Today’s post is part 2 of a three part series on active listening written by Patrick Ewers, an executive coach and founder of Mindmaven. Read up on his tip #1, in case you missed it.

Tip #2: Show them that you’re listening.

If you want to show a person that you’re truly listening to them, you have to keep your mind focused on the responses you’re getting. Be able to make it a game to truly understand what the person is actually saying.

Focus with your eyes on the eyes of the other person. Observe not only the content you’re hearing, but look at their non-verbal cues for more insight. Look at their facial expressions, body language and tone to see if you can identify certain aspects of the undercurrent of signals that might not be evident in the words alone.

Mastering this skill gives you an incredible potential to connect with people in a way that very few can.

Most importantly, when you do this, your mind can get rather intrigued and excited about this goal of capturing everything the person is signaling because it is a real intellectual challenge. You’re forcing yourself to pick up on things you wouldn’t normally catch and through that, increasing your skill and eventually achieving mastery of reading this person completely. Wanting to achieve that goal will help you become an active listener with every interaction you have because only consistent exercise will get you there.

Non-verbal cues help you be an intuitive listener.

Check back next week for Patrick’s final tip!