wild ideas during brainstorming or concerns about a project. That openness is the birthplace of innovation.
Plus, design thrives on feedback loops. If a leader isn’t truly hearing clients, users, or their own team, the final product can totally miss the mark. Active listening helps leaders catch what’s really needed—not just what’s being said—and that leads to smarter design decisions and happier users.
To practice active listening daily, start by giving your full attention (that means phones down and eyes up). Make eye contact, nod occasionally, and give small verbal cues like “I see” or “Go on” to show you’re present. Then, reflect or paraphrase what the other person says: “So you’re saying…” or “It sounds like…” This confirms you understood and keeps the conversation flowing.
Also, pause before you respond. It’s tempting to jump in with your own opinion or solution, but sometimes people just want to be heard. Stay curious, ask follow-up questions, and resist the urge to one-up or shift the spotlight. Your goal isn’t to reply fast—it’s to understand better.
Staying present while listening takes practice. The trick is to actively focus on the speaker’s words, tone, and body language—treat it like a mini puzzle you’re trying to solve in real time. You’re not just hearing, you’re decoding emotion and intent.
When your mind starts crafting a response mid-sentence (it will), gently redirect your attention back. Try repeating the speaker’s words silently in your head—it keeps you anchored. And remind yourself: the better you listen now, the more relevant and powerful your response will be later.
It’s both—and that’s why it’s so powerful. Active listening is technically a soft skill because it deals with communication and empathy. But in the design world, it doubles as a core skill. Why? Because good design starts with understanding people—and you can’t understand people if you’re not truly listening to them.
Whether it’s a user interview, a client briefing, or a team brainstorm, active listening helps you spot hidden needs, clarify goals, and build better experiences. It’s how you turn vague feedback into valuable insights.
Active listening makes you a sharper presenter because it shifts your mindset from “Let me talk at you” to “Let me connect with you.” When you tune into your audience’s reactions—facial expressions, body language, questions—you can adapt in real time. That means less rambling, more relevance, and way more engagement.
It also helps with Q&A sessions. Instead of defensively reacting or missing the point of a question, active listening lets you pause, absorb, and respond thoughtfully. That makes you come across as confident, respectful, and actually helpful—not just someone stuck in broadcast mode.
Because they know the gold is in what others say—not in showing off how clever they are. Great communicators listen more because it helps them understand their audience’s needs, emotions, and perspectives. That way, when they do speak, their words hit harder and actually matter.
Also, people naturally trust and connect with someone who makes them feel heard. If you’re doing all the talking, you’re probably missing key context—and opportunities to build rapport. Listening isn’t being passive. It’s strategic. It’s how you gather intel, build trust, and then say exactly what needs to be said.
Remember, the more you learn about design, the more you make yourself valuable.
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Here's the entire UX literature on Active Listening by the Interaction Design Foundation, collated in one place:
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