In her opinion article published in Dircomfidencial, journalist and businesswoman Lucía Casanueva -founding partner of PROA Comunicación- reflects on the communicative overexposure that characterises our times and vindicates the value of active listening as an indispensable condition for effective and human communication.
Casanueva describes how we live obsessed with "telling" and constantly broadcasting messages in every possible format - posts, stories, opinions, multimedia content - but we have lost the habit of listening attentively and deeply. This constant broadcasting, he points out, turns us into background noise, distancing us from reality and generating stagnant communication, with no connection to the context or to others.
"We are missing out on a lot of life if we don't learn to listen, because deploying the sense of listening gives us wings, and retracting it makes us self-absorbed into subjectivity.
He denounces that the poor communication arises when people do not listen carefully to others' opinions and contextual evidence.This leads to misdiagnosis and wrong decisions. On the contrary, good communication - especially in business - requires the exercise of listening as a strategic tool to integrate different perspectives and reach the right decisions.
Casanueva argues that Leaders must inspire, persuade and build relationships.and that all of these skills are impossible without actively listening to those around them. Remember that in today's environment of multitasking, teleworking and technological saturation, "listening with the eyes -that is, paying full attention to non-verbal communication as well - is key to picking up what the ear sometimes misses.
Finally, it argues that good communication is an exercise in attentiveness and humilityThe new communication system, which combats distractions and allows for lucid transmission. "Healthy communication turns on the loudspeaker to listen without saturating itself and transmits clearly what the eyes listen to attentively," he concludes.